Pacific McGeorge School of Law
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The Fellows Food Pantry
No full textThis project focuses on creating a sustainable food pantry for the Boys and Girls Club to address food insecurity among youth and their families. For many students, the meals they receive at school are their primary or only source of daily nutrition, highlighting the urgent need for accessible food resources outside of educational settings. By partnering with local organizations such as the Emergency Food Bank of Stockton, the pantry aims to provide consistent access to nutritious food. The goal is to create a lasting resource that supports the well-being of children while strengthening community ties
Bridging the Gap: Empowering Young Men of Color in Higher Education
No full textOur service site, Improve Your Tomorrow, is dedicated to creating a future where young men of color are overrepresented in higher education and underrepresented in the criminal justice system. In contributing our part to seeing this mission through, we have explored the systemic barriers that make college inaccessible to this demographic of students. Based on our experiences working with primarily African American and Hispanic students at Improve Your Tomorrow, we have observed firsthand the challenges they face in navigating high school and pursuing higher education. Our research has identified four key barriers that contribute to these challenges, which are highlighted in the following presentation. Building on this, we have developed eight interactive workshops to help young men of color overcome these obstacles. These workshops, consisting of slide presentations, worksheets, and other interactive activities, are now available for Improve Your Tomorrow staff to incorporate into after-school programming
Exploring Body Image Perceptions Among Female Athletes
No full textFemale athletes face unique challenges that reveal the need to change how they are represented and portrayed. This study will explore the research question: How does the media, social expectations, and sport specific body ideals negatively affect the body image of female athletes? This study will use Objectification Theory coined by Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts which proposes that women are often seen and treated as objects (1997). Research indicates experiences of being objectified lead to body dissatisfaction because there is more attention on their appearance than their performance (Kayoung and Sagas 2014). Additionally, using the Male Gaze Theory posed by Laura Mulvey helps explain the way the media focuses on female athletes appearance over abilities that reinforce social expectations and representation (1975). This research is important because it will examine the body image experiences of female athletes and its impact on mental health, self-esteem, and performance. The discussion also highlights the push back from female athletes against social expectations, unrealistic beauty standards, and objectification that attempt to define them as women first instead of competitors
Adolescence on the Edge: Factors influencing Deviant Behavior
No full textMy research focuses on deviant behavior in adolescence. For this research the deviant behavior is defined as “ranging from violent crimes, such as murder, to simple assaults, motor theft, vandalism, and disorderly conduct” (Carlson 2012). Scholarship on deviant behavior typically uses observational measures to investigate the significance of peer and parental influence on adolescence (Carlson 2012). Additionally, I examined scholarship on how substance abuse and transitional changes during the developmental period may increase deviant tendencies (Smith 2022). Findings suggest that negative influences in an adolescent\u27s environment increase the likelihood of engaging in deviant behaviors. I will use conflict theory and social control theory to delve deeper into the sociological effects of these findings. Contrary to the common belief that deviance among adolescents is rare, this research highlights its prevalence. “The capacity in Juvenile facilities has increased by 120%”(Carlson 2012). I examine the reasons that deviance among adolescents leads to more serious problems and discuss solutions to decrease these numbers, such as, increasing the support groups that are offered to children, and positive activities to engage in (Jong, Bernasco, Lammers 2019). This research is important because if we can impact how a child grows up in a positive way we can limit the amount of deviance we have in our society, which may lead to a decrease in crime and violence
Introduction of a constitutive red fluorescent marker gene into four Variovorax strains using the Tn7 transposon.
