Session 1

Aging in the brain refers to the gradual loss of physiological and biochemical functions, leading to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Aging is a natural process, but its progression can be accelerated by primary causes such as genetic predisposition, inflammation, and protein misfolding, and secondary influences like poor lifestyle choices, chronic stress, toxins, pollutants, and neurodegenerative diseases. Genomic instability, a byproduct ... Read More

Bacteria that have developed resistances to multiple antibiotics continue to be a growing threat in today’s human health. These bacteria are becoming even more dangerous with time due to the lack of new antibiotics being developed in the drug industry because of the large hurdles and great risks that come with developing antibiotics. To combat these antibiotic resistant bacteria, I ... Read More

Glial cells, particularly microglia, play an integral role in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) by facilitating phagocytosis, which in turn helps limit the aggregation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles—two hallmarks of AD. However, the combination of aging and AD progression degenerates microglia into senescence. In this state, microglia secrete pro- inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-1, contributing to ... Read More

Venture Point is a startup incubator based at the University of Chicago, dedicated to supporting early-stage companies through mentorship, market analysis, and technical development. This project explores key areas of business strategy, including marketing, product research, and operational automation. Over the course of the internship, efforts were focused on enhancing visibility through targeted Outreach, optimizing product offerings based on market ... Read More

SciTech is a nonprofit interactive science museum in Batavia, Illinois that aims to build creativity and innovative engagement in STEM. This project focuses on creating and evaluating the success of a Girls in STEM program hosted at SciTech, which provides hands-on STEM experiences for preschool and elernentary school girls, a historically underrepresented community when it comes to STEM. Over the ... Read More

The focus Of IMSA Al Center for Al Human Centered Al and Ethics is advancing responsible artificial intelligence development and encouraging ethical considerations and conversations in education, research, and institutional policy.

To do this, we focused on curriculum development. We designed and implemented an Al Ethics course, workshops, and interessions such as Teaching and Learning in the Age Of Generative ... Read More

To resolve parity violation through the weak force, the doubly charged Higgs boson arises through the Left- Right Symmetric model. In search of the boson at the Large Hadron Collider, I determine systematic uncertainties to determine the accuracy of our mass limit. Specifically, analyzing the impact of the parton distribution function (PDF) , which determines how quarks and gluons interact ... Read More

Roughly 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter the waterways across the entire globe every year. Sunscreens are released via human contact, runoff from sand, and spray-on sunscreens. Although sunscreen is effective against UV radiation, the active ingredients harm aquatic ecosystems and damage coral reefs. Sunscreens have been found in the cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula, underground water systems that serve as ... Read More

Introduction: Diagnosing fractures can be challenging in medical settings with limited expertise. Deep learning has shown promise but is restricted by image quality and. This study aims to develop a model to detect fifth metatarsal fractures using smartphone photos of radiographs. Method: A retrospective case-control study included patients >18 years with fractures (n=1240) and healthy controls (n=1224). Three-view radiographs (anterior, ... Read More

Hydrogen fuel is an alternative fuel and energy carrier for the power sector. This study outlines a framework for evaluating its efficacy as a substitute for natural gas in internal combustion (IC) engines through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Firstly, relevant literature was reviewed to outline its properties and application considerations, and previous works that analyzed its performance through CFD ... Read More

Visceral Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that kills around 70,000 people per year. It is most common in equatorial areas in both Africa and South America. Due to the deadly nature of this disease, research regarding its treatment must be taken more seriously. Leishmaniasis is spread through the bite of an infected sandfly, and can cause fever, weakness, and ... Read More

Satellite-derived data analysis offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional in-situ measurements for monitoring water quality dynamics in critical water bodies. This study leverages remote sensing techniques to assess multiple zones within Horseshoe Lake, Illinois, identified based on physical barriers, hydrological flow, and proximity to water treatment facilities. To ensure scientific rigor, we applied unsupervised clustering techniques such as K-means, ISODATA, ... Read More

