Mitochondria are essential organelles in eukaryotic cells and are most commonly known for their prominent role in energy production. In addition, mitochondria are involved in other important cellular processes such as lipid biosynthesis and apoptotic cell death. Mitochondria also have dynamic properties including fusion, division, and movement, which are all essential to maintain mitochondrial function. Given the plethora of essential cellular activities that require mitochondrial function, it is not surprising that defects in mitochondrial function are implicated in many different human diseases and disorders including diabetes and myopathies. Mitochondrial movement is important for the distribution of mitochondria, which is important in all cells, but especially important for asymmetric cells such as neurons. Transport is also required for mitochondrial fusion – the two organelles must move close enough to each other to fuse. Mitochondrial fusion in particular is required to maintain mitochondrial DNA and therefore, mitochondrial function. We are interested in the mechanism of mitochondrial movement and the connection between mitochondrial fusion and transport. Mitochondria move on microtubules using a complex of proteins. Miro 1 and Miro 2 are anchored to the mitochondrial outer membrane and interact with two adaptor proteins, TRAK1 and TRAK2. The TRAK proteins also interact with Kinesin, which binds to the microtubules and mediates microtubule-directed movement. Understanding the assembly and regulation of this complex and the stoichiometry of its components will provide insights into the mechanism of microtubule-directed mitochondrial movement. Our goal is to clone TRAK1 and TRAK2 complementary DNA (cDNA) into expression vectors for protein production in Escherichia coli cells and then to develop a purification protocol for TRAK1 and TRAK2. This will facilitate biochemical analysis of the mitochondrial motility complex.

Art, and the process of creative expression, has been used for centuries to catalog unique cultural traditions within regions. Perspective, compostition, and style are present in unique combinations within artwork and serve to give a strong sense of trends and values within a community. By applying the study of geography to art, a richer understanding of place begins to emerge: history, inhabitants, nature, and social processes are all expressed together in the same space. I have utilized this method of analysis, by specifically examining use of materials within the art, in order to examine cultural trends within the Pacific Northwest (PNW). I began by cataloging artists of the PNW, beginning in the early 20th century, studying material use and application of such in order to build a background. Next, I observed the trends of current artists within the region in order to observe shifting trends in artistic materials and use. In the final step of my research, I used material of my choice to create a work of art: a physical manifestation of my experience as a native Washingtonian. This last step was taken as a full participant in order to connect with my research in a more significant light. The overall purpose of my research is two-fold: 1) to understand past and present regional memes within the PNW, and 2) to understand the presence of regional trends within choice of material. This type of geographic analysis, utilizing artistic expression, contributes to the current body of knowlege by examining material as the singe substance of cultural meaning. Artists within the PNW have focused their work to reflect the presence of Native Americanism, light, nature, and Asian influences, and analyzing the materials within these works will uncover yet another layer of understanding what ties the region of the PNW together.

Recently King County Metro has announced plans to cut 17% of its transit service due to a $75 million deficit. Assuming that no sufficient transportation financing package is developed, Metro will have to proceed with these cuts by the end of this year. Taking this as a case study, this project develops and compares different transportation network models for optimizing equity and efficiency in the distribution of bus service in King County. Extending upon previous work, this project aims to produce a new model for optimizing decision-making and critique current methodologies for equitably allocating public transit resources. The research question is: How can we develop a transportation model in which route cuts and reductions will be designed to minimize the impact on equity and efficiency of service? An origin-destination network model will be produced using ArcGIS software and Python scripting to analyze spatially aggregated need for transit within King County. Data include 2012 ridership statistics from Metro as well as transit corridor data. Also, demographic data for identifying and locating marginalized populations will be obtained from King County census blockgroups. I predict that results will show that no self-purported objective transit network model is truly unbiased with respect to the different demographic groups it impacts.

