Schedule of Events

Functional asymmetries have been linked to an increased risk of injury in a variety of different movements including those that are symmetrical in nature (Markou et al., 2006; Zifchock et al., 2006; Drid et al., 2009; Pappas, 2012; Malder, 2013). A drop jump involves stepping off of a platform, landing and then jumping vertically as high as possible.  Drop jumps are used in training, as well as in clinical studies interested in assessing knee injury risk, especially of the anterior cruciate ligament.  The purpose of this study was to determine how ground reaction forces (GRFs) and each leg’s kinematics compare when considering leg preference, leg strength and leg dominance. Twenty intercollegiate athletes (10 male, 10 female) involved in symmetrical sports participated in the study. Subjects were instructed to step off a 45 cm box, land simultaneously with each foot on a Kistler force plate, and then jump vertically as high as possible, landing again on the force plates. Six Vicon MX 40 cameras captured 3-dimensional coordinates of 16 reflective markers to determine lower extremity kinematics. Lead leg was alternated and three trials per lead leg were used for analysis.  Leg strength was determined using a Biodex isokinetic dynamometer at 60 ⁰/s. Ground reaction forces and joint kinematics were compared between the subjects’ preferred and non-preferred legs, between the stronger and weaker legs, and between the dominant and non-dominant legs, determined by ground reaction force values. SPSS v. 25 was used to determine significance at p < 0.05.

Previous studies have indicated a complex epigenetic origin of the extra eye (ee) mutation in Drosophila melanogaster. ee is incompletely penetrant, variably expressed, and conditionally dominant. The mutation is associated with a P-element insertion in the Cpr gene. The P-element is in a reverse orientation with respect to the polarity of Cpr, resulting in the presence of anti-sense P-element RNA in Cpr transcripts. ee penetrance and expressivity is enhanced by the presence of P-elements at different genomic locations. These observations suggest a model for production of the extra eye phenotype in ee mutants. The model posits RNAi-mediated transcriptional suppression via heterochromatization of a gene that encodes a repressor of JAK-STAT, a key signaling cascade implicated in embryonic eye field establishment. In ee strains, a P-element insertion maps near a gene (Su(var)2-10), and is the putative target of RNAi-induced heterochromatization. If correct, the proposed model predicts that new mutant phenotypes may appear in crosses between ee and flies from natural populations that harbor P-elements at various genomic locations. These novel mutants are predicted to be incompletely penetrant and variably expressed, caused by epigenetic silencing via RNAi-induced heterochromatization of genes residing near P-elements. We conducted a screen for such mutations by scoring progeny of crosses of 16 separate lines to ee. In one such cross, a new mutation, crybaby (cby), was recovered. cby exhibits the properties expected of an epigenetically-triggered mutation and suggests that variation in natural populations may include hidden, epigenetic sources.

Siderophores are small, high affinity iron chelators used by bacteria for resource gathering. Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetases manufacture siderophores using a novel and under-described chemistry: they create peptide bonds outside of a ribosome, in the process consuming ATP and a high-energy adenylate intermediate. NIS synthetase have a novel fold and chemistry making it a good target for antibiotic design. DesD is a specific bacterial protein that makes the siderophore desferrioxamine E. The Hoffmann lab is pursuing structural and functional characterize of DesD as a model for the NIS Synthetase family. Biochemical characterization, though, will require access to the substrates in a pure, soluble form. DesD is an iterative where there can be multiple bonds on the same substrate. A large substrate and a small substrate will result differently due to DesD being an iterative and size of substrate. Large substrates can be commercially bought to study binding of DesD. Moreover, a small substrate can also be used to study binding.  This cannot be bought, only synthesized. The small substrate N-Hydroxyl-N-(5-aminopentyl)succinamic acid (HSC) can be synthesized. While the synthesis has been published in the literature, we have made adjustments to improve yield. We will present these improvements as well as our attempts to optimize purification via HPLC. This substrate will be used in thermodynamic binding studies and compared to current binding isotherms of the larger substrate. With the study of large substrate and small substrate binding, it will be a baseline for future inhibitor testing.

Brassica nigra (also known as black mustard) is an invasive plant native to the regions of North Africa and has made its way to Southern California. Its rapid spread raises a question: Where will it spread next? The purpose of this project is to study and create Bayesian Networks (BNs), which model relationships between variables, that predict the spread of black mustard in Thousand Oaks. This project involves creating BNs with different dependency structures, gathering field data on occurrence of brassica nigra and associated environmental variables, and evaluating the proposed models using the collected data. Finally, we compare BN models created by the human researchers and the theoretical optimal model created algorithmically.

We will present the results of our development and testing of detector components for the High-Granularity Calorimeter upgrade of the CMS particle physics experiment at CERN. This project is a collaboration among many institutions including CLU, UCSB,  CERN and FERMILAB. The ultimate objective of our research is searching for yet undetected supersymmetric particles. These particles are a key consequence of some of the leading Grand Unification Theories in particle physics (GUTs). Additionally, supersymmetry predicts the existence of neutralinos, which are a key candidate to be a constituent of the astronomically inferred “Dark Matter”. Our group’s research is directed to improving the detection technologies, as well as the data analysis techniques in supersymmetry searches. In this talk I will concentrate on our effort to improve our detection sensibility through the HGCAL detector upgrade.  Over last summer, I conducted a series of precision tests of HGCAL prototypes. This testing led to the identification of a design flaw with the Hammamatsu designed sensors, leading to excessive leakage current through the sensor. Such currents would impact our measurements. As a result of our work, the detector modules have been redesigned and are operational. They will be tested, at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) particle accelerator in Germany over Spring Break 2018,  and we intend to analyze the resulting data. Looking forward, our main efforts will shift towards Supersymmetry data analysis. We plan to improve the identification of b quarks, a key component in SUSY particle searches, through the use of artificial intelligence pattern recognition algorithms.

Exposures of the Miocene Monterey Formation, consisting of uplifted marine sediments, can be found in the coast ranges and sea cliffs along the southern California coast. The largest accessible and continuously exposed section near Cal Lutheran is located in Malibu at Point Dume state beach. The purpose of this study was to use clues within the formation to determine the ancient sedimentary processes that deposited the rocks and the subsequent deformation that produced the exposures found today. I investigated the lowermost section of the formation along the sea cliffs between Point Dume and Paradise Cove by measuring strike and dip, collecting samples and recording GPS coordinates of all field data sites and recording both sedimentary and deformation structures. Evaluation of the area centered on a large fault, not noted on previous geologic maps, separating two areas of different structural and sedimentological composition. West of the fault, the deeply dipping side, consists of a shale member interbedded with diatomite and chert with small scale brittle deformation. East of the fault, the shallow dipping side, is a porcelanite member interbedded with mudstone that underwent both brittle and ductile deformation (folding). This eastern member contains many low angle thrust faults and folds that could be tied to drag-folding caused by slip on the larger fault. This study is important because much of the previous research in this area on the Monterey Formation has concerned its economic importance, i.e. oil and diatomite found in the formation, rather than structural analysis.