Placentation, the formation of the placenta, is a dynamic process which is vital for the development of a fetus. A key structural feature of placenta in ruminants, such as sheep, is a placentome. Placentomes are thickenings in tissue that form along both the maternal and fetal sides of the placenta. During pregnancy, placentomes generally begin with the same type of structure, called Type A. Over the course of a gestation, Type A placentomes are found to convert to functionally more efficient forms (Types B, C, or D). Prenatal stress (PS) has been shown to reduce uterine blood flow in pregnant sheep model. This would influence placental blood flow, supply of nutrients, clearance of metabolites and exposure to stress hormones. Undernutrition accelerates the placentomal conversion in pregnant ewes of certain breeds as an adaptive response to maintain the fetal developmental growth curve, while other breeds are not able to adapt. We hypothesized that placentomal conversion is influenced by PS. We modeled chronic PS in the last trimester in pregnant sheep through reoccurring and unpredictable bouts of maternal isolation over a period of 30 days, a validated paradigm to model human PS. At ~136 days of gestation (full term is 145 days), the placentomes were collected, weighed, and sorted according to their morphology. The weights of Type B, but not Type A, placentomes were found to be lower for the stressed sheep when compared to the control. These findings confirm our hypothesis that PS reduces the degree of the placentomal conversion from Type A to a more advanced form, Type B. This may be caused by a chronic reduction in placental perfusion (blood circulation) during PS. The found reduction in placentomal conversion may be one of the missing mediating factors linking PS to known postnatal developmental abnormalities in metabolism and phenotype.

This research project is part of the Puget Sound Foraminifera Research Project at the Burke Museum, which uses benthic Foraminifera to measure and assess anthropogenic impacts and mitigation efforts in Puget Sound. Benthic Foraminifera, shelled marine protists, are readily preserved in sediments and can be very sensitive to their environment, allowing us to use them as a proxy for changes in marine ecosystems. My project looks at mismatches between Foraminifera that were living and dead at the time of collection to determine whether these discordances can be used to measure anthropogenic ecological change in Puget Sound. In addition, it attempts to validate the use of assemblages containing only dead Foraminifera which were used in the past. Anthropogenic ecological change is a widespread problem and is difficult to measure both the rate of changes and the success of efforts to mitigate problems. We look at Foraminiferal assemblages to establish the health of benthic ecosystems. Sediment samples used in this project are collected by the Washington State Department of Ecology in their annual sampling program. For this particular project, 12 samples from Sinclair Inlet and Bellingham Bay, were collected in Spring of 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Foraminifera were stained with Rose Bengal to identify those individuals that were living at the time of collection and identified to species. The species assemblage from each was then assessed to establish ratios of living to dead individuals and see if the dead population is representative of that of the live population. Results to date indicate that all samples from Sinclair inlet have a smaller ratio of living to dead Foraminifera than other bays. Because the ratios were radically different it may be possible to establish an index to classify embayment health based on live-dead ratios of Foraminifera individuals to use in future assessments.

The purpose of the project is to use benthic foraminifera to investigate the condition of the ecosystem of Possession Sound, Everett, WA, part of Puget Sound. Puget Sound is a polluted water system due to the ports, oil refineries, paper mills, agricultural runoff, and previously, a smelter. Possession Sound itself is home to private properties, a naval station, ports, marinas, and an asphalt plant on the waterfront. Foraminifera are marine protists with calcareous or agglutinated shells (tests) that are readily preserved in sediments. Because they are sensitive to environmental conditions such as bottom water pH, organic and metal pollutants, and change in temperature, they can be indicators of environmental conditions at the sediment/water interface. Calcareous foraminifera exposed to water with decreasing pH have increasing levels of test dissolution, however, agglutinated species don’t dissolve. For this study, sediment samples were collected by the Washington State Department of Ecology; and sub-samples were sent to the Burke Museum. Thirty samples were processed; each was washed through a 63 screen, floated in trichloroethylene to remove the heavier sediment, then picked for around 300 foraminifera/sample. Foraminifera were identified for analysis of their assemblages, condition, and signs of dissolution. These signs are chalkiness, pitting, holes in the shells, and removal of shell layers. The hypotheses are as follows. Dissolution will have increased over time as Puget Sound water quality has decreased in recent years. Worse water quality will result in fewer calcareous species. Foraminifera will be fewer in number since 1997, with a higher proportion being agglutinated species. Results of this investigation will deliver insight into benthic conditions of Puget Sound, specifically Possession Sound, but could also provide useful information for people who rely on Puget Sound’s benthic conditions, such as the oyster and crab industry.

Following the 2008 financial collapse conversations about understanding personal finance have expanded in the United States. Although government, educators and economists have varying interpretations of the term “financial literacy,” it is generally agreed upon that people need more financial knowledge. Under the assumption that early conversations are useful tools for families to learn about money together, I developed the following hypothesis in my study: engagement with hands-on activities and reading will encourage children and their guardians to talk with each other about money more frequently. The study lent itself best to participatory action research and was developed in partnership with Compass Housing Alliance, an organization which provides housing for formerly homeless families. First, children’s books were identified that incorporated the topic of money and centered the experiences of children from ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds. Students from the UW iSchool’s Master of Library and Information Science were invited to utilize these books for a one-day Read-a-Rama event titled “Let’s Talk About Money.” Founded by UW iSchool Professor Dr. Martin, Read-a-Rama is an immersive literacy program, featuring hands-on activities, group, and individual reading time for children ages 4-11. Before and after the event, parents and guardians of participants were invited to indicate the frequency with which they spoke to their children about money. Through anonymous survey questions and observation notes, the engagement of children with the topic and the potential impacts of the program were explored through anonymous survey questions and observation notes. Following Read-a-Rama, I expected some parents to indicate that they would talk with their children more frequently about money. Observation notes and survey outcomes might aid librarians, educators, and other stakeholders who aim to engage families on the topic of money in alignment with children’s literacy development.

