Kendall Fitzgerald

One of the most ambitious expeditions in the history of UC Berkeley has yet to be completed. In 1947, the University of California Africa Expedition, led by researchers from the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, set out for southern Africa to collect fossils from early hominid sites. However, upon their return, many of the micro-mammal fossils were stored away without being properly examined or categorized. My project will focus on a subset of this wealth of Plio-Pleistocene fossils: the shrew fossils (family Soricidae). Though sometimes overlooked, these small mammals have […]

Peter Ren

The AAA+ proteins (ATPases Associated with a variety of cellular Activities) are a highly diverse and ancient protein superfamily present in all organisms and are involved in such processes such as DNA replication, protein degradation, and metal insertion in protein synthesis. AAA+ proteins have some conserved features, including an oligomeric ring structure that exhibits inter-protomer cooperativitythat is to say, the hydrolysis of ATP in one subunit causes the preferential hydrolysis of ATP in the other subunits, making for a more efficient channeling of energy from ATP when switching states. While […]

Zoe Kiely

Much of modern life has become intertwined with disclosing personal information to third parties. Email, social media, GPS, search history, etc., all contain intimate parts of ourselves, but this information is under third-party control. Traditional Fourth Amendment guarantees of persons, houses, papers, and effects are increasingly more difficult to protect when the boundaries of self have evolved beyond our own individual body and belongings and into a digital space controlled by third parties. With this friction between between the limits of identity and third-party controlled personal information, individual privacy has […]

Namrata Ramesh

Superlattices of colloidal nanocrystals are a new class of materials that have been made to self-assemble from a liquid suspension. Their high compositional tunability results in a range of electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. Strong coupling of nanocrystals in the superlattice – a very recent advance – leads to dramatic changes in their energy levels and, consequently, their optical properties. Particularly in semiconductor nanocrystal superlattices, understanding how the coupling of nanocrystals affects the optical gap will fine-tune these already promising optoelectronic materials for many applications. This, along with the comparatively […]

Rimjhim Agarwal

Dengue virus (DENV) is the leading cause of death in dengue-endemic areas. An infection resulting from DENV can manifest as serious human disease, such as Dengue hemorrhagic fever or Dengue shock syndrome. Currently there is no effective vaccine to prevent the infection. My project seeks to understand critical host-virus interactions between DENV and multi-protein innate immune cytosolic complexes called inflammasomes, which initiate downstream proinflammatory signaling. Inflammasomes are typically thought to detect pathogen-encoded ligands. In contrast, NLRP1the focus of this proposaldetects protease activity. I will be focusing on the molecular determinants […]

Kathryn Li

During cell division, many cellular materials cannot be produced de novo and therefore must be partitioned equally between the two daughter cells. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, material produced in the mother cell must be actively transported to the growing daughter cell during cell division. Molecular pathways of how individual organelles are transported to the daughter cell have been well characterized. However, recent studies have shown that cellular organelles are largely interconnected, suggesting that they exist more as an extensive network rather than independent entities. My research aims to […]

Andrew Chen

CRISPR-Cas9 is a versatile genome-editing technology that is widely used to modify genome sequences linked to genetic abnormalities. Often, the CRISPR-Cas9 system is used to target or repair disease-causing versions of genes, delete fragments of unwanted DNA, and insert therapeutic gene sequences to treat diseases. However, many studies have shown that CRISPR-Cas9 can cause unexpected mutations and genomic rearrangements in untargeted sites. My research aims to develop a self-inactivation system in effort to limit long-term expression of nuclease-editing protein Cas9 while still maximizing its on-target cuts and reducing off-target effects. […]

Emma Tao

Are you excited by Virtual Reality (VR) and Immersive Experiences (IE)? Do you like 3D modeling and simulations of the built environment? How about preparing content to set up a lab experiment involving aspects from all of these? Virtual Reality (VR) is an interactive three-dimensional computer-generated experience that takes place within a simulated environment that can be explored through a variety of peripheral devices such as VR headsets. We will use an evidence-based design (EBD) approach, of basing decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best […]

Lara Rostomian

When looking into the topic of family planning in Armenia, I was disappointed to see the limited and outdated literature available. This data, nearly two decades old, indicated high abortion rates coupled with low modern contraceptive prevalence. Making this discovery ignited my interest in conducting survey-based research to assess Armenian womens knowledge and attitudes towards modern contraception; explore the barriers these women face in seeking contraception; and ultimately uncover why women in Armenia seem to use abortion as their main method of family planning. Studying womens sexual and reproductive health […]

Savannah Cragin

Privacy is one of the central issues of our time. All things being equal, we assume that most people prefer privacy; it is a foundational right enshrined in the penumbras of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th amendments of the U.S. constitution as well as in several state constitutions (including those of California, Massachusetts, and Washington) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite our appreciation of privacy, police officers wear body cameras, customer loyalty programs track purchases, and the Transportation Safety Administration performs full body scans. This […]