In 1737, Gaspar Miguel de Berrio painted El Patrocinio de San José. Now housed in La Casa Nacional de Moneda de Bolivia, the canvas is one of reverent exuberance. In an aura of golden sand, Saint Joseph’s cloak gently shelters earthbound saints, separating them from the ethereal realm above. The holy figures appear attentive to Christ’s foster father, raptly gazing at the golden glinting figure. Like other Andean Baroque painters, de Berrio juxtaposed European and Pre-Columbian details, though his paintings in particular are exceptional in their subtle yet innovative reappropriations and combinations of motifs. In this presentation, I explore de Berrio’s choice to enclose the saints surrounding Joseph in relationship to Medieval images of the Virgin Mary. Though this connection has been marginally noted in the literature, a proper study of such a striking feature remains necessary to understand the adoption and modification of European iconography by Andean Baroque artists. Studying de Berrio’s oeuvre in relationship to European references, I argue that Gaspar Miguel de Berrio not only intentionally depicted Saint Joseph in a manner similar those medieval virgins in his El Patrocinio de San José , but that this artistic choice reveals the power of the Cult of Saint Joseph in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

 Diabetes affects about 10% of the US population and is the 7th leading cause of death. Diabetes results from either a lack of insulin production (Type 1) or resistance to it (Type 2). The active form of insulin is a 51 amino acid monomer which regulates homeostasis of blood-glucose levels. It is crucial for insulin to be structurally sound and not degraded, especially for people using insulin pumps. However, insulin has a shelf life of about 28 days unopened and only 14 days after opening the container. Efforts to improve the stability of insulin may facilitate the development of implantable pump technologies for insulin delivery and allow for longer storage of insulin. Based on a review of the literature, I hypothesize that solvation in an Ionic Liquid solution will decrease the degradation and increase the shelf-life of insulin. To better understand the stability of the insulin protein, I compared its activity at an air-water interface to an air-ionic liquid interface. The approach consists of modeling the structure of insulin using the simulation software GROMACS and PLUMED. 10 nanosecond trials in different air-liquid interfaces were then analyzed to optimize the best insulin backbone stability. The goal is to extrapolate an ammonium- or imidazolium-based ionic liquid solution that will decrease the aggregation of the insulin monomers. Compared to the bulk insulin form, we found that the ionic liquid-protein solution demonstrates a lower radius of gyration and a root-mean-square deviation value that levels out towards 1 Angstrom representing a stable protein. These results are also supported by a decreased hydrodynamic radius and an increased free energy of unfolding the insulin protein. These findings suggest that insulin in an ionic liquid solution will last longer in vitro than in a water-based solution.

Cysteine knot peptides (knottins) are small proteins found in a wide variety of organisms. Due to their durable cysteine knotted core and small size, knottins are a promising new drug scaffold. Optimized knottins (optides) bind with high specificity to certain cancer cell types indicating that optides have the potential to deliver drug payloads or be utilized as tumor imaging tools. In order to determine if optides are localizing to certain organs or tissues of interest they must be radiolabeled and injected in vivo. The goal of my project was to develop a method to recover radiolabeled optides from mouse plasma or tissue samples and confirm via liquid chromatography that the optides are intact and reaching their target. I developed a column chromatography extraction technique that filtered out plasma proteins in order to recover optides. Analysis of the optides using high performance liquid chromatography showed high recovery rates and preserved structural integrity. The second phase of the project was to do a plasma stability assay. I incubated samples in mouse plasma over a time course and used the extraction method to determine if samples were degraded by plasma proteases and found that there was no visible degradation after incubation. This project set the groundwork for a more detailed examination of optide modifications that could lead to longer optide half-life in plasma and greater drug delivery. This recovery technique is a critical tool for analyzing the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of optide drug candidates. 

Ionic liquids (ILs) are well known to cause a range of interesting effects on proteins and enzymes. However, there is still much to be done to understand the molecular scale mechanisms of these processes. Using molecular dynamics (MD), we have studied how several IL solutions change the structure and behavior of two short, model, Leucine-Lysine (LK) composed peptides at a hydrophobic interface. These peptides - LKalpha14 and LKbeta15 - have been researched extensively through experiment and simulations in water, but have not yet been examined when exposed to ILs. In our study we found that the two 50% 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium solutions we tested had a substantial effect on both the secondary structure and surface affinity of our peptides when compared to water. IL solutions reduced the adsorption affinity of both LKalpha14 and LKbeta15 for the interface, while also preventing LKbeta15 from forming extended beta sheet structures. In place of these beta sheet structures, we observed the formation of a L-alpha-like helix for lone LKbeta15 peptides at the interface. IL presence also had a subtle effect on LKalpha14’s strong alpha helical character, reducing it for interface bound peptides and increasing it for peptides in bulk solution. This work provides several new testable hypothesis about IL action on biomolecule structure that can be studied in detail using surface techniques such as sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy.

