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Showcase Pullman

Construction of a Recombinant Bovine Herpesvirus 4 as a Delivery System for Ovine Herpesvirus 2 Glycoprotein B

Construction of a Recombinant Bovine Herpesvirus 4 as a Delivery System for Ovine Herpesvirus 2 Glycoprotein B

Primary author: Emily Cole
Faculty sponsor: Dr. Cristina Cunha

Primary college/unit: College of Veterinary Medicine
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) causes a frequently fatal disease called malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) in several ungulates, such as bison, cattle, pigs and deer. Vaccine development is a major goal for MCF research because there are no treatment options. However, the inability to propagate OvHV-2 in in-vitro systems has hindered the development of a vaccine. Since the virus cannot be modified or attenuated in-vitro, alternative approaches for delivering OvHV-2 antigens for immunization are of utmost importance. OvHV-2 glycoproteins, gB, gH, and gL, are necessary for viral entry and can stimulate neutralizing antibody responses capable of protecting animals from disease. This makes them ideal vaccine candidates. Additionally, bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) has been evaluated as a vaccine vector for several viral diseases with promising results in delivering heterologous antigen that confer immunity.The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate a recombinant BoHV-4 for the expression of OvHV-2 gB. To do this, the bacterial artificial chromosome recombineering galK selection system was used and confirmed with PCR, sequencing, and restriction enzyme digestion. Then viral growth curves were used to assess reconstitution of the infectious virus in various cell types. Also, western-blot analysis and immune-fluorescence assays were used to confirm OvHV-2 gB expression. The construction of this recombinant BoHV-4 virus will allow further MCF research regarding vaccine efficacy, as this vector virus could provide a means of delivering OvHV-2 gB in vivo. Vaccine development is vital considering this is an untreatable, global disease that economically effects agriculture, particularly bison production.

Asset Pricing Around Anticipated Announcements: A Swing of Two Days

Asset Pricing Around Anticipated Announcements: A Swing of Two Days

Primary author: Jingjing Chen
Faculty sponsor: George Jiang

Primary college/unit: Carson College of Business
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

The literature documents that on days with pre-scheduled macroeconomic news announcement, the market earns significantly higher returns. Consistently, the literature documents a significantly positive implied market premium on these days, i.e., the market significantly prices beta across stocks. In this study, I show that over the two-day announcement window [-1, 0], the average market excess return is no longer significantly higher and the implied market premium is no longer significant. Both sets of results suggest that on days prior to the announcement, stocks earn relatively lower returns. I interpret this episode as evidence that investors price assets at a discount prior to anticipated announcements due to information uncertainty, but price assets with a premium post-announcement as a result of uncertainty resolution. I show both cross-sectional and time-series evidence to corroborate our argument. Specifically, I show that the discount is more pronounced for stocks with high information uncertainty and high illiquidity, and the premium is accrued more quickly for stocks with low information uncertainty and low illiquidity. Over time, the discount and premium associated with pre-scheduled macroeconomic news announcement are higher when market uncertainty is high and investor sentiment is low.

Estimating the proportion of signals in high-dimensional data via integral equations

Estimating the proportion of signals in high-dimensional data via integral equations

Primary author: Xiongzhi Chen

Primary college/unit: Arts and Sciences
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

In scientific endeavors such as identifying genes that may be associated with a disease, a researcher often simultaneously tests many null hypotheses (e.g., as many null hypotheses as the number genes under investigation) using some high-dimensional data. This makes the proportion of signals, i.e., “the proportion of false null hypotheses” (e.g., the proportion of genes that are associated with a disease), a very important quantity. In particular, accurate information on the proportion increases the accuracy and power of the decisions to be made. However, the proportion is unknown in practice and needs to be estimated. Even though there are several major methods to estimate the proportion, they are very restrictive, in that they are statistically inconsistent or require stringent modeling assumptions. To eliminate the shortcomings of these existing estimators, uniformly consistent estimators of the proportion are constructed as solutions to Lebesgue-Stieltjes integral equations. Their excellent performances are verified by simulation studies.