No full textVariovorax paradoxus has garnered much interest in environmental microbiology for its ability to degrade organic compounds and key role in the rhizosphere. Despite its important role in microbial communities, genetic manipulation of Variovorax has been proven difficult, but the development of genetically engineered strains is significantly promising for bioremediation applications. The aim of our research group was to create stable mini-Tn7 insertions into several Variovorax strains to express the red fluorescent protein DsRed along with a gene for gentamicin resistance. The Tn7 insertion will facilitate our study of horizontal gene transfer in these specific strains. Four strains were used in this study, MF004, MF295, MF278, and MF375, all of which were isolated from the Arabidopsis rhizosphere. We performed minimum inhibitory concentration experiments on the MF004 and MF295 strains to determine the lowest antibiotic concentration of Kanamycin and Gentamicin to inhibit microbial growth. We introduced the mTn7-DsRed into our strains by electroporation along with a helper plasmid, and then selected for insertion on gentamicin plates. Potential insertion strains were restreaked and then examined by fluorescence microscopy. Red fluorescence was observed in colonies and single cells, indicating successful integration of the transposon. The same experimental approach was also used to introduce the Tn7 into MF278 and MF375. We used the Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit to extract the genomic DNA from the bacteria, which will be used for genomic DNA sequencing to verify the insertion site. Preliminary experiments to determine bacterial competence and conjugation are also reported here
Examining the effect of stress during lactation on marine mammals
No full textElephant seals are deep-diving marine mammals that feed in the open ocean, but give birth on land. During foraging, elephant seals build up large fat stores, which provide them with energy while hauled out on land. Female elephant seals give birth to a single pup, which they nurse with milk that is up to 60% fat for 4 weeks. However, unlike most other mammals, they are capital breeders so they do so while fasting for the entire lactation period. In contrast, income breeders like sea lions forage for food during the lactation period. We are interested in determining whether maternal stress experienced during lactation in capital breeding mammals affects their ability to provide offspring with high-quality milk. Cortisol plays an important role in lipolysis, and its elevation during stress responses may impact the fat stores of lactating females and the amount of fat they can provide in the milk. Stress may also impact the composition of the milk proteome, through alterations in the protein expression. Milk from the mother not only supplies nutrients, but also proteins that serve a variety of roles from aiding digestion and absorption of the milk to passive immunity in the neonate. To simulate a stress response, ACTH was injected in a group of female elephant seals during the third week of lactation to stimulate cortisol synthesis and release by the adrenal glands. Milk samples were obtained from females ~24 hours after ACTH administration. Whole milk was first centrifuged and proteins were extracted from the skim milk fraction using methanol and chloroform. We then denatured, reduced, alkylated, and digested proteins into peptides. Then we desalted and quantified peptides to prepare them for LC-MS/MS. We identified a total of 149 proteins in the elephant seal milk proteome, some were also found in blood plasma of the same females and their pups in a previous study. These proteins are associated with cholesterol transport, lipid digestion, lipid absorption, lipid transportation, Thrombogenesis, Fibrinolysis, Immunity, cell migration, cell signaling, fatty acid intracellular transport in heart, cortisol transport, cortisol metabolism, iron uptake into cells, bone remodeling, and protection from oxidative damage. Currently we are working on comparing milk proteome data between ACTH-treated and control females. The study helps gain a better understanding of the effects that maternal stress has on lactation of capital breeding mammals, which in turn may affect the development and stress adaptation of their offspring
Structural and Functional Characterization of Cancer-Associated D-Dopachrome Tautomerase Mutants
No full textD-dopachrome tautomerase (D-DT), a member of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) superfamily, is an immunomodulatory protein with activity in inflammation, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. The primary functionality of D-DT is associated with activation of the type II cell surface receptor, CD74. Upon activation, the D-DT-CD74 axis triggers a cascade of signaling events that promote cell survival and proliferation. In multiple types of cancer, the activation of D-DT-CD74 axis has been shown to have a tumor-promotion effect. The goal of this study is to examine the pathophysiological significance of thirteen D-DT mutations that were identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods and reported in the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC). These mutations, which are all located at the C-terminal region of D-DT, were identified in various solid tumors. The structural, functional, and biophysical properties of the D-DT variants will be interrogated with x-ray crystallography, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, enzymatic assays, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation experiments, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We anticipate that the data obtained by this study will have mechanistic value, enriching our understanding about the role of D-DT mutations in human cancers. Given the previously reported role of the C-terminal region in molecular recognition, we also expect that our findings will provide information into the structure–activity relationship (SAR) of D-DT promoting the currently ongoing drug discovery efforts
