Author: jpark189

Symbiosis of microbes and vegetation: A comparative study on greenhouse soil microbes

jpark189 CURE Projects, Spring 2020

Class: BIOL 0940G Antibiotic Drug Discovery: Identifying Novel Soil Microbes to Combat Antibiotic Resistance

Instructor(s): Dr. Toni-Marie Achilli

Student(s): Madeline Hughes (APMA-Bio ‘22), Janice Lee, Carmen Fahlen, Jenny Lee (Health and Human Bio & Contemplative Studies ‘21)

“The CURE class setup allowed us to experiment and carry out our investigation close to the path of a true scientist. With the evacuation, we continued to learn, research, and analyze our data critically with online resources and previous literature. CURE has definitely made research more accessible.”

–Jenny Lee

“This class allowed students to get a feel for independent research and research presentations. It was nice to have a class where we were not focused on test taking and instead were focused on gaining valuable lab skills. I found out about CURE through Course at Brown Website.”

–Madeleine Hughes

Description: 

Our project addressed the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, and the use of soil microbes to find new classes of antibiotics. We wanted to observe the influence of vegetation on the diversity and number of antibiotic producing microbes in the soil. We found that under controlled greenhouse conditions, there was similar biodiversity in both crop (vegetative) and fallow beds, greater antibiotic activity among microbes from vegetation beds, and morphological data suggest our microbes are under five key genera. For the CURE online exhibit, we created a Kidz Project Starter brochure with step by step instructions on how to further investigate and explore our question.

Dissociation of Perception and Action in Kanizsa’s Compression Illusion

jpark189 CURE Projects, Spring 2020 , , , ,

Class: CLPS 1591 – An Experimental Analysis of Vision for Action and Vision for Perception: Are There Separate Mechanisms?

Instructor(s): Dr. Fulvio Domini

Students: Wonyoung Lee

“I feel more confident about research at Brown, especially in Cognitive Science, thanks to Professor Domini and the TAs who were absolutely non-judgmental and helped me through each step of the class”

–Wonyoung Lee

Description: 

This project proposal examines the Two Visual Stream Hypothesis with Kanizsa’s Compression Illusion and focuses on the effect of initial hand visibility. The CURE class setup has allowed me to learn an important topic currently discussed in the Cognitive Science field by reading and discussing numerous relevant studies. Also the CURE class setup allowed me to receive multiple rounds of feedback on my proposal and thus helped me build a stronger project idea.

Zöllner Illusion

jpark189 CURE Projects, Spring 2020 , , , ,

Class: CLPS 1591 – An Experimental Analysis of Vision for Action and Vision for Perception: Are There Separate Mechanisms? 

Instructor(s): Dr. Fulvio Domini

Student(s): Jacob Zimmerman

“The CURE class setup influenced me to be more critical of scientific papers, spending time in class to present and critique scientific literature.”

-Jacob Zimmerman

Description: 

My proposed research project intended to investigate whether a new formulation of the Zöllner illusion might demonstrate a functional dissociation between vision for perception and vision for action. Due to the circumstances, we did not carry out our research projects but instead wrote mock grant proposals for them. A key take-away is that it is crucial to pay close attention to the details of scientific research so that unintentional (and possibly intentional) errors in methodology and conclusions are known, allowing us to steer research in a direction of progress.

Undisturbed vs. Disturbed: Soil Microbial Diversity

jpark189 CURE Projects, Spring 2020 , , , ,

Class: BIOL 0940G – Antibiotic Drug Discovery: Identifying Novel Soil Microbes to Combat Antibiotic Resistance

Instructor(s): Dr. Toni-Marie Achilli

Student(s): Kriti Devkota, Lisa Nguyen, Alex Troullioud

“I felt that this CURE class was a very enriching experience, and I am very glad I chose to take this class.”

–Kriti Devkota

“We were interested in studying the connection between diversity and antibody producing capabilities.”

–Lexi Schecter

Description:

Our group studied soil microbial diversity from two different sites, one represented by Pembroke Garden and one from a construction site on campus. Our goal was to discover if there was a connection between the amount of soil disturbance and the amount of biodiversity. Though our lab research was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to further investigate our hypothesis using primary literature.