2019 Labs and Research

Laboratory 1

“In search of the Purple Tomato”: Identification of Genetically Modified Foods

The issue of genetically modifying our food has drawn a high amount of controversy. In many instances the genes inserted into the genome of say the tomato are those which encode beneficial proteins and molecules that will aid in maintaining health of the individual. Some products that these genes include: antioxidants, anthocyanins, carotenes and other products that have been proven to be beneficial as anti-inflammatory agents. Other genes may encode shelf longevity of these products or enhance the colors of foods. he modification of genomes of our food may be beneficially in that people would have the opportunity to purchase a superfood “tomatoes” that have increased nutritional value. Currently, the United States among other countries have imposed mandatory labels on foods containing mandatory labels on foods containing ingredients that are genetically modified.

This laboratory will introduce what it is meant for a food to be genetically modified, what food crops are recognized to be modified that we may not be aware of, and what is the process of screening for the modification. Students will also be introduced Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and how this molecular tool is utilized in FDA laboratories to screen for such foods. Students will extract DNA and screen various foods such as raw vegetable, soybeans, fruits (tomatoes) and processed foods (chips) and determine whether they have been genetically modified.

Laboratory 2

"More than just a Pizza Topping”: Investigating Mushrooms as Biofuels

World-wide, there has been an increase of calls by both governmental, private industry, and the general population to encourage the exploration and use of clean energy sources. Therefore, scientists have once again looked towards the natural world to provide information, possibilities and development of products that may address this issue. One area that is being investigated is the use of Eukaryotic microorganisms, such as Fungi. In the last century Fungal along with other prokaryotes provided antimicrobial compounds who have previously benefited human kind by their production of antibiotics. In this laboratory, student pairs will assess various species of Basidiomycota-mushrooms to assess their ability to produce enzymes that aid in the conversion of cellobiose to biobutanol, a liquid fuel that can directly replace gasoline in engines. This laboratory will afford the students flexibility to develop their own scientific hypothesis, conduct original research to test that hypothesis and obtain data which will address the validity of their hypothesis using spectral analysis of enzyme kinetics.

Laboratory 1

Does color matter? The Chemistry of Food Colors

Would you eat black ketchup? Do you prefer a specific color M&M even though they all taste the same? The color of a food is an important part of the food industry and is determined by chemical compounds called dyes. Sometimes, dyes are extracted from natural sources and other times they are synthesized.

The laboratory activity will explore the properties of different types of dyes, extract dyes from various candies, and analyze the types of dyes that are extracted. Students will learn laboratory techniques including pipetting, making solutions, and creating and analyzing an agarose gel. Students will use their results to discuss the physical and chemical differences in food dyes.

Laboratory 2

Who has the flu virus? ELISA knows!

Many viruses including the influenza virus is easily passed from person to person. Quick detection of a virus in a potentially infected individual is necessary to for effective treatment and prevention of passing the infection to other individuals. With its rapid test results, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has made a positive impact on medicine and even agriculture. ELISA is currently used for detecting pregnancy, disease in animals and plants, illegal drug use, indoor air quality, and food ingredients.

Students will begin the experiment by sharing samples with a few other students to simulate potential exposure to a virus. They will use antibodies to detect an antigen, like an influenza virus, in an ELISA to determine which students were “infected” with the virus and work to determine the original source of the virus.

Project Spark: Light, Sound, Motion in Engineering

In the Engineering Laboratory section of the camp, the students will have the opportunity to study the basic concepts of electrical, mechanical and software engineering through various hands-on projects by using Arduino electronic prototyping platform.

The objectives of the Engineering Laboratory are:

• To learn how to program electronics using Arduino boards, which consists of a programmable microcontroller for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control objects in the physical world.
• To explore fun real-world challenges by developing engineering problem-solving skills through creativity and teamwork.
• To inspire the students to become more skilled in communication, organization and research, which will help prepare them for future success in higher levels of schooling and in the workplace.

Seeing is Believing

The behavior of light, its properties, its propagation in space were some of the biggest questions in physics in the 17th century, because understanding the interaction of light with our environment provides a better understanding of the world in which we live. The behavior of light as waves or particles puzzled physicists even into the 20th century. Although “wave-particle duality” is probably our current best explanation of the behavior of light, it has opened an entirely new pandora's box of uncertainties. Suffice to say that light is much more than just the switch of a bulb.