Deep Learning for Genomic Feature Prediction Using Semantic k-mer Embeddings and a CNN-LSTM Architecture
No full textThis study presents a novel deep learning approach for the prediction of genomic features in genomic sequences. The identification of functional elements within genomes remains a fundamental challenge in computational biology. Traditional methods often rely on sequence conservation or specific motifs but may miss complex patterns and dependencies that characterize genomic features. We developed a hybrid convolutional neural network and long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) architecture enhanced with k-mer based Word2Vec embeddings to capture both local motifs and long-range dependencies in DNA sequences. Our approach transforms DNA sequences into overlapping k-mers of varying lengths (3-5 bp), which are then converted to dense vector representations using Word2Vec, allowing the model to learn semantic relationships between sequence patterns. The multi-scale CNN component employs convolutional layers with different kernel sizes to detect sequence motifs at various scales, while the bidirectional LSTM captures long-range interactions and positional context. Using human chromosome 1 data (hg38), we trained our model to distinguish exon regions from non-exon regions. The model demonstrated the ability to distinguish exon from non-exon regions by learning complex sequence signatures, even in the absence of explicit splice site cues. This approach offers several advantages over traditional methods: (1) it requires no prior knowledge of sequence motifs or conservation, (2) it automatically learns relevant features at multiple scales, and (3) it can potentially be adapted to identify diverse genomic elements
Dynamic expression of the genes GADD34 and CReP in zebrafish embryos
No full textThe unfolded protein response (UPR) is a complex cellular signaling pathway activated by the buildup of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. One specific branch of the UPR is the PERK pathway. When activated PERK promotes the phosphorylation of eIF2ɑ, leading to inhibition of global protein synthesis, preventing the cell from accumulating more misfolded proteins. Our project focuses on two genes which inhibit the PERK pathway, GADD34 and CReP. Both GADD34 and CReP bind to Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1) to dephosphorylate eIF2ɑ and restore protein synthesis. For our experiments we utilizes zebrafish with loss-of-function mutations for either GADD34 or CReP. Either mutant or wild-type embryos were then subjected to pharmacological agents that induce ER stress such as thapsigargin. We then collected these embryos and subjected them to in situ hybridization, to analyze gene expression for GADD34, CReP or BIP. BIP serves as a positive control, a gene that is known to increase following ER stress. Previous studies in the lab have also demonstrated that both GADD34 and CReP increase in expression following stress induction. Understanding how these two similar genes are expressed following stress induction is critical to understanding the UPR. In our project we seek to determine if there is genetic compensation between GADD34 and CReP. For example, does GADD34 expression increase if CReP is mutated? These findings suggest that CreP and Gadd34 play distinct roles in stress response, with potential implications for understanding gene regulation under physiological stress
Synthesis and Binding of Flavone-Based Ammonium Salts to Triplex DNA
No full textTriplex DNA is formed when a third strand, the triplex-forming oligonucleotide (TFO), sequence specifically binds to a duplex. TFOs can be used for anti-gene therapy by targeting a certain sequence of duplex DNA and subsequently inhibiting the downstream transcription and translation of a specified protein. However, triplex formation is limited in both thermodynamic and kinetic aspects because of the charge repulsion of a third negatively charged strand.Recently, it was found that a flavonoid, quercetin, and its derivatives were able to stabilize triplex DNA without having an effect on duplex DNA. In this project, four flavone-based ammonium salt derivatives containing a positive charge were synthesized. The positively charged derivatives could counteract the negatively charged backbone repulsion and contribute to stabilizing the triplex. Additionally, these compounds have the added benefit of being more water soluble than their non-charged counterparts. These derivatives were evaluated with UV thermal denaturation studies to determine their effects on an intramolecular triplex DNA (15GCT). After observing triplex stabilization via UV thermal denaturation, the thermodynamics of DNA-ligand binding were further quantified using an isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC). The ITC is an instrument that measures the heat change within a sample cell as a ligand is titrated in. If binding occurs, there is a recorded heat change relative to a reference cell, and a variety of thermodynamic values, such as the binding constant (Kd), can be calculated. The results from UV thermal denaturation and ITC are compared to evaluate the binding and stabilization of these ammonium salt compounds on triplex DNA