In 2018, tuberculosis (TB) was the leading cause of death by a single infectious disease, causing 10 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths. Upon Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection most people develop non-transmissible latent TB, and some develop active TB disease. Healthy hosts have a 5-15% lifetime risk of progressing from latent to active TB, and prior studies have demonstrated that a type I interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signature can predict progression to active disease. Type I interferon (IFN) and ISG expression is induced by DNA-sensing pathways and has anti-viral functions. However, the innate immune mechanisms and genetics controlling type I IFN responses following Mtb infection are not well understood. We hypothesize that genetically regulated higher type 1 IFN responses are associated with lower anti-microbial responses and higher Mtb replication in macrophages, as well as increased risk of TB disease. To test this hypothesis, blood was collected from 40 healthy donors. Donors were genotyped using Illumina MEGA^EX SNP Array. Monocytes were isolated, differentiated into monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), and stimulated with 3 ligands (supercoiled plasmid DNA, cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate, and sheared calf thymus DNA) to activate DNA-sensing pathways and induce a type I IFN response. RNA was isolated at 4 and 24 hours. Interferon-beta (IFN-β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene expression were quantified using Real-Time PCR. Donors had highly variable IFN-β induction upon ligand stimulation. Donors’ genotypes will be linked to these in vitro phenotypes to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) that regulate IFN-β expression. We will assess if these functional polymorphisms in genes of interest are associated with TB disease using patient samples from a Brazilian cohort. The results of this investigation will identify novel pathways that control TB progression that can inform vaccine development and host-directed therapeutic approaches.

The search for renewable energy, electricity-generating wind turbines were first introduced by Charles F. Brush in 1888. Wind turbines use the principles of turning the mechanical energy of the wind into useful electrical energy that is able to produce work while also having no direct emissions towards the atmosphere. Using Betz’s law derived from the principles of conservation of mass and momentum of the air stream flowing, we construct and test a model wind turbine maximizing the power generated due to the varying angular velocities, from which testing data are used to iteratively design blade aerodynamics and assignation angle. For the particular model used thus far, the data indicate that with angular velocity lower than or equal to 4.124 rad/s and 13.359 rad/s a maximum efficiency of 22-23% is achieved. The blade designs are flat and angled blades, which are 3D printed and tested its efficiency on the model with pitches of 15°,30° and 45° to accommodate the motor to generate the optimal use of power input, therefore maximum power output. The result shows that 30° pitch is the most optimal angle for both blades design, with the flat blade generating 29000% more power than the angled blade. Blade pitch of 15° is the least efficient, resulting in no power generated with angled blade design, and significantly lower power in flat blade design compared to the other pitch. This discovery is essential to the future development of renewable energy especially in revolutionizing the wind turbine to be more efficient.