We will work on experiments to convey important behaviors of light:

• Diffraction, to understand the wave nature of light.
• Refraction, to understand the behavior of light as it enters from one medium to another, Snell's Law. 
• Reflection, to understand the behavior of light as it strikes different reflecting surfaces.

We will also experiment with standing waves, and use the Lens maker formula to understand how lenses can be used to focus light to obtain real or virtual images.

Understanding light in Physics and Astronomy

Light plays a very important role in the world around us given that adequate amounts of sunlight is critical in sustaining life on earth. Additionally, light plays a very important role in health, communications, energy, education, agriculture and much more. Our universe is so huge that light is the only medium of our connection with the cosmos. Light from the edge of the universe travels billions of light years before it reaches our space-based and ground-based telescopes. The light from stars, galaxies, planets, nebulae and etc. carries with it rich information of the interstellar, intergalactic medium, as well as stellar formation and chemical history of the universe; thus, decoding it is crucial to our understanding of the cosmos. Suffice to say that light is much more than just the switch of a bulb.

For the next two weeks we will learn how spectroscopy, one of the most powerful tools used by astronomers, can be used to investigate our universe scientifically, by decoding light. We will study different types of spectrum, and learn how the spectrum is more than just a rainbow of colors. A single spectrum carries with itself rich information about the cosmos and is used to identify the composition of stars and galaxies and their temperatures. Using a spectrometer, students will do spectrum analysis on several laboratory samples and identify their main compositions. We will then carry our understanding with lab samples to stellar objects.

Repurposing FDA Approved Drugs for the Treatment of Candida Albicans Biofilms.

Candida species represent a main cause of opportunistic fungal infections worldwide, and C. albicans is the most common causative agent of candidiasis. These infections are typically associated with unacceptably high morbidity and mortality rates, mainly due to the limited arsenal of antifungal drugs. Furthermore, the ability of C. albicans to form biofilms, or complex microbial communities, heightens this issue of resistance as biofilms are intrinsically less susceptible to these commonly used antimicrobials.

Considering the role of biofilm formation in C. albicans infections, it represents a valuable target for the development of new treatment strategies. The overall goal of this project is to repurpose drugs, such as statins (cholesterol medications), chloroxine, and oligomycin A (two antibacterial agents), for the treatment of resistant C. albicans biofilms.

Synthesis, characterization and structure of novel copper(II) isonicotinamide metal complexes.

One of the avenues of cancer research is to study how selectively destroy cancer cells. That is, to find a substance that will kill the cancer cells without destroying the surrounding healthy cells and tissue.

Dr. Adrian’s research group has previously synthesized copper(II) complexes using isonicotinamide (see figure below) as a ligand for this purpose, and observed very promising antitumor activity in an assay (a type of test) with MCF-7, a human breast cancer cell line.

The objective of this project is to synthesize new and similar copper(II) isonicotinamide metal complexes by the reaction of the isonicotinamide with copper(II) bipyridine complexes. The results of this project will provide better understanding of the role that the substituted pyridine ligands play in the cytotoxicity of the copper(II) complexes.

Students working on this project will acquire inorganic synthesis skills and be introduced to important characterization techniques and technologies including proton NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and IR (Infrared) spectroscopies.

Synthesis and analysis of ancient pigments and supports

My research interests involve the connection between science, art, and culture. In particular, two projects that exemplify these connections would be the analysis of Carmine red and Maya blue. Carmine red is a pigment from the cochineal insect native to Central and South America and was initially harvested by both the Aztec and Incan civilizations. Similarly, Maya blue involves the use of indigo intercalated in clay pottery and was used by both the Aztec and Mayans for both ceremonial and artistic purposes. Students will analyze the concentration of carminic acid in cochineal and synthesize metal complexes of carminic acid. Students will also synthesize Maya blue and evaluate the host-guest chemistry of this complex including its resistance to acid and photo degradation.

In addition to learning synthetic techniques, students will gain experience in instrumental analysis using UV-Vis, Infrared, and NMR Spectroscopy.

Internet of Things (IoT) Projects by using Arduino

In the Engineering Research section of the camp, the students will have the opportunity to study the basic concepts of electrical, mechanical and software engineering through various hands-on projects by using Arduino electronic prototyping platform.