Large language models (LLMs) show promise for educational applications but frequently hallucinate incorrect answers, making them unreliable for tutoring. Even on well-known problems, LLMs often produce factually incorrect responses, misinterpret prompts, or fail to follow instructions. We address this issue with a chain-of-thought-based grounding method, requiring the model to generate and internally verify a structured reasoning process before interacting with ... Read More

This project focuses on classifying bird sounds and music genres using machine learning techniques. The BirdCLEF 2023 and GTZAN datasets are used to train and evaluate various machine learning models, including random forests, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and logistic/linear regression. The objective is to determine the most effective and efficient approach for audio classification by analyzing ... Read More

Breast cancer is one of the most rampant malignancies in women around the world. The treatment for breast cancer consists of, but is not limited to, surgery, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and radiotherapy. Tamoxifen and Paclitaxel are the cornerstones of endocrine therapy drugs and chemotherapy drugs, respectively. Drug resistance, which includes primary resistance and consecutive resistance, is the biggest reason for ... Read More

The objective is to propose an information processing model using quantum computing for computational linguistics on Small Ethical Texts (SETS) with Tamil Adjectives and proverbs (TAP). This model utilizes the Bobcat parser, a part of the Lambeq library, to parse the given SETS and map them into Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) structures. Then apply Quantum Natural Language Processing (QNLP) to ... Read More

The ongoing search for the dark photon conducted under the IMSA-CMS research collaboration relies on a boosted decision tree (BDT) for signal classification. BDT robustness is necessary to ensure an unbiased and model-independent search. We analyze the performance of a boosted decision tree classifier against empirical data collected by the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and simulated data ... Read More

This study examines the correlation between education and healthcare through the lens of School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) in Chicago, exploring how these facilities may reflect neighborhood inequality. We analyze how SBHCs serve as indicators of the collective socioeconomic status and social cohesion of their surrounding communities, highlighting disparities among Chicago’s neighborhoods. Recent studies suggest that SBHCs play a crucial role ... Read More

Signal analysis is a key field in engineering with diverse applications, from wireless technology to medical diagnostics. Medical applications focus on analyzing physiological signals for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Electromyography (EMG) is one such technique, used to improve diagnostic and therapeutic care. This study investigates the acquisition, analysis, decomposition, and interpretation of bio-signals obtained from surface EMG (sEMG). By analyzing ... Read More

We analyze signal and background for our doubly charged Higgs boson analysis using Monte Carlo simulations. The focus of this research is to model the uncertainties in our Monte Carlo simulations including rate systematics, which affect the overall normalization of the Monte Carlo, and shape systematics, which affect the shape of the distributions. The aim of the systematic framework is ... Read More

One theory of dark matter predicts the existence of a dark sector, which is a theoretical complementary model to the Standard Model of particle physics. Within this model there must be a particle responsible for the dark analog to the electromagnetic force, which we would call the dark photon. The premise of our research is based upon electron jets that ... Read More

Many theories, including several dark sector models, predict the existence of dark photons to explain dark matter as an extension beyond the Standard Model which interacts sparsely with Standard Model particles via kinetic mixing. The decay of dark photons is theorized to primarily decay into lepton jets that contain oppositely charged dileptons. In our Monte Carlo simulation, we see dilepton ... Read More

Enterococcus faecium is a gram-positive bacterium known to cause a variety of infections in humans, including endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the heart’s inner lining. PandaOmics is an AI driven platform for finding therapeutic biological targets of different diseases by aggregating biological and biomedical datasets to produce an organized list of potential biological targets for a specific disease based on ... Read More

To investigate theories beyond the Standard Model, Monte Carlo simulations are utilized to model particle collisions and glean valuable information to inform searches for exotic particles. In our search for the doubly charged Higgs Boson, we seek to validate the accuracy of our Monte Carlo simulations with this study. Specifically, events with two leptons are analyzed in-depth, serving as a ... Read More

