Theses (2023)

Across the country, collegiate athletics have forever changed after mental health became a forefront issue after COVID-19. While many colleges are starting to address the issue of mental health stigmas present in athletics, it was proposed to conduct a research study on how Emmanuel College is handling the topic of mental health for their student-athletes. A survey was sent to the all student-athletes at Emmanuel College with the purpose of collecting qualitative and quantitative data, to address how different organizational structures (athletes, coaches, administrators) affected/addressed student-athletes mental health on campus. Results demonstrated that athletes are aware of help available, but are hesitant to address their mental health with professionals. In addition to this, the study revealed that coaches who lead under an autocratic leadership style have an increased amount of student-athletes who suffer from mental health issues, or have entertained quitting. Lastly, administrators were found to not have enough of a presence with their athletes when it came to advocating for mental health in athletics. Given that only 67 out of the 140 athletes at Emmanuel responded and completed the survey, results would be more accurate if 75-100% of the student-athlete population were able to complete a survey.

Chart that shows the process of isolating red blood cells using the EVs Using the Beckman CytoFLEX SRT Sorter

Is the portrayal of professional basketball players different for female and male athletes? An examination ofESPN's social media posts during the WNBA & NBA 2022 Finals. This study enriches the narrative around understanding gender differences in sports marketing by extending the literature by presenting insight into understanding the media's portrayal of gender surrounding professional basketball through an American lens. This study examines how ESPN and other sport Instagram accounts, portrayed their male and female athlete during the 2022 WNBA & NBA Finals. Results indicate posts were fairly evenly when it came to male and female posts with some interesting themes being portrayed across the board.

Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome (SDS) is a recessively inherited disease that affects patients' bone marrow health and white blood cell count, often leading to secondary illnesses like myelodysplasia and acute myeloid leukemia. Long-term damage to the central nervous system, skeletal muscles, and repetitive infections usually lead to premature death. The most common mutation in SDS patients disrupts a splice site (SS) in the SBDS gene. We hypothesized that the recently developed gene editing technique, Twin Prime Editing (TwinPE), could be used to insert a functional SS and correct SBDS splicing. Editing was initiated using plasmid delivery of the prime editor and two epegRNAs targeting an SBDStransgene in HEK 293Tcells. We had two designs for assessing editing efficiencies that consider either location of insertion site or insertion sequence content. We screened guides targeting different points within intron 2 that made different indellengths. Then, we tested insertion of sequences flanking the SS that were modeled after other genes' intronic sequences. The editing frequencies and splicing of SBDS were quantified using Sanger sequencing and qPCR. Using TwinPE, editing of the reporter led to over 200-fold increase in splicing, but expression was still lower compared to the original PE method inserting the same strong SS. Introduction of intronic sequences from other genes did not increase splicing further. These data suggest that TwinPE can be used to correct the SDS splice mutation. We plan to test TwinPE in primary HSPCs and will determine if these SBDS expression levels rescue the molecular defects of SDS.

Although hip-hop is often times depicted as something that is dangerous and full of crime, its listeners, and especially those who grew up in contemporary urban America see the artform as something beautiful and a beacon of hope. Biggie Smalls was a "hero." Many brought their children to the procession, and for youth like Karla Boston, an ll-year-old who went to the parade with her classmates claimed, "He was kind of a role model to all of us ... He found it to the big leagues. He found a way to get out of this neighborhood." This represents the oppression and economic or systematic inequalities that people of color and those who grow up in urban centers face. A funeral procession was turned into mass arrests and a feud between the community and authority. Hip-hop stands for more than just music and B.I.G's "final ride" shows what hip-hop means to its listeners, especially during its golden age in the 1990s. Hip-hop is a space to express urban realities and inequalities, and its delegitimization and nontraditional practices are responsible for its rise as a social power in the United States of America