The BUGS class of 2021 came from an array of disciplines ranging from biomedical engineering, chemistry, human health, all the way to film production and cinematic animation. Below are the topics of their individual research projects as presented at the 2021 BUGS Finale Symposium.
Carol Alata
’23 USC Dornsife
Computational Neuroscience
PI: Jean-Marie Bouteiller
“Mitochondrial Motility Model and Neuronal Functioning”
Kevin Chyung
’22 USC Dornsife
Neuroscience
PI: Emily Liman
“Structural Mutagenesis of Otopetrin Protein Channels”
Xizhon Clare
’22 UC Riverside
Psychology/ Cognitive Neuroscience
PI: Jason Junge
“Understanding the Neurodegenerative Effects of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Using Transgenic Worms”
Shwetanshu Das
’23 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Carolyn Phillips
“Elucidating the role of F45D3.4 in C. elegans“
Dania Duran
’22 USC Viterbi
Electrical Engineering
PI: Raymond Yu
“Biological Opto-Mechanical Integrated Photonic Sensor Array”
Tessa Ferrari
’23 USC Dornsife
Quantitative Biology
PI: Vsevolod Katritch
“Structure Based Ligand Discovery for Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Receptors”
Catie He
’24 USC Dornsife
Chemistry, Chemical Biology
PI: Kate White
“Isolation of Insulin Vesicles for Biophysical Characterization”
Huanding Ji
’22 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry, Applied & Computational Mathematics
PI: Irene Chiolo
“Epigenetic influence on End-joining DSB repair Frequency in Drosophila”
Kairui Jiang
USC Viterbi
Biomedical Engineering
PI: Eun Ji Chung
“Nanomedicine for Kidney Disease”
Carli Kaleta
’23 USC Dornsife
Quantitative Biology
PI: Peter Kuhn
“Characterization of Multiple Myeloma Progression using High Resolution Single Cell Proteomics”
Varna Kanapuram
’24 USC Dornsife
Quantitative & Computational Biology
PI: Vsevolod Katritch
“Virtual Ligand Screening of Ghrelin Receptor (GHSR)”
Romir Karnik
’22 USC Dornsife
Chemistry
PI: Andrea Armani
“Virtual Ligand Screening of Ghrelin Receptor (GHSR)”
Elliot Kim
’23 Swarthmore College
Biology, Computer Science
PI: Oscar Aparicio
“Elucidating the Mechanisms Underlying Fkh1 and Fkh2 Regulation of Replication Origin Timing”
Minyoung Kim
’22 USC Dornsife
Quantitative & Computational Biology
PI: Serghei Mangul
“Robustness and Reproducibility of Computational Genomic Tools”
Nathan Kristanto
’22 USC Viterbi
Biomedical Engineering
PI: Jeremy Mason
“Predictive Modeling of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy Responses”
Nikith Kurella
’23 USC Keck
Preventative Medicine
PI: Adam MacLean
“Mathematical Modeling of the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway”
Woori Lee
’22 USC Dornsife
Human Biology
PI: Eun Ji Chung
“Evaluation of microRNA-145 Gene Therapy on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Using ApoE-/- Atherosclerotic Mice”
Renee Liang
’24 NYU
Biology & Global Public Health
PI: Steve Kay
“The Effects of Circadian Gene Knockout on Human Liver Cell”
Emmeline Lin
’23 USC Dornsife
Human Biology
PI: Peter Kuhn
“Characterization of Biomarkers in Liquid Biopsy for Pancreatic Cancer Detection”
Daniel Liu
’22 USC School of Pharmacy
Pharmacology & Drug Development
PI: Kate White
“Structure and Function of Pancreatic β-cells upon COVID-19 Induced Diabetes”
Lilly Mai
’23 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Lindsey Schier
“The Role of Added Sugar Diet in Glucosensing and Preference in the Taste System of Mice”
Jacob Miller
’22 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Irene Chiolo
“Repair Outcomes in Heterochromatin and Euchromatin in Drosophila”
Anthony Mouchawar
’24 USC Viterbi
Biomedical Engineering
PI: Cristina Zavaleta & Sean Burkitt
“Analyzing Gold Nanoparticle Biodistribution with Multiphoton Histology”
Dante Mueller
’24 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Valery Fokin
“Investigating More Accessible Synthetic Methods for the Photoinduced Opening of 1,2,3-triazoles to Facilitate Carbene Formation”
Desiree Pacheco
’22 University of Arizona
Neuroscience & Cognitive Science
PI: Judy Pa
“Associations between Hearing Loss and Brain Health in Older Adults”
Avi Patel
’22 USC Keck
Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
PI: Irene Chiolo
“DSB Repair Outcomes in Drosophila Heterochromatin”
Anshuman Patnaik
’23 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Vsevolod Katritch
“Endothelin Receptor B Ligand Screening”
Sanjana Paye
’23 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Michael “Doc” Edge
“The Mathematical Bounds on the Chi-Squared Statistic in Case-Control Studies Used to Determine Genetic Risk Factors for Diseases”
Shourav Saha
’24 USC Dornsife
Biochemistry
PI: Vadim Cherezov
“Structure-Based Drug Discovery Targeting Angiotensin II Type 2 Receptor”
Dejan Shakya
’23 USC Dornsife
Biological Sciences
PI: Seiji Shibata
“Cellular Reprogramming of Peripheral Glial Cells to Regenerate Primary Auditory Neurons”
Tianlan Shao
’22 USC Dornsife
Applied & Computational Mathematics
PI: Fengzhu Sun
“Classifying Giant Viruses and Small Viruses in Metagenomic Sequencing Using Deep Learning and Exploring the Relationships Amongst Giant Viruses”
Alexis Snitman
’22 USC Dornsife
Chemistry
PI: Juan Espinoza
“Pediatric Medical Device Startups Educational Needs Assessment”
Kaylee Tseng
’23 USC Viterbi
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
PI: Kate White
“Mapping Insulin Vesicle Maturation in the Pancreatic β-Cell”
Madelynn Tung
’22 USC Viterbi
Biomedical Engineering
PI: Eunji Chung
Targeted mRNA Nanomedicine for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
Celine Vazquez
’24 USC Viterbi
Biomedical Engineering (Electrical)
PI: Cristina Zavaleta
“Enhancing Nanoparticle Drug Delivery by Optimization of Liposomal RES Blockade Strategy”
Alexander Vu
’22 USC Dornsife, USC Thornton
Biochemistry, Music
PI: Valery Fokin
“1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions in Heterocycle Synthesis: Computational and Practical Approaches”
David Wen
’22 USC Dornsife
Quantitative Biology
PI: Francesca Mariani
“Identifying Osteoclast Genes Involved in Bone Repair”
Angie Yang
’23 USC School of Cinematic Arts
Media Art & Practice
PI: Kate White
“World in a Cell”