The purpose of this work is to present the mathematics and applications of RSA cryptography such that they are accessible to a reader without much background knowledge in number theory. We outline the mathematical foundations of RSA, starting with an introduction to modular arithmetic and the Euler totient function. We then elaborate on Euler’s Theorem, which forms the foundation for ... Read More

3D printers are Often not used as efficiently as possible since they require a human operator to reruwe 3D prints. Especially in multi-user 3D printing systems, there aren't many human operators able to keep up with the rate of 3D prints. This project aims to solve these problems by using an automated removal system Of 3D prints from commercial printers. ... Read More

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs)–developed primarily from the knowledge of T- cell immunoreceptor (TCR) signaling–have revolutionized the treatment of various cancers, offering newfound hope to patients. However, their usage is associated with a considerable incidence of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). While ICI-induced blockage of TCR inhibitory signaling pathways can successfully bolster anti-tumor immune response, it remains that as ... Read More

Ivy League Potential is a college admissions company that works with adolescents and their families to guide their process in achieving career goals. The focus of this intemship has been clientele research to help expand the company's knowledge of all different interests to aid any client in gaining experience in certain fields. The research was centered around accessible career exploration. ... Read More

The mineralogical composition of asteroids indicates a further understanding of the evolution of the solar system. While prior research has been conducted on the compositions of specific asteroids, this research analyzes multiple classifications of asteroids to create a broader narrative on the formation of the solar system. This research focuses on six asteroids along with an example of each type: ... Read More

Public perceptions of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) are evolving, with teen AOD use rising in the U.S. About 75% of high school students have engaged in AOD use (Teen Substance, 2011). To address this, harm reduction offers a community-driven approach prioritizing safety, health, and dignity. Unlike abstinence-only models, harm reduction minimizes negative consequences by providing practical strategies and direct ... Read More

Effectively delivering anti-cancer drugs remains a significant challenge in oncology due to their non-specific distribution and harmful side effects. Cellpenetrating peptides (CPPs) offer a promising solution by enabling the targeted transport of therapeutic agents, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules, directly into cancer cells. Bacterial-derived peptides have shown unique stability and penetration efficiency, making them strong candidates for ... Read More

Online question-answering platforms, such as StackExchange, have grown rapidly in recent years, making it necessary to identify the credibility of users and the information they share online to maintain trust within these communities. This issue can be addressed through accurate expert detection methods to determine whether or not users are experts in a certain field. For our study, we conducted ... Read More

Retroviral vectors are commonly used to generate stable cells to express transgenes. However, packaging high-titer retroviruses is technically challenging due to variations in co-transfecting the packaging cells with multiple plasmids that express genes essential for retrovirus production, leading to inefficient and inconsistent virus production and dramatic virus titer fluctuations. The objective of this study is to investigate whether or not ... Read More

Force-displacement tests are commonly used when studying the mechanics of brain tissue. These tests can help scientists learn more about properties like elasticity and viscoelasticity, which can give greater insight into the reasons for traumatic brain injury as well as the conditions that cause it. However, it is hard to run these tests because of the difficulty of regulating the ... Read More

As highlighted in the National Spectrum Strategy, Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) is key for enabling 6G networks to meet the growing demand for spectrum from various, heterogeneous emerging applications. In this study, we consider heterogeneous wireless networks with multiple 6G base stations (BSs) and limited frequency bands available for transmission. Each BS is given a geographical location, a coverage area, ... Read More

Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is a skin disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the COL7A1 gene, resulting in a deficiency of functional collagen VII, which anchors the epidermis to the dermis. Without collagen VII, the skin is fragile and blisters easily, leading to severe pain, chronic wounds, and infection risk. However, effective, non-opioid pain treatments remain limited, highlighting the ... Read More