Matters of safety and vulnerability in the public sphere have dominated much of the discourse in both everyday queer media and scholarship in queer geography, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals continue to face often violent discrimination in public spaces. This project, while acknowledging the difficulty other researchers have discovered in defining what and where queer space is, addresses a gap within queer geography. Little research has been done to analyze the contradiction that lies in the conceptualization many individuals have of “queer spaces” as sites of safety and sites of increased vulnerability. Therefore this research seeks to explore how is safety conceptualized for queer individuals in spaces identified as queer or heterosexual and examine how these different conceptualizations affect how spaces are identified and sexualized. Personalized maps are used to deconstruct a static geography of sexualized space in Seattle and qualitative interviews with LGBTQ-identified Seattle residents are coded and thematically analyzed for patterns of how a subjective geography of un/safe is constructed by queer individuals. This research highlights the importance of lived experiences in how space is categorized and perceived, as well as the complicated relationship between the socio-cultural environment and individual identities in creating these perceptions.

Brasília, the capital of Brazil, was constructed primarily by a migrant labor force in the late 1950s. Brasília was intended to be a modernist utopia meant to transform Brazilian society for the better. The capital, which was planned for a maximum population of 500,000, now has nearly 2.8 million inhabitants. This growth can be attributed to consistently high rates of internal migration from Brazil’s rural areas. Over 80% of the Brazilian population now lives in urban areas of the country, compared to less than 40% at the time of Brasília’s construction in the 1950s. This influx of migrants has led to severe shortages in suitable housing, leading to a steady rise in the number of slums and squatter settlements across the country. While much research has been done on the impact of internal migration in Brazil’s two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, comparatively little research has been done on Brasília. Through statistical and spatial analysis of Brazilian census data and with the help of geographic information systems software, this project builds a historical profile of internal migration to Brasília and examines changes in internal migration flows since the late 1950s. Additionally I analyze the spatial distribution of the migrant population around the metropolitan area of Brasília with an examination of the descriptive spatial statistics of the population in addition to an analysis of the residential segregation of both short-term (living in Brasília less than ten years) and long-term (more than ten years) migrants. Preliminary results suggest that, since the original construction of Brasília, internal migrants have consistently and overwhelmingly originated from states in Brazil’s impoverished northeast region and have usually settled in the outlying satellite cities of the Brasília metropolitan area.

M dwarfs are small stars with masses between 10 and 50% that of the Sun. They are also the most common, making up about 70% of the stars in our galaxy, and are noted for their high levels of magnetic activity. Stellar flares are a dramatic manifestation of this activity, and occur frequently on M dwarfs. Flares are explosive events resulting from rearranging magnetic fields on the stellar surface. We used data from the Kepler satellite to search for flares from a binary M dwarf system, named GJ 1245. With more than 8 months of continuous imaging, taken every 1-minute, we detected over 3,000 flare events from these twin stars. We conducted a by-eye search of this data to validate our automatic flare-finding code. We present the energy distribution and morphology for flares on these stars, and compare them to other well studied flare stars from Kepler. The long term goal is to train the automatic flare-finding code to run without the need for human validation, and thus to study tens of thousands of stars. By studying the statistical properties of flares on many M dwarfs, we will further our understanding of stellar magnetic activity and how flares are affected by the internal magnetic dynamo.

The discipline of Pathology has an enormous scope and students are constantly challenged to determine which topics are essential for clinical patient care and for the National Medical Board exams. There is a significant gap between the material presented in pathology textbooks and the material outlined in medical board review books. In addition, much of the practical knowledge that is most useful for medical students and physicians falls in between this gap. To address this need, we created PocketPath, a web-based modular teaching system, to help students and physicians consume Pathology material more efficiently. PocketPath is designed in an easy to read format that delivers an optimal amount of high yield pathology content, which includes USMLE Step 1 Board Review-style questions and important research papers. Using student surveys, interviews and web usage data, we determined how students consumed PocketPath’s content and improved their pathology test scores. Initial data suggests that PocketPath may replace lecture time, promote active learning, and potentially change the way students prepare for Board exams.