Anthony Chen
Numerical linear algebra underlies much of the modern world. It is essential to a wide variety situations, and as such, it is of great interest to analyze and optimize the underlying algorithms. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in optimizing algorithms to reduce communication, which is frequently many orders of magnitude slower than performing calculations. The Hlder-Brascamp-Lieb inequality and the Red-Blue Pebbling Game are two powerful approaches to theoretical analysis of communication, and both are used to derive communication optimal lower bounds. Once these bounds have been […]
Amir Moayed
Filopodia are finger-like actin based extensions in migrating cells. These cytoplasmic projections are involved in perceiving the environment, interacting with extracellular particles for phagocytosis, anchoring the cell to the substratum, and responding to chemoattractants. In eukaryotic cells, proper actin organization and interaction with the membrane and binding proteins is crucial for filopodia function. Despite having a general understanding of the various functions associated with filopodia, there is not much known about how actin organization and interaction with the membrane at the leading edge allows the cell to carry out these […]
Miles Mellott
The complement system is a function of the innate immune system a group of proteins in the blood that target, mark, and destroy potential pathogens, as well as modulating the response of immune cells. Most viruses must interfere with its activity in order to infect someone, but the mechanism of interactions remains largely uncharacterized. My project seeks to specifically identify and characterize the interactions of Human Cytomegalovirus proteins with the complement protein MBL1 (Mannose-Binding Lectin) by use of a yeast-two-hybrid protein interaction assay. This assay can determine if a given […]
Zihang Wang
My research topic is inspired by the recent discovery of some novel properties in superconductivity and mott-like insulating behavior of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). In general, there exist a variety of twisted systems that may exhibit similar behavior as TBG (such as -RuCl3). My goal is to test different twisted heterostructures optical and transport properties with a standardized exfoliation/ transfer method. Since making the twisted angle heterostructure is difficult to achieve accurately by hand, the first phase of my research is to motorize the transfer stage with full control of […]
Stuti Raizada
Nuclear physics aims to understand the properties of the strong force which describes how quarks and gluons, the constituents of protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms, interact with each other. It is one of the four fundamental forces. This force can be understood by studying a state of matter known as the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) which is created by colliding nuclei at very high energies. My project aims to measure correlations between particles formed with the QGP. I will analyze data produced by the ALICE (A Large Ion […]
Davy Deng
Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen often found in poorly preserved food , especially dairy products. L. monocytogenes can survive with or without oxygen as well as inside or outside of host cells. During infection, L. monocytogenes must pass through the low-oxygen environment in the intestines before entering the high-oxygen target tissue. It thus stands to reason that both aerobic and anaerobic growth processes might be important for L. monocytogenes pathogenesis. Recently, it has been shown that essential components of aerobic respiration are critical for intracellular replication in vivo. However, the […]
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 […]
Sakina Isadibir
The molecular basis of adaptation and differentiation is one of the most important, yet least understood, areas in evolutionary biology. Color polymorphic systems are a valuable, visual tool for such studies, allowing allele numbers, identities, and population frequencies to be estimated directly. In the spider family Theridiidae, discernible systems of discrete color polymorphisms have evolved independently across multiple taxa (Cotoras et al, 2017). Notably, both the Hawaiian Happy Face spider, Theridion grallator, and its fairly distant Californian relative Theridion californicum, have convergently evolved color polymorphism. For these spiders, apostatic selection […]
Zoe Lung
Meiosis is an essential cell division process that involves the reduction of chromosome number, thus creating haploid cells from diploid cells. Since mistakes in this process can lead to aneuploidy and many genetic defects such as cancer, this division is highly regulated and consists of many regulatory checkpoints. One such checkpoint, referred to as the synaptic checkpoint, is necessary during the early stages of meiosis when chromosomes are paired with homologous partners prior to segregation. The specific mechanisms that are involved in regulating this particular checkpoint still remain unknown. Recently, […]
Noah Stevenson
Theoretical and experimental evidence suggests harnessing quantum mechanics to execute algorithms on qubit-based quantum hardware may allow for computation exponentially more powerful than is possible with classical computers. Characterizing how qubit states evolve in time is imperative for benchmarking quantum hardware; however, this has been difficult due to the inability to fully measure a quantum state without disrupting it. A solution is weak measurement, which recent work has improved for a single qubit by leveraging the data-processing power of a recurrent neural network (RNN). The time-evolution of qubits exchanging information […]