Molecular recognition is the key process in regulating macromolecular function states. As the major form of molecular recognition, simulations of receptor-ligand binding interaction have been a central interest in recent decades. However, development of novel enhanced configuration sampling as well as free energy approaches lay the major technical obstacles. This project is devoted to developing a novel sampling approach for ... Read More

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder linked to immune dysregulation and ceramide deficiency. We used human skin explant models to investigate the role of the de novo ceramide synthesis pathway in AD pathogenesis. Skin explants were maintained at an air-liquid interface and treated for seven days with cytokines that drive the inflammation and itch of AD: IL-4/IL-13 ... Read More

Understanding animal behavior patterns is central for advancing research efforts in behavioral science. Accurately classifying behaviors allows for insights into how animals respond to different stimuli. Data frames annotated for key points on a mouse’s body were collected to identify specific mouse behaviors, such as when the mouse was shaking or licking. These labeled data points were subsequently used to ... Read More

The refractory period plays a crucial role in shaping neuronal excitability and network dynamics. This study examines how absolute and relative refractory periods influence spike timing in a three-neuron network simulated in SNNAP (Simulator for Neural Networks and Action Potentials) and more complex neural networks. The network consists of a Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) neuron exciting gi_6 and gi_7 integrate-and-fire neurons through ... Read More

Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell and a major component of the innate immune system. To study their function, they can be isolated from several parts of the body including blood and the oral cavity. Previous work suggests that blood-derived neutrophils function similar to oral neutrophils, with no major differences in quality. Our lab currently isolates neutrophils from ... Read More

Anastomosis is a medical procedure involving the attachment of two channels, often between blood vessels or two loops of the intestine, as treatment for blocked channels or diseased tissues. When attaching channels, specific points require an incision and deformation of the tissue, which forms conical structures. Due to the resultant structures, localized stress points form. These stress points can lead ... Read More

DDX18 is a member of the DEAD-box RNA helicases. As a nucleolar protein, DDX18 helps maintain the stemness of cells through positively regulating ribosome synthesis. Higher expression of DDX18 is associated with tumor growth from multiple tissue origins. Proximity labeling in tandem with mass spectroscopy revealed interaction between DDX18 and centromeric protein CENPA. It has been previously demonstrated that centromeres ... Read More

State Representative Barbara Hernandez aids her constituents by writing legislation, meeting their concerns, and organizing events. As her intern, I focus on helping to research legislation, resolving the issues of her constituents, and managing her social media. One of my main responsibilities is to answer phone calls, emails, and letters. Most of these express an issue that the constituent faces, ... Read More

Protein dynamics play critical roles in biological functions such as enzyme catalysis, signal transduction, and molecular interactions. Thus, dynamics become vital when modeling binding pocket stability during drug development. While experimental methods like X-ray crystallography, NMR, and Cryo-EM provide valuable structural insights, they remain time-consuming, expensive, and infeasible for complex protein types. Molecular dynamics simulations offer computational alternatives but demand ... Read More

Ballistic injuries are a leading cause of penetrating brain injury (PBI) worldwide. PBI is associated with a myriad of complications including seizure. An estimated 26,871 cases of PBI were reported in the United States over five years, and the incidence of post-traumatic seizures estimated at 1 in 50. Despite the presumed high prevalence of seizures in this patient population, there ... Read More

Understanding and identifying distinct morphological features of cells is crucial for studying cancer progression and treatment response. This project specifically focuses on Pancreatic cancer cells as the cancer remains one of the deadliest malignancies, with a five-year survival rate below 10%. Recently, the FDA approved the drug Sotorasib to treat cancers with the mutation KRAS G12C, which Pancreatic cancer cells ... Read More

Women wanting to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) face biases throughout their careers, from discouragement in childhood education to discrimination in the workplace. We designed The Gender Paradox to engage elementary through high school girls and bring light to the gender biases surrounding women passionate about pursuing a STEM career. Our research aims to address biological ... Read More