The evolutionarily conserved Hippo cell signaling pathway is important in tissue and organ development through its regulation of cell death, proliferation, and differentiation; as such, the Hippo pathway is often dysregulated in cancer. The phosphotransferases serine/threonine-protein kinase 3 and 4 (STK3 and STK4), are core components of the Hippo pathway. When active, these kinases negatively regulate the transcription factors yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ). The activities of STK3 and 4 are regulated by phosphorylation on multiple serine, threonine and tyrosine residues. Recently, we discovered that the central cellular signaling regulator cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) can phosphorylate STK3 on serine 15 (S15). Since it has been shown before that PKA can suppress the transcriptional activity of YAP/TAZ, we hypothesized that this phosphorylation event activates STK3. To investigate the functional consequences of STK3-S15 phosphorylation, I used molecular cloning to construct active and kinase-dead (KD) FLAG-tagged STK3 mutants in which S15 was replaced by alanine (S15A, non-phosphorylatable) or aspartate (S15D, phosphomimic), respectively. I transfected plasmid DNA encoding these mutants into human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) to investigate if overexpression of each STK3 variant differentially affects activation of the Hippo pathway. Western blot analyses of transfected cells showed that active STK3 S15A and S15D but not the kinase-dead versions were able to phosphorylate known STK3 substrates. Further, I used anti-FLAG antibodies to enrich FLAG-tagged STK3 variants and co-precipitating protein complexes for mass spectrometric (MS) analysis to examine the effect of STK3-S15 phosphorylation on protein-protein interactions. MS analysis revealed that the STK3 S15D mutant preferentially bound to STK4, suggesting pathway activation. Insights into the mechanism of Hippo pathway regulation by PKA will have important implications for cancer research since targeted therapeutics modulating the cAMP - PKA signaling axis may be directly applicable in tumors with aberrant YAP/TAZ activity.

Research in human cohorts and animal models has established a link between prenatal stress (PS) and alterations in development of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomic nervous system (ANS). These alterations are physiological, cognitive and behavioral and reach into adulthood. One of the mechanisms is an increased transfer of stress hormones, glucocorticoids, to the fetus. Therefore, interest lies in identifying biological markers that indicate the onset of future developmental problems caused by PS on HPA and ANS pathways.This project is investigating how heart rate (HR) fluctuations, a proxy for ANS activity, can act as a biological marker. The animal model is chronically instrumented unanesthetized fetal sheep. We measure the impact of PS on maternal and fetal glucose, cortisol, ACTH and HR. PS is modeled by repetitive-intermittent-unpredictable three hour isolations during the last trimester. Sheep and humans have remarkably similar physiological responses to stress. Their endocrine system and gestation patterns mirror humans, causing them to be prone to the same developmental issues and diseases. These similarities and the ability to perform chronic fetal instrumentation and long-term monitoring, make sheep ideal for studying the effects of PS on fetal development. ECG and intra-arterial glucose levels are monitored continuously through the experiment to derive HR and quantify chronic-metabolic effects of elevated maternal stress. Maternal plasma samples are obtained pre- and post-isolation for both control and isolation animals. Postmortem, both maternal and fetal adrenals, fetal liver and fetal brain tissues are analyzed histologically. While the model is now established, the data is currently being analyzed. We expect HR patterns to correlate with hormone levels and tissue outcomes, rendering HR as a non-invasive method of identifying changes in ANS caused by PS. Such HR patterns can be used as a predictor for complications during pregnancy, and neurodevelopmental issues post-partum due to PS in humans.

I’m interested in the way humans create meaning between themselves and the spaces they occupy. Place attachment is an important aspect of human identity, contributing to a sense of self and belonging. On the other hand, place attachment is an important social phenomenon that impacts environmentalism, regional culture, and community development. In an effort to explore these ideas, I developed an algorithm for studying old and new sites in the city that I now consider my home, in a way that intentionally exposes the individual experience of developing a relationship with a place. Each visit consisted of one hour of time spent in a place without major distractions such as socializing, reading, or using technology. To provide a baseline, I visited five places that I was already familiar with, and five places that I had never been to before. With these experiences in mind, I chose one new place to visit repeatedly over the course of few months. Through a series of layered wood cuts, my final work of art aims to record the cognitive, physical, and emotional aspects of attachment that develop over time as one builds a relationship with a place. In her paper, “What is sense of place?”, Colorado State sociologist Jennifer E. Cross provided a jumping off point for my research. In it, she states “The strongest and most enduring relationships described by the men and women I interviewed are attachments based on personal history with a place.” My research project combines scholarship and field work to expand the knowledge and application of place attachment and aims to contribute to this conversation in a way that encourages self-reflection and inspires further exploration.