2017 Undergraduate Capstone Conference

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  Modeling a Small Ebola Outbreak in DRC
  Sydney Busch
  Abstract not submitted.
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  Homeostasis in Biological Systems
  Patrick LeBlanc
  Abstract not submitted.
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  Supply and Demand Chains of Leaf Cutter Ant Colonies
  Nicole Korzeniecki
  Abstract not submitted.
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  Protein Classification Using Persistent Homologies
  Kollin Poindexter
  Abstract not submitted.
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  A mean-field model for C. elegans embryo localization
  Erin Angelini

  Cell polarization is an essential process for differentiating cells. In early C. elegans embryos, this polarization is conducted by the precise localization of the pronuclear complex. The developing mitotic spindle drives the rotation and translation of the pronuclei through the forced-based interactions of its composite microtubules and the cell cortex. Building on previous models, both dynamic and steady state, we introduce a steady-state model that captures a reduced version of the pronuclear dynamics. By fitting this model to data from a dynamic computational model, we find that cell geometry determines both the final orientation of the spindle and how long it takes the system to reach this steady state. Moreover, the system tends to a steady state in the regions of the cell with highest curvature. Thus, our results indicate that the cell geometry necessary for proper pronuclear localization is highly specific and curvature-driven.

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  KEYNOTE: Evidence accumulation in changing environments: Neurons, organisms, and groups
  Zachary Kilpatrick

  TBD

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  Modeling Chronic Vascular Responses Following a Major Arterial Occlusion
  Emma Brewer, Jordan Pellett
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  Stochastic Model on the Spread of Chlamydia Trachomatis
  Natalia Antonova, Andrew Ghorbani
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  A Statistical Method for Determining How Closely Vegetation Bands Follow Elevation Contour Lines
  Reese Martin
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  Modeling Hair Cortisol as a Biomarker of Chronic Stress
  Elizabeth Gilbert
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  Inverse probability weighting to account for selection bias
  Katherine Brumberg
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  KEYNOTE: Open science: how the Allen Institute for Cell Science wants to revolutionize cell biology
  Molly Maleckar
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  Genome-Wide Complex Trait Analysis Applied to GWAS Data
  Eli Moore
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  One Carbon Metabolism Differences Between Men and Women of Childbearing Age
  Thabat Dahdoul
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  Brainless but Smart: Investigating Decision-Making in the Slime Mold Physarum Polycephalum
  Scott Bingham
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  Hodgkin Huxley Model of Action Potential Generation and Correlation in Simple Model of Homeostatic Regulation
  Pedro Vasquez-Perez
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  Coupling Equations to Synchronize Chaos
  Fatme Hourani
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  Novel human genetic approaches to studying tuberculosis resistance
  Catherine Stein
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  Stochastic Modeling of Chemotherapy Treatment for Cancer with Rare Events
  Zachary Bezemek
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  Resonance in the Locomotor Network of C. elegans
  Adam Willerth