The objectives of the Engineering research are:

• To learn how to program electronics using Arduino boards, which consists of a programmable microcontroller for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control objects in the physical world.
• To explore fun real-world challenges by developing engineering problem-solving skills through creativity and teamwork.
• To inspire the students to become more skilled in communication, organization and research, which will help prepare them for future success in higher levels of schooling and in the workplace.

Connecting with Urban Nature: Collection, Characterization, and Analysis of Environmental Parameters Using Classic Protocols, Hach Field Kits, and Vernier Technology.

The environment provides us with a wealth of resources and opportunities for research on a variety of scales. Exploring outdoors in natural areas and urban greenspaces has wide-ranging health benefits including the reduction of risk for Type II diabetes, stress, and high blood pressure. Spending time in urban community gardens is also linked to better mental and physical health. Characterizing an outdoor site from a soils/water/vegetation perspective is the first step in environmental awareness to understand its capabilities now as well as create a baseline for future observations.

Participants will utilize a variety of scientific data collection equipment to characterize environmental parameters in the UIW campus community garden and in an urban riparian forest at Headwaters Sanctuary adjacent to UIW. Vernier LabQuests and probeware will be introduced. Hach Soil, Water, and Ecology Test Field Kits are used in industry and have Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved methods for field work in agriculture, forestry, fish and wildlife conservation among other areas. The iNaturalist app may be used to assist in identification of species.

Protocols for habitat characterization may include: transects, vegetation identification, photopoints, canopy coverage, vegetative buffers, stream morphology, channel characteristics (if Headwaters is still flowing), Soil studies may include: sample collection and preparation, soil extractions (e.g. salinity, pH, NO3 -N, ions), and soil analysis (e.g. cation exchange capacity, percent base saturation, texture estimation, soil moisture). Water studies may include: pH, CO2, dissolved O2, conductivity, ions.

Temperature Change in San Antonio, Texas.

The scientific community, media, politicians, and the general public often talk about the temperature increasing due to “global warming”. During the past 20 years, the meteorological community has observed the mean global temperature increasing by 0.5 C (0.9 F) (BAMS, 2018). The 2017 mean annual temperatures across most of the US was 0.5-1.0 C (0.9 – 1.8 F) above the 1980 – 2010 mean. (BAMS, 2018).

Data clearly indicate warming on a global scale. On a smaller scale, such as for a city or region, the change is not always as clear. There may several reasons for the change besides the increase in atmospheric CO2 levels. One of the challenges for the climatologist is to determine which cause or causes may be driving the temperature change and extreme weather events. Recent studies (Knutson, et al., 2018) (Imada, et al, 2018) (Kam, et al, 2018) have shown methods of how to estimate the impact these "driving forces" on extreme temperature events and change.

In addition to human-induced climate change, there are three other possible reasons for temperature changes at a location. These reasons include the “urban heat island”, movement of the observation site, and natural variation of temperature. The “urban heat island” effect is the result of more concrete and asphalt retaining heat. Large cities tend to have higher mean temperatures than the surrounding rural area (Oke, 1987). Moving the observation site to a different location may change the observational environment and result in a change in the long term temperature data. The third possible reason is the natural variation due to various weather patterns (El Nino/La Nina) and large volcanic eruption (Knutson et al., 2018)

This research project will study the temperature changes in San Antonio to determine the how the average annual temperature has changed. The project will try to determine the possible reasons for the change.

Potential research questions that could be explored:

• What is the trend in temperatures in San Antonio (KSAT) for the past 20, 30, or 100 yrs?
• How does the temperature change compare to weather sites in rural areas around KSAT?
• Are the trends in temperature change related to changes in the KSAT observation site?
• Are the trends in temperature change related to increase in size/population in KSAT?
• Are the trends in temperature change related to the El Nino/La Nina pattern?

Each student or pair of students will select at least one of the above questions or develop a related question to study during the two week program.

References:

• Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), “State of the Climate in 2017”, Vol. 99, No. 88, Aug 2018
• Herring. Stephanie, et al. "Explaining Extreme Events of 2016 from a Climate Perspective", Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol 99, No 1, Jan 2018
• Imada, Yuiko, et al, "Climate Change increased the likelihood of the 2016 heat extremes in Asia", Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol 99, No 1, Jan 2018
• Kam, Jonghun, et al, "CMIP5 Model-based assessment of anthropogenic influence on highly anomalous Arctic warmth during November - December 2016", Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol 99, No 1, Jan 2018
• Oke, T.R., Boundary Layer Climate, 2 edition, 1987.