The marble plaque showing parturition scene, from 400BC-300CE Ostia, Italy, depicts three women attending to a mother in the midst of her labor. On the left, one of the assistants holds a newborn with cloth covered hands as she observes the midwife delivering the placenta. The final attendant rings out a cloth as she locks eyes with the mother. The marble’s poignant composition draws the viewer in with its forceful narrative of childbirth. Despite its uniqueness and significance, this artwork has been neglected in the scholarship. In order to supplement the resulting deficiency, in my presentation I explore the plaque in relationship to Roman midwifery practices through period visual and literary sources. Paying special attention to the medical writings of Soranus of Ephesus, my inquiry delves into the qualifications of Roman midwives, their training, social status, and prestige. The dynamic and naturalistic aspects of the piece articulates a careful attention to Roman obstetrical, medical knowledge. Moreover, the relief demonstrates the esteem midwives held in Roman society, which is especially relevant considering the funerary function of this relief. The status of midwives is in itself a debated topic in the scholarship due to a lack of documentation, and therefore a careful study of the plaque is vital to our understanding of midwifery and childbirth in antiquity as well as its depiction in art.

Elevated levels of arsenic have been reported in surface waters of many urban lakes around the Puget Sound as a result of the widespread heavy metal contamination from the late ASARCO smelter in Ruston, Washington. Arsenic is a neurotoxin and carcinogen and a priority Superfund contaminant. However, the mobility and toxicity of arsenic is not fully understood. Physical and biogeochemical processes that lead to elevated arsenic concentrations in the water column and aquatic organisms have been studied well in thermally stratified lakes, but not in periodically mixed (polymictic) oxygenated lakes. This project examines the mobility, bioaccumulation and toxicity of arsenic in four urban lakes in south King County that range from seasonally stratified and oxygen depleted (anoxic) to polymictic and oxygenated (oxic). Specifically, we aim to discover why one of the lakes has elevated levels of arsenic (up to 40 ppb) in surface waters, yet regularly mixes and thus remains oxygenated. Typically, arsenic is only mobilized from sediments when a lake becomes anoxic during stratification. Monthly water quality parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and specific conductivity) were measured and water samples (alkalinity, chlorophyll, sulfide, iron, arsenic, and nutrients) were collected at multiple depths throughout the water column. Plankton samples were also collected using vertical net tows. Water and plankton samples were analyzed for dissolved and total arsenic (after digestion) by ICP-MS. Phytoplankton and zooplankton in polymictic oxic lakes accumulated more arsenic than plankton in thermally stratified lakes, even though aqueous arsenic concentrations were similar between the lakes. This data suggests that arsenic in polymictic urban lakes is not only bioavailable, but has the potential to travel up the food chain. This project aims to create a model for predicting arsenic bioavailability based on physical lake characteristics to better predict possible toxicity and, therefore, has important implications for lake management.

When Mount St. Helens erupted in May 1980, the landslide and subsequent tsunami deposited about 350,000 acre-feet of pyrolized trees into what was left of Spirit Lake. Today this log mat covers approximately 20% of the lake’s surface. While the ecological importance of large woody debris (LWD) has been well established in streams, there has been little research on the nutrient contributions from LWD to lakes. LWD is often removed from lakes for timber and recreational management. It can contribute nutrients to lakes in several ways: (1) through macroinvertebrate processing of the LWD; (2) through physical abrasion caused by wind; and (3) through the production and shedding of biofilm that establishes on the LWD. The resulting inputs may be a significant source of nutrients for oligotrophic (low nutrient) alpine lakes, leading to greater primary productivity. To measure nutrient inputs to Spirit Lake from the floating log mat, three collection sites, representing areas frequently under the log mat or with no log mat coverage, were instrumented with triplicate sediment traps. Sediment traps were also placed under two ~400 ft2 artificial log mats anchored in place in protected bays in the lake. Total inputs of C, N, and P were measured by CHN analysis or ICP-OES. Results were very location specific. The fixed log mat in Donnybrook Cove produced lower C, N and P than was collected nearby by the traps influenced heavily by the mobile natural log mat. In Duck Bay, a warm, organic-rich area of the lake protected from the natural log mat, C and N were greater under the log mat, while P was greater in open water. By understanding the influence of LWD on nutrient cycling in lakes, this study may influence future management decisions concerning the removal or addition of LWD in aquatic environments.