A novel anti-nutritional strategy that inhibits the newly identified Tyramine and D-glucuronic acid metabolic pathways in Salmonella

A novel anti-nutritional strategy that inhibits the newly identified Tyramine and D-glucuronic acid metabolic pathways in Salmonella

Primary author: Raquel Burin
Co-author: Devendra Shah
Faculty sponsor: Devendra Shah

Primary college/unit: College of Veterinary Medicine
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Discovering the genetic mechanisms that Salmonella uses to elicit metabolic adaptations in the host is the key to find novel strategies to control Salmonella associated-disease. However, precise metabolites and the underlying metabolic pathways are relatively poorly understood. Previously we reported that deletion of genes involved in the catabolism of two micronutrients namely, tyramine (TYR) and d-glucuronic acid (DGA) resulted in decreased colonization and invasion of Salmonella in orally challenged mice. Given that TYR and DGA are found in the GI tract as byproducts of the gut microbial metabolism, it is likely that these micronutrients may serve as sources of energy to boost Salmonella growth and adaptation during the colonization process. The objectives of this study were to identify TYR and DGA catabolic pathways and to develop an innovative anti-nutritional approach to inhibit TYR and DGA nutritional adaptation of Salmonella. We conducted global transcriptome profiling of TYR and DGA-induced cultures of Salmonella. Next, we identified and employed anti-nutritional molecules to inhibit key enzymes committed to the first steps within the TYR and DGA catabolic pathways. We constructed novel TYR and DGA catabolic pathways in Salmonella and developed a novel strategy for the inhibition of these pathways thereby inhibiting the ability of Salmonella to utilize TYR and DGA as energy sources. We show that inhibition of metabolic enzymes and consequently the metabolism of TYR and DGA leads to nutrient adaptation defects in Salmonella. Further studies are ongoing to determine the utility of such anti-nutritional approach to control Salmonella in vivo.

Curriculum and Indigenous Peoples: A Collective Case Study of Social Justice Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Content

Curriculum and Indigenous Peoples: A Collective Case Study of Social Justice Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Content

Primary author: Ashley Boyd

Primary college/unit: Arts and Sciences
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Using the analytic lens of Social Justice Pedagogical Content Knowledge, this collective qualitative case study explores how three secondary teachers utilized curriculum that centered Native American experiences to facilitate their students’ understandings of tribal histories. Data collected included semi-structured interviews with teachers, classroom observations, and documents including lesson plans, course texts, and handouts. Analysis involved layers of open and deductive coding, and findings include: the teachers’ broader knowledge of inequity influenced their growth in the area of indigenous knowledge; critical and narrative pedagogies were used to effectively teach students about local tribes; and materials used to facilitate students’ critical understandings ranged widely from textbooks to young adult literature to current media. Recommendations for teacher education include integrating discipline-specific information about indigenous peoples and facilitating community partnerships with local liaisons to collaborate in the educative process.

Exploring the Non-Human Animal in Herodotus’ ‘History’

Exploring the Non-Human Animal in Herodotus’ ‘History’

Primary author: Robin Bond

Primary college/unit: Honors College
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Recent works exploring the philosophical views of the Ancient Greeks on animals have made only limited mention of the depiction of animals in Herodotus’ ‘History’, despite the historian’s many references to animals both in his historical narrative and in discussions of geography, ethnography, and zoology. This project explores patterns around animal phenomena in Herodotus’ accounts of imperialism and conquest during the formation and expansion of the Persian Empire in scenes where two animal species appear juxtaposed in battle descriptions, oracles or omens. In these episodes, animal activity is connected with points of invasion, and conflicts between two species (aligned respectively with two opposing human groups) disrupt the expected outcome of human battles.

Animal appearances in these episodes amplify the ‘History’s’ central theme of imperial expansion in the form of unexpected upsets on the battlefield and unheeded warnings to confident aggressors. In this respect, animals function similarly to other natural forces in the ‘History’. Storms and earthquakes, for example, have been seen by scholars as operating in accordance with the divine principle of balance by creating obstacles as a natural check on imperialistic overreach. Patterns in Herodotus’ narrative accounts of royal expansion and aggression where animals have a similarly disruptive effect hint at a coherent conception of animals as a category of the natural world and open the door to further discussion of the moral status of animals as portrayed in the ‘History’.

