This study compares narrative abilities of 11 adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 11 adults with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) versus their 23 age- and sex-matched controls. The study aims to investigate the differences between ASD and FASD groups in the use of local measures (mental states and temporal relations) and the use of global measures (mean length of utterance, numbers of different words, and narrative scoring scheme) during a story-telling task using the children’s book Frog, Where are You?. We predict no significant differences in global narrative abilities between ASD and FASD to their comparison groups, but local narrative deficits in people with ASD and FASD. We predict they use fewer temporal references and mental state words. Comparing ASD and FASD groups, we predict that the ASD group will perform worse on both levels compared to the FASD group. The findings of this research will provide further evidence for differences in linguistic impairments between ASD and FASD and how social competence - the ability to understand a listener’s states of knowledge - influences linguistic abilities.

Though there are roughly 2 million people of Korean descent in the U.S., there is limited understanding of bilingual Korean-English infants’ and toddlers’ language development. Assessment of bilingual language development can be more challenging due to the lack of language-specific research. Caregiver reports of language abilities may be one way to approach measuring language development in bilingual infants and toddlers. This remote study investigates how caregiver-reported measures of receptive and expressive language differs in English versus Korean for typically developing Korean-English bilingual infants and toddlers. Participants were recruited through both online flyers and physical flyers in the greater Seattle area. To obtain caregiver-reported measures of language skills, the “Understands”, “Understands and Says” of the Korean and English MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) were administered. The “Listening and Understanding” and “Talking” subscales of the English Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales – Third Edition (Vineland-3) were also administered to each bilingual caregiver. A thorough background questionnaire defining each infant’s and toddler’s language exposure and Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Socioeconomic Status score were collected to facilitate interpretation of our findings. Scores from the Korean CDI, English CDI, and English Vineland-3 were age-matched and compared. With greater exposure to Korean at home, we expect higher Korean receptive and expressive language scores compared to English. Findings from this work may offer important insight into expected differences between a Korean-English bilingual child’s Korean and English language skills in typical bilingual language acquisition and may potentially shed light on early signs of speech and language delays in bilingual children. I participated in the study design, participant recruitment, and data presentation for this study.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease characterized by polymicrobial lung infections. Staphylococcus aureus, a Gram-positive pathogen, is commonly cultured from the secretions of people with CF (PwCF). Treatment for S. aureus infections requires antibiotics, such as the bactericidal antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT). SXT prohibits growth by targeting folate biosynthesis, a pathway important for DNA replication and maintenance and production of cell metabolites. In many PwCF, S. aureus generally persists despite antibiotic treatment. Our data shows that S. aureus can survive SXT treatment through the accumulation of adaptive mutations. In this project, we examined these adaptive mutations in S. aureus in vitro to better understand the mechanisms of resistance. We grew several S. aureus isolates with adaptive mutations in Luria Bertani (LB) broth. We sampled the culture tubes at several times in a 24-hour period, measuring viable bacterial counts on chocolate agar. We found that isolates with mutations in the sugar transport gene, ptsI, persisted better under SXT selection, relative to wild-type S. aureus. Other S. aureus isolates with mutations in pathways for aerobic respiration, including menaquinone (menB, thiN) and hemin synthesis (hemB), also better survived SXT compared to wild-type. Many of these mutations were also identified in S. aureus infecting PwCF. These results indicate that adaptive mutations in pathways associated with important metabolic processes may allow survival with folate inhibition. We hypothesize that limiting aerobic respiration may assist in S. aureus surviving SXT. As S. aureus can survive without oxygen, we are currently studying whether limiting oxygen and, consequently, aerobic respiration in wild-type S. aureus will improve survival with SXT. This work will help us understand the mechanisms of SXT action and S. aureus’ response, in an effort to improve treatment for S. aureus infections.

This research analyzes how vagal nerve stimulators have been used for treatment of Crohn’s Disease through literary review of existing research in order to assess what is working and begin to remedy what can be improved in order to increase the likelihood of remission for patients. The analysis of this research includes assessment of the design of current vagal nerve stimulators, materials used, algorithmic architecture behind the device, as well as methods of testing and measuring results. The methods used to determine success of remission include patient surveys, measurements of mucosal metabolites, assessment of cytokine levels, and others. Could vagal nerve stimulators be improved to work better with the brain, and therefore increase the remission rate to nearly absolute? From the analysis, it seems so -- however, there are enhancements that need to be made in materials, technology, and communication. The continuing advancement in vagal nerve stimulation therapy could potentially lead to a consistent, low-risk, accessible cure for Crohn’s Disease. 

