SCSU Student Researchers Speak April 3

Four SCSU undergraduate researchers presented the results of their work on Sunday, April 3, 2005, at 7:00 pm in Room 205 Hodge Hall.

The talks are being sponsored by NASA funds from the CASS project, and represent a variety of research fields including astronomy, biology, chemistry and computer science. The students and their abstracts are:

ISOLATION AND PHENANTHRENE SCREENING OF SPHINGOMONAS STRAIN BPH TRANSCONJUGANTS

Sydnee Battles

Advisor: Dr. Waltena Simpson, Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, South Carolina State University

Phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) made of three fused benzene rings. Two novel strains of Sphingomonas, designated BPF and BPH, were recently isolated from a waste lagoon in Poland. Both BPF and BPH were found to degrade a variety of PAHs. As is typical of Sphingomonas, both strains were found to harbor plasmids. In an effort to identify specific genes in strain BPH responsible for phenanthrene degradation, a system of random transpositional mutagenesis was employed to create 625 transconjugants. All transconjugates were screened for their ability to utilize phenanthrene. To accomplish this, the transconjugants were replica plated onto R2A agar plates, oversprayed with a 2.5% solution of phenanthrene (solubilized in acetone:hexanes 1:1), and incubated for five (5) to seven (7) days at 28 °C. This overspray technique resulted in the production of a uniform layer of phenanthrene crystals being deposited onto the plate. Phenanthrene utilization was characterized by a clear zone surrounding a bacterial colony, indicating degradation of the phenanthrene crystals. Our screening did not allow us to identify Sphingomonas strain BPH transconjugants deficient in their ability to utilize phenanthrene. This work was supported in part through a subgrant to South Carolina State University fromTennessee State University's NASA/URC award NCCW-0085

3-D VISUALIZATION OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES WITH INTERACTIVE DATA LANGUAGE(IDL)

Deidrick Capers

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Cash, Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, South Carolina State University

My research project focuses on the 3-D visualization of a class of binary star systems known as cataclysmic variables. Cataclysmic variables are a binary star system in which the two stars within the system exchange material via an accretion stream. The visualization program, under development, models the two stars as well as the accretion stream in three dimensions. In addition to rendering 3-D images of the system the IDL program allows us to interactively view the system from different angles, zoom in and out, and contains an automotion feature which allows the system to be viewed as it rotates through its orbital motion. Along with the main program several Fortan 77 programs are in development which will be used to read in and analyze the massive data files describing the stars and accretion stream generated by the modeling programs. This work was supported in part through funding to South Carolina State University from NASA/MU-SPIN award NNG04GC40A, NASA/OSS award NNG04GD62G and a subgrant from Tennessee State University's NASA/URC award NCCW-0085.

DEVELOPING NANO-MATERIAL LUMINANCE SENSORS FOR G-QUARTET DNA

Kiera-Nicole Lee

Advisor: Dr. Rahina Mahtab, Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, South Carolina State University

In this experiment we have prepared protein-sized inorganic CdS nanoparticles enriched with Cd+2 cations to give the nanoparticle a positively charged surface. The method includes mixing an aqueous solution of Cd+2 salt with a S-2 source in the presence of a stabilizing agent through an arrested precipitation reaction. The Cd+2 enriched nanoparticle are then titrated with DNA. Nanoparticles exhibit photo luminescent. The quenching of the CdS photoluminescence indicates the degree of binding between DNA and CdS nanoparticles. They are being used as sensors to detect abnormal inherent DNA structures such as quinine quartets. Unusual DNA shapes such as quinine quartets are important biological signals for the end of the chromosome, and have implications for cancer detection. This work was supported in part through a subgrant to South Carolina State University fromTennessee State University's NASA/URC award NCCW-0085

DETERMINING THE PECULIAR VELOCITY OF GALAXIES FOUND IN SDSS

Jennifer Sanders

Advisor: Dr. Daniel Smith, Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, South Carolina State University

Large Scale Structure of the Universe is analyzed by plotting positions of galaxies and calculating the two-point correlation function, a fundamental statistic of the distribution of galaxies. An analysis of the two-point correlation function based on Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data allowed an observation of the effect of peculiar velocities. Contour plots were constructed to show the peculiar velocities due to small-scale gravitational attraction and large-scale infall of galaxies due to dark matter. This work was supported in part through funding to South Carolina State University from NASA/MU-SPIN award NNG04GC40A, NASA/OSS award NNG04GD62G and a subgrant from Tennessee State University's NASA/URC award NCCW-0085.

 

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