Recent Thesis Titles of BioSci Honors Students

2025-2026

• Alanis Ramos Rodriguez, “Effects of Application Method, Temperature, and Adjuvants on Entomopathogenic Nematodes for Control of the Citrus Mealybug, Planococcus citri,” Mentor: Zachary Everson, PhD
• Adam Safi, “Analysis of the hypoxic stress response in the liver transcriptome of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) through inferential statistics and machine learning,” Mentor: Russell Borski, PhD
• Alexandria Lupton, “Evolutionary impacts of trace metal pollution: A morphometric and body condition analysis of Heterandria formosa,” Mentor: Dr. Alli Duffy, PhD
• Miki Chen, “Development of artificial repression domains for implementing synthetic gene circuits in Arabidopsis thaliana,” Mentor: Anna Stepanova, PhD
• Emma Payne, “Exploring the Neural Basis of Song Recognition Across Drosophila Species,” Mentor: Christa Baker, PhD
• Connor McMurtry, “Assessing spillback transmission of Crithidia bombi to its primary host: Incidence and infection intensity analysis,” Mentor: Rebecca Irwin, PhD
• Reid Dalton,  “PALB2-MRG15 Binds R-loops to Promote DSB Repair,” Mentor: Hong Wang, PhD
• Nery Gonzalez-Garcia, “Role of Interferon Lambda in Regulating NETosis During HSV-1 Infection,” Mentor: Amol Suryawanshi, PhD
• Lilyanna Hopkins, “Cell Growth, Inflammation, and Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in BV-2 Microglia: Impacts of the Chlorpyrifos Metabolite, 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol [TCPy],” Mentor: Jean Harry, PhD (NIEHS)
• John Miller, “Modeling Platelet-like Particles Under Ultrasound Stimulation for Wound Healing,” Mentor: Dr. Mansoor Haider
• Rachel Edwards, “USF-Mediated Repression of Dpp7 as a Mechanism of Acquired Resistance in Cancer,” Mentor: Michael Sikes, PhD
• Breyton Hill, “Revealing Neural Responses to Divergent Acoustic Signals Across Drosophila Species,” Mentor: Christa Baker, PhD

2023-2024

• Gaven Bell, “Estrous cycle regulation of amygdala activation following threat conditioning in C57Bl/6j mice”, Mentor: Elizabeth Lucas, PhD
• Bridget Gigliotti, “Digital PCR for the detection of antibiotic resistance genes in compost”, Mentor: Carlos Goller, PhD
• Alissa Meyerhoffer, “Assessing the growth of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron on different sources of dietary protein”, Mentor: Manuel Kleiner, PhD
• Molly Mizenko, “Investigating Genetics Students’ Understanding of Illumina sequencing using a 3D virtual tour and paired case study”, Mentor: Claire Gordy, PhD
• Aly Prockter, “Improving the mathematical model for chemical absorption of chemical products in human skin”, Mentor: Hien Tran, PhD
• Gabrielle Schuh, “The single-minded gene affects metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster“, Mentor: Patricia Estes, PhD
• Rachael Bieler, “Long-term effects of developmental cyanotoxin exposure on neural function of zebrafish”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
• Renee Du, “Antiviral activity of CPI-1079 against human rhinovirus 14 strain 1059 in H1-HeLa cells “, Mentor: Frank Scholle, PhD
• Sarah Fletcher, “Medium spiny neuron excitability is greater during early development in rats”, Mentor: John Meitzen, PhD
• Thusna Gardiyehewa, “The role of USF1 in lymphocyte responses to double-stranded DNA breaks”, Mentor: Michael Sikes, PhD
• Victoria Kapps, “Developmental co-exposure to BMAA and MCLR alters behavior in adult zebrafish”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
• Rachel Tippett, “A γ-aminobutyric acid-mediated acoustic startle circuit may regulate acoustic hypersensitivity in cyfip2 Danio rerio”, Mentor: Kurt Marsden, PhD
• Bri Ryerson, “Using biological adhesives as a hypoallergenic alternative to current semi-permanent cosmetic adhesives”, Mentor: Christopher Gorman, PhD
• Joseph Majual, “The presence and role of Cadps in peptidergic nociceptors innervating mice skin”, Mentor: Javier Lopez Soto, PhD
• Hunter Epps, “Expression of an insulin-like peptide in Drosophila“, Mentor: Patricia Estes, PhD
• Mary Lynch, “Association between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in blood and bone mass in participants from the GenX exposure study”, Mentor: Jane Hoppin, PhD
• Aaron Reid, “The role of environmental and production factors in the prevalence of Vibrio in retail seafood across North Carolina”, Mentor: Siddhartha Thakur, PhD
• Dhvani Soni, “The role of RhoA/Rock mediated cell contractility for G1/S progression in the cell cycle”, Mentor: Christophe Guilluy, PhD