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare skin cancer with a high propensity for recurrence. Persons with chronic immunosuppression have a higher risk of developing MCC and a more aggressive disease course. Immunotherapy treatment enhances the immune system’s ability to fight MCC and is associated with improved disease-specific survival. However, the immunotherapy efficacy in immunosuppressed MCC patients is not well categorized. This study explores and aims to compare differences in immunotherapy efficacy between different forms of immunosuppression, and between immunocompetent versus immunosuppressed MCC patients. In this project, I determined the patient cohort from a Seattle-based prospective registry of 1,529 MCC patients and identified 36 patients treated with immunotherapy and who had chronic immunosuppression. I collected treatment response data from medical records, and analyzed the results. Of the 36 patients, 13 patients (36%) had a complete response (CR), 3 patients (8%) had a partial response (PR), and 20 patients (56%) had progressive disease (PD). Disease progression and survival status varied greatly among different types of immunosuppression. Five types of chronic immunosuppression were represented in these 36 patients and were evaluated for an objective response (CR or PR): chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL, 3/13, 23%), autoimmune disorders (AD, 3/9, 33%), solid organ transplant (SOT, 2/4, 50%), HIV/AIDs (2/3, 67%), and other hematologic malignancies (OHM, 6/7, 86%). In comparison, in a study of immunocompetent patients, 28 of 50 (56%) had objective responses to immunotherapy. Toxicities were also high in immunosuppressed patients, as 9/36 (25%) patients stopped treatment due to toxicities. Immunotherapy efficacy in patients with chronic immunosuppression appears to be dependent on the type of immunosuppression. While there is reason for optimism for patients with certain types of immunosuppression, MCC treatment for patients with CLL remains a major concern.

Pitch perception in noise is a critical skill for children to have because it allows them to enjoy music, understand speech, communicate, and learn in noisy real-world environments like playgrounds and classrooms. To date, little is known about how well school-aged children can discriminate pitch in background noise. In this study, we evaluated pitch perception in normal hearing children between 8 and 11 years of age (n=32) and adults (n=16) by administering a remote 3-Alternative Forced-Choice (3-AFC) adaptive pitch discrimination task on MATLAB Web Apps while monitoring participants’ behavior over Zoom. The study consisted of three conditions, each with three runs: (1) 200 Hz pure tone in quiet, (2) Resolved harmonics 2 to 9 of a 200 Hz fundamental frequency (F0) in noise and (3) Unresolved harmonics 12 to 19 of a 200 F0 in noise. Musical training and tonal language experience were documented in all participants. My role in this study included participant recruitment, data acquisition, analysis, and manuscript preparation. Preliminary analyses suggest that children perform worse in the condition with the higher numbered harmonics (unresolved condition), which is also more difficult for adult listeners. Moreover, improvement in all three conditions is observed with age, with the older children discriminating pitch as well as adults for both pure and complex tones. This study provides important insight into the developmental trajectory of pitch perception. In the next phase of analysis, we will investigate the role of music experience on children’s perception of pitch in noise.

Avian scavengers perform a critical ecosystem service by breaking down dead and decomposing organic matter and recycling the nutrients back into the food web. However, the quantity of decaying biomass different avian scavengers seek out has not been well researched in Washington State. This study asks the question: How does the amount of biomass remaining on an ungulate (hooved animal) carcass influence which avian scavengers visit the carcass? I am conducting my study using camera trap image data from the Washington Predator-Prey Project (WPPP) from northeastern Washington. This study placed a trail camera in front of an ungulate carcass and recorded photos using a motion sensor. I extracted information on the number of each type of species present from each of those images. My data set includes over 360,000 images from 51 roadkill carcass sites. I hypothesize that large avian scavengers (e.g. turkey vultures and bald eagles) and small avian scavengers (e.g. magpies and common ravens) will either compete for access to the carcass or will facilitate each other in accessing the food source. The analysis will include comparing the number of photos containing at least one individual of each bird species against the percentage of carcass biomass remaining. Increasing our understanding of what quantity of biomass different avian scavengers seek out will improve our ability to protect them and Washington’s ecosystems.

Photosynthesis and organic matter production by photoautotrophs in the upper ocean are fueled by sunlight. In previous research, environmental metabolite concentrations in the sunlit ocean have been found to display significant 24-hour periodicity. Prochlorococcus is a marine cyanobacteria that is the smallest and most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth and is a key primary producer in the ocean’s vast oligotrophic gyres. Past studies employing transcriptomics and flow cytometry-based approaches revealed that cell division, metabolism, and gene expression of Prochlorococcus are synchronized with the daily light-dark cycle, but the impacts of these diel changes on the Prochlorococcus metabolome remain poorly understood. Here we investigate how levels of particulate metabolites in Prochlorococcus vary over simulated light-dark cycles in a non-axenic culture. We grew Prochlorococcus MED4 and its associated consortium of heterotrophic bacteria over daily light-dark cycles in culture and sampled for particulate and dissolved metabolites every 6 hours for a total of 48 hours. We extracted metabolites using a modified Bligh and Dyer extraction and quantified metabolites using liquid chromatography paired with mass spectrometry. To detect diel patterns in metabolite concentrations, we used Rhythmicity Analysis Incorporating Nonparametric methods to identify significant changes in Prochlorococcus’ metabolome over the light-dark cycle. Sucrose, a disaccharide sugar, varied over the diel cycle and peaked at the end of the light cycle, highlighting the use of this compound for energy storage in Prochlorococcus. Glutamine, a metabolite associated with nitrogen assimilation, displayed diel variation and peaked at midnight, lagging the peak in sucrose by 6 hours. These results indicate diel partitioning of Prochlorococcus’ metabolic functions related to energy storage and nitrogen assimilation. This diel partitioning mirrors prior results observed in environmental metabolomes and transcriptomes.