Cemcon is a civil engineering consulting firm that specializes in subdivision design and has ongoing projects across northern Illinois. During the course of my internship, I have assisted in the development of subdivision plans through tasks like analyzing site drainage and overland flood routes, modeling channel cross sections, conducting cost analyses, completing time of concentration and curve number calculations, verifying ... Read More

Mastication, or mammalian chewing, is the cyclic breakdown of the food bolus between the molars. Effective chewing consists of tight coordination of lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue modulated via sensorimotor integration of tongue movement and sensation. Compromised chewing leads to risks, including digestive issues, malnutrition, and potential impacts on mental well-being and cognitive function. However, the biomechanical mechanisms driving tongue ... Read More

Taste sensation is used to detect nutritious foods and avoid potentially toxic ones. Different animals have evolved varying tongue morphologies to match their ecological niche. For example, ferrets have evolved to have papillae and taste buds to best suit their diet consisting of small mammals like rabbits, rodents, and eggs often found in wooded areas and marshes where ferrets reside. ... Read More

In proton therapy, treatment planning is reliant on the accurate prediction of relative stopping power (RSP) to calculate the proton range necessary to sufficiently treat the target volume and minimize the dose given to healthy tissue and organs at risk. However, uncertainties resulting from approximations made in the calculation of RSP from CT numbers necessitates the use of 2.5%-3.5% range ... Read More

Computational Modeling (CM) plays a crucial role in studying neuromuscular disease by aiding in the study of the effects of diseases and predicting the effectiveness of new treatments, with simulations and informed decision making through cross validation. The Neuromuscular Junction (NMJ) is a specialized synapse where motor neurons communicate with skeletal muscle fibers, enabling muscle contraction. The goal of this ... Read More

Modern life is composed of compartmentalization, genetics, metabolism, and self- replication. The precursors to all of this are thought to be protocells, simpler cells that have a lipid membrane with RNA on the inside. This report focuses on the lipid membrane aspect of protocells. Protocells can be made spontaneously if the right environmental conditions are met (eg. pH and concentration ... Read More

African American and Hispanic women world-wide are more likely to exhibit a worse outcome from triple negative breast cancer (TBNC), which is why new therapeutics are desperately needed. Interestingly, their cells uniquely overexpress the potassium ion channel, Kv11.1, which affects mechanisms regulating cell proliferation and metastasis. A study by the Minshall lab showed that a drug called NS1643 activates Kv11.1 ... Read More

This project involved the 1-step synthesis and characterization of osmium complexes following the chemical formula, (R-,R′-bpy)Os(Cl)2(=O)2, where R represents a variety of carbon-based groups such as tert-butyl (–C(CH3)3), methoxy (–OCH3), and trifluoromethyl (–C(CF3)3). These osmium complexes are a marked improvement over osmium tetroxide, which is volatile and extremely hazardous. Furthermore, previous studies of these complexes were limited to stoichiometric use ... Read More

The main objective of this project is to study neutrino interaction in the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), mainly those between muon neutrinos and argon atoms, producing final state particles in the detector. Event simulation software based on GENIE and GIANT4 are used to simulate the neutrino interactions that take place in the ArgonCube 2x2 Demonstrator, the novel type ... Read More

Strong machine learning models for identifying fake news have been developed due to the spread of false information in digital news outlets. Using a labeled dataset, this study investigates how well different classification and embedding strategies can differentiate between fake and authentic news. We compare deep learning designs like convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transformers with conventional machine learning classifiers ... Read More

Microglia are resident brain macrophages that modulate the release of cytokines to mediate neuroinflammation. Conversely, they may release inflammatory mediators that promote protein aggregation and neuronal damage in neurodegenerative diseases. Furthermore, challenges with obtaining mature microglia reprogrammed from inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hinder the ability to accurately understand their role in neurodegenerative diseases in vitro. Our objective, therefore, is ... Read More