Phytoremediation, a plant-based green technology for cleaning hazardous waste sites, has received increasing attention in recent decades. In the 1980s, early research was successful in identifying hyperaccumulators, plants that are able to take up large quantities of available metal contaminants. Subsequent research has identified plant species as likely candidates for arsenic phytoremediation specifically. The ability of vastly different plant species to successfully take up arsenic suggests that multiple modes for entry into the plant exist. Using a broad approach, this experiment focuses on the possibility for different aquatic plants to take up arsenic from their environments, namely contaminated urban lakes. Identification of plant species with the ability to accumulate higher concentrations of arsenic will lead to possible remediation recommendations. This study focuses on the “zone of deposition” for the former ASARCO smelter, located in Ruston, Washington. We collected emergent, floating, and submergent aquatic plant species from eleven lakes contaminated by aerial emissions from the smelter, which specialized in arsenic extraction from copper ores. After washing, drying and microwave-assisted acid digestion, plant samples were analyzed for total arsenic by ICP-MS. Results revealed floating plant species showed low to moderate arsenic removal with no detection of arsenic removal for nearly all emergent species. On the other hand, our results revealed that the highest concentrations of arsenic were consistently found in the submergent plant species, with concentrations exceeding 300 mg As/kg dry weight in milfoil in one lake. Experimental results indicate that submergent species should be studied further for potential use in phytoremediation of arsenic under field conditions.

The Puyallup River Outreach Project's (PROP) website functions as a reservoir of information pertaining to the Puyallup River Watershed. Overall, we wanted to improve user friendliness so that we could decrease the bounce rate (rate at which users leave the site after visiting one page). We conducted two usability tests. The first usability test gave target users a stack of cards to sort. Each card represents a page of content for the PROP’s website. The goal of this test was to find out how users would categorize our site's content in order to find a way to improve the efficiency of our site's hierarchy and organization. Overall, we found two primary issues identified by users from this usability test. First, most users were unsure of how to group the “Film Festival” with the other content. Having a direct link on the homepage would alleviate this confusion for users as identified by our A/B testing (comparing two versions of the site to see which performs better). Second, users grouped content differently than what was initially used. Most users made an “Organizations” heading or an “Events/Social” heading for site content. Based on these results, we conducted A/B testing comparing our previous headings (Watershed Library, Organization Library, Be a PROPER, and About Us) with new headings based on our card sorting results (Find Resources, Find Organizations, Get Involved, and About PROP). We found that the new headings had a higher success rate for completing tasks among users. The original bounce rate for the PROP website before implementing changes was 90.54%. After changes, the bounce rate decreased to 71.94%. We expect that these changes will increase public use of and traffic on the website and increase the initiative’s impact on regional environmental education in the future.

Arsenic is a neurotoxin and carcinogen and an important environmental pollutant in the South-Central Puget Sound region. Arsenic emitted by the former ASARCO smelter located in Ruston, Washington, has impacted a large number of lakes in the region via aerial deposition downwind. Previous research has shown that arsenic in some of these lakes is bioavailable, and high concentrations were measured in plankton. In this study we investigate the effect of phosphorus on the uptake of arsenic in Chironomidae larvae, freshwater benthic macro-invertebrates known as “blood worms.” These organisms are commonly found in the low oxygen bottom waters of urban lakes where arsenic concentrations are highest, and they are an important prey species for fish. We created microcosms to mimic two lakes in the region: Lake Killarney (a shallow, eutrophic, high-arsenic lake) and Waughop Lake (a shallow, eutrophic, low-arsenic lake) to examine the impact of phosphorus on arsenic mobility and bioavailability. In previous studies, it was found that a higher concentration of phosphorus, a common component of urban runoff, reduces arsenic uptake by aquatic organisms. Eight replicate experimental microcosms were created for each treatment by half-filling cylinders (5 cm diameter X 10 cm tall) with sediment collected from each lake and then filling the rest with phosphorus-augmented (0, 20, 50 or 100 mg P/L) lake water. After 24 hours of equilibration, five larvae were added to each microcosm. Microcosms were kept in the dark in a cold room at 10°C for approximately one month. Larvae were then removed, rinsed and frozen to euthanize. Samples were split and either dried, digested and analyzed for total arsenic by ICP-MS, or freeze-dried, homogenized and analyzed for metallothionein by HPLC. Our results will be discussed including their implications for arsenic bioavailability in urban lakes impacted by urban runoff.