Genome-wide association studies indicate that the sequence polymorphism rs6983267 located in the 8q24 risk locus correlates with increased risk for colorectal, prostate, breast and ovarian cancers. This region is particularly interesting because it is located in a ‘gene desert’ in which no expressed genes are known; however, several reports suggest that it functions as an enhancer that regulates the expression of the Myc oncogene located more than 300 kilobases away from rs6983267. The enhancer region also contains a binding site for CTCF, a factor known for its contributions to long-distance chromosomal interactions and gene regulation. Here, we aim to elucidate the specific function of CTCF located close to the rs6983267 sequence variation in DLD1-colorectal cells. We test the hypothesis that the CTCF element at the 8q24 risk region is required for a physical interaction between the enhancer of the 8q24 risk locus and the Myc gene. This hypothesis predicts that deletion of the CTCF binding site will yield reduced Myc expression. In our study we introduced a series of genomic modifications with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) to generate site-specific deletions and to examine CTCF’s role in long-range chromosomal interactions at the 8q24 locus. Mutant cell lines were developed with modifications on either one or both 8q24 alleles in the colorectal cancer cell line DLD1. Cell growth characteristics, gene expression and chromosome conformation capture (3C) experiments will be performed to better understand the functional and physical interaction between the 8q24 risk locus and the Myc gene.

A trend of severe drought and bushfires due to climate change has led to extensive tree death and declines in arboreal marsupial populations at two sites, Minerva Hills and Wallalee, near Springsure, central Queensland, Australia, over the past decade. Researcher observations that the population dynamics may have shifted to domination by common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were the impetus for this study, which set out to establish baseline data for future monitoring. This study investigated how the vegetation and populations of koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), greater gliders (Petauroides volans), and common brushtail possums have changed since the last studies, and what may have caused the changes. Spotlighting and listening surveys were conducted at each site, and a vegetation survey was also carried out using the point-quarter nearest neighbour method. At Minerva Hills, the greater glider population has declined and the koala population has almost fallen below detectable levels. Common brushtail possums, on the other hand, have had a population boom. The decline of greater gliders and koalas and subsequent increase of common brushtail possums was attributed to a recent bushfire, though previous droughts may also have had an effect. The Wallalee site was almost empty of arboreal marsupials and the vegetation reflected recent floods and previous clearing for agriculture. Recommendations for conservation included management of bushfires and connecting habitat fragments. It was concluded that the best method to protect the populations in these areas would be to combat climate change, and thus lessen the severity of drought, bushfires, and flooding.

Multiculturalism has been a progressively addressed topic in psychology. While there has been a collection of empirical literatures on bicultural conflict relying on explicit measures, not much has been done to explore the topic of bicultural conflict with implicit measures. Although self-report measures, such as Bicultural Identity Integration Scale-2, are effective in measuring bicultural conflict, there are always limitations when subjects fail to report accurately. This research answers 1) whether it is possible to measure bicultural conflict implicitly, and if so, then 2) how explicit and implicit measures of bicultural conflict correlate. We took advantage of the large size of Chinese American and Chinese international student body at the University of Washington to test our theories. This research uses a balanced identity design that includes three Implicit Association Tests (IATs). The three pairs of concepts in our balanced identity design are “self” and “other,” “China” and “U.S.,” and “family” and “college life.” Our hypothesis was that a more unbalanced identity is associated with a higher level of bicultural conflict. The balanced-ness of an identity is calculated with mathematical algorithms from the three IAT scores. The level of bicultural conflict was scored based on several explicit measures—Bicultural Identity Integration Scale-2, Vancouver Index Acculturation, Multi-Item Identification, and a cultural value ranking survey. This research tests a new method to implicitly measure people’s bicultural conflict by correlating the balanced-ness of one’s identity and the level of one’s bicultural conflict. This research calls for future studies to examine the effect(s) of bicultural conflict by making correlations between people’s implicit bicultural conflict and other aspects of their lives. Since implicit measures are powerful in detecting things people are not aware about themselves, these studies are helpful in developing coping mechanisms to help foreigners and immigrants.

Evaluative priming (EP) is an unobtrusive measure of attitude.  Participants' responses to a target stimulus (a face) are either facilitated or slowed by immediate prior exposure to a prime (pleasant or unpleasant word). If pleasant primes ellicit speedy responses to faces of one social category more so than faces of another, this is interpreted as preference for the first category. Unfortunately, EP has been plagued by low internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity with other measures. The present project proposes a modification to EP procedure, known as homogeneous blocks priming (HBP). In HBP, prime-target pairs consistent with prevailing attitudes (such as pleasant+young and unpleasant+old) are presented in one block, while prime-target pairs that are inconsistent with prevailing attitudes (pleasant+old and unpleasant+young) are presented in a different block. Previous research has hinted that HBP will outperform traditional EP procedures, but they have never been compared within the same experiment. The present experiment tests age attitudes using a traditional EP measure, the new HBP measure, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT), a much more widely used implicit measure of attitude. HBP and traditional EP will be compared on the basis of internal consistency, reliability, and correlation with the IAT. The study is ongoing now, but pilot data reveal that the HBP task correlates more strongly with the IAT than EP does, and the HBP effect size is especially strong for participants who respond very rapidly.