This paper aims to examine the complex interplay of bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP-9) with osteogenesis, osteosarcoma, and its many other functions in the arena of research and translation into clinical therapeutics. Six recombinant adenovirus lines containing different heparin-binding (HB) domains that can increase the osteogenic activity of BMP-9 were constructed and then separated into two groups. One group of ... Read More

Four-dimensional quantum field theories with N=2 supersymmetry provide a rich theoretical laboratory to test general ideas about quantum field theory. A large class of such theories, known as Class S, arise from compactification of a six-dimensional N = (2,0) theory on a punctured Riemann surface. The N = (2,0) theories have an ADE classification, and those of type A,D, and ... Read More

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men and ranks sixth in cancer-related mortalities. One avenue of research aims to demonstrate how mutations in the more clinically mutated HOXB13 affect MEIS1’s impact in regulating proteoglycans decorin and lumican in castration resistant prostate cancer. The lab has already demonstrated MEIS1-HOXB13’s role in impacting decorin and lumican; however, it is ... Read More

Intramembranous bone regeneration is an essential process for skeletal repair involving the direct differentiation of mesenchymal cells into osteoblasts. This study examines the formation of osteoblasts after marrow ablation surgery, a controlled injury model, to build understanding of intramembranous bone regeneration in haplotype mice, and how genetic variation may influence regenerative capabilities. Following surgery, femur samples were collected, frozen in ... Read More

The study investigates how localized geometric constraints affect the conformations adopted by the amino acid side-chain dihedral angles in proteins. Without knowledge of the fundamental principles upon which protein structure rests, no protein can be designed, nor mutations in natural proteins analyzed. The specific aim is to establish the importance of geometry and physicochemical properties toward dihedral angle combinations by ... Read More

Three-dimensional Gaussian Splatting (3D GS) is a state-of-the-art rendering method designed to optimize computational efficiency in three-dimensional scene representation by using learnable Gaussians. Its predecessor, Neral Radiance Fields (NeRF), offers high accuracy but is computationally intensive. 3D GS reduces the required computational power by simplifying NeRF’s fivedimensional coordinate system into Gaussians that represent color and density. This research investigates the ... Read More

Crohn’s disease (CD) has evolved into a global health challenge, underscoring the need for new therapeutic strategies. The pathogenesis of CD is complex and multifactorial, involving gut epithelial barrier defects, dysregulated immune responses, and a dysbiotic microbiota. Prior studies show that Bifidobacterium longum, a common gut commensal, is depleted in CD patients, but its mechanisms in intestinal immune system regulation ... Read More

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus that impacts the retinal vasculature, leading to progressive vision impairment and potential blindness if left untreated. This study investigates the efficacy of automated segmentation techniques in the evaluation of DR severity. The objective is to establish a precise and efficient methodology for the quantification of critical retinal biomarkers, including blood ... Read More

Climate change threatens the security of the agricultural industry, by reducing worldwide yields and requiring more resources to fight drought and disease. A novel technology, oxidative hydrothermal dissolution (OHD), is a process that can convert water-insoluble waste biomass into water-soluble low molecular weight molecules that act as a biostimulant. Biostimulants are an emerging alternative to overused agrochemical fertilizers and have ... Read More

The efficacy of chemotherapeutic drug regimens has been a longstanding concern for cancer treatments, highlighting the need for research on how they could become more effective. A possible answer could lie in the field of epitranscriptomics, in which chemical modifications are made to RNA to affect gene expression. In this study, we aimed to find the effects of drug treatment ... Read More

The nucleolus is a membraneless subnuclear structure involved in ribosome biogenesis and cell regulation. This study aimed to determine whether nucleolar conditions reflect viral stresses in other parts of the cell. Human cells were infected with the H1N1 virus, and ARTR-seq was used to enrich nucleolar RNA for sequencing. Sequenced transcripts were mapped to the human genome, followed by differential ... Read More