Identification of a novel pathway to produce valuable industrial oil in Lesquerella

Identification of a novel pathway to produce valuable industrial oil in Lesquerella

Primary author: Sajina Bhandari
Faculty sponsor: Philip Bates

Primary college/unit: Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Plant oils containing hydroxy fatty acids (HFAs) are valuable alternative to petroleum for making cosmetics, lubricants, polymers and biofuels. The major source of HFAs is Castor but U.S. cultivation is banned due to seed toxins. Lesquerella is native to southwest U.S., non-toxic and produces HFA, but it needs to be further bred or engineered to be a high yielding alternative crop. The main goal of this project is to determine the pathway for oil/triacylglycerol (TAG) assembly in Lesquerella to aid in breeding/engineering approaches of crop development. Castor uses a linear pathway to make HFA-TAG directly, whereas other oilseed crops produce non-HFA-TAG from the membrane lipid phosphatidycholine (PC). But, most plants keep unusual fatty acids like HFA away from membrane lipids, making it unlikely that PC is a precursor to HFA-TAG. However, transcriptomics in Lesquerella indicated lipid gene expression was similar to plants utilizing the PC pathway, making the oil biosynthetic pathway unclear. Therefore, a biochemical isotopic labeling approach and protein-protein interaction studies were used to identify the oil biosynthetic pathway. Metabolic tracing of Lesquerella oil biosynthesis indicated a PC pathway producing TAG with 0-1-HFA but the HFA did not traverse the membrane. Over time 0-1HFA-TAG was converted to 2HFA-TAG. Thus, Lesquerella uses a novel TAG remodeling pathway that changes the oil composition after initial synthesis. Our protein-protein interaction studies have identified gene candidates that may be key to engineering unusual fatty acid accumulation in crop plants as an alternative to petroleum.

Feeling Black Into the Sky: A commissioned work for wind quintet and wind ensemble by Danial Bernard Roumain

Feeling Black Into the Sky: A commissioned work for wind quintet and wind ensemble by Danial Bernard Roumain

Primary author: Troy Bennefield

Primary college/unit: Arts and Sciences
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

To produce an influential piece to the neglected repertoire of works for band and wind quintet, and to encourage the commissioning of more composers of color, this WSU Arts and Humanities Fellowship Project funded the composition of an 18-minute concerto for wind quintet and wind ensemble and accompanying residency by nationally-recognized composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, or DBR. After working together discuss the structure and scope of the work, DBR composed this piece with inspiration from the artwork of James Turrell. This inspiration in turn led him to compose the piece in five sections, each representing the struggle of being a Black Man in America in the 21st-century. The final piece was premiered April 18, 2019 by the WSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble featuring the faculty wind quintet, Solstice. Dr. Troy Bennefield was the conductor, and DBR spoke to the audience about the piece prior to its performance. DBR worked with the ensemble in rehearsals leading up to the concert, and he also presented clinics with music students on composition, entrepreneurship, and diversity issues in the arts. This poster presentation will include a narrative of the project steps, visuals from the musical score, images from works by James Turrell, and if resources are available, running video of the performance.

Polarization & Incivility in American Politics: Is Congressional Gridlock Affecting U.S. State Legislatures?

Polarization & Incivility in American Politics: Is Congressional Gridlock Affecting U.S. State Legislatures?

Primary author: Francis Benjamin
Co-author(s): Nicholas Lovrich

Primary college/unit: Arts and Sciences
Campus: Pullman

Abstract:

Grounded in concern over the spread of partisan polarization and gridlock from the U.S. Congress to the 50 state legislatures, a group of 13 scholars in 11 universities across the country, led by Washington State University, gathered data from state legislative lobbyists exploring the status of longstanding norms of comity and civility in the 50 state legislatures. Over 1,200 state legislative lobbyists took part in the research and provide a national cross-section of lobbyists regarding their perception of the status of longstanding norms of comity and civility, the quality of legislative deliberations, and the capacity for bipartisan problem-solving in their respective states. The research found considerable variation across states and investigates the factors for these variations and the best pathways forward.