Category: Summer Team Impact Project

STIP 2023 Summer Video Summary

Author(s): Samuel Biby

Mentor(s): Charles Chavis, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

This program gave me the opportunity to experience things that I never thought I would be able to experience. From programming to photography, archival work to interviews, and celebrations to needed breaks, this summer has been an incredible journey. I worked under Dr. Chavis on the John Mitchell Junior Project (JMJP) thanks to the Office of Student Scholarships, Creative Activities, and Research’s (OSCAR) Summer Team Impacts Project (STIP). My work was comprised of assisting Dr. Chavis in creating a documentary about the lynching of Matthew Williams. Officially, I was the “archival producer,” which meant that I was responsible for finding footage, photos, and audio in archives that was relevant to the production of the film. However, those were not nearly the only things that I was able to work on this summer.

The most impactful, meaningful, and incredible part of this internship was the trips that we took to Salisbury, Maryland, to do research and engage with the community. Although I wasn’t working on this part of the project exclusively, a large part of what Dr. Chavis does is work for communities to help them preserve and remember their history. So, we took two trips to Salisbury this summer to do just that. During these trips, we worked on archives, conducted interviews, and volunteered. The most remarkable part of the two trips was the Juneteenth festival. I have only studied Salisbury in regards to its racist past–but I never experienced the joy that the Black community retains despite Salisbury’s past. The Juneteenth festival was an incredible opportunity to see Black joy at its peak, and it’s something that I will never forget. Of course, that is only one of many incredible experiences that I was lucky enough to have this summer thanks to OSCAR’s STIP internship.

My name is Samuel Biby, and this summer I was working under Dr. Chavis for the John Mitchell Junior Program (JMJP). I ended up with this position thanks to the Mason Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research’s (OSCAR) Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) program.

My work has consisted of helping Dr. Chavis research the lynching of Matthew Williams (a resident of Salisbury, Maryland), taking photos, conducting interviews, and working on relabeling and preserving archives.

This summer has been incredibly rewarding. I have been afforded opportunities to utilize my passions and interests in technology, writing, videography, and photography. Additionally, aside from my work using technology, I was able to engage directly with a community.

On the first trip we took this summer, we went to Salisbury, Maryland. For some brief history, Salisbury used to contain a sub-community called Georgetown. Georgetown was a thriving Black community with a great nightlife and booming business district. However, during the 30s and 40s, two major highways were constructed that completely demolished this neighborhood. Only one building was left””the Charles Chipman Cultural Center. This building, to this day, stores a lot of very important records about the community that used to be there.

Since all of my work and the work of this group revolves (mostly) around Salisbury, we were given a tour by James Yamakawa, a local activist. During this tour, we were shown the important locations that I had been studying””such as the courthouse where Matthew Williams was lynched. I won’t lie, most of the history that I had learned about Salisbury had been dark, as proven by the tour we were given. However, we also volunteered and helped to setup the local Juneteenth festival.

This festival showed me a side of Salisbury that I had never before seen. Most of my summer had been spent researching and helping to write a documentary about Matthew William’s lynching. This festival, however, showed Black joy and pride, it showed me a community that I had never before experienced, a community full of great dancing, great singing, great friendship, and even better food.

I spent most of my time taking photos and documenting everything that was going on. It was a vital part of Salisbury that I was so happy I was final able to see. A good picture always has a foreground and a background, and this was my first time seeing the foreground of Salisbury.

The rest of the trip and most of the proceeding trip was spent working on archiving. Archiving is something that I have never done before””I am not a history major and have never done research in a real archive. This position, though, gave me this great experience that I never thought I would get.

We refoldered documents, labeled folders, digitized photos, and created a spreadsheet recording everything that we had sorted through. The process was long, but made easier by great company and leadership. During our stay in Salisbury, we roomed at the University of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which is a historically Black college with a hotel on campus.

An important part of this work that our leadership is very considerate of is self care. Hence, after working several pretty long days with the archives, we spent a few hours at Ocean City, Maryland, which was a great way for us to relieve stress and get our minds off of all of the challenging and, for lack of better word, depressing content that we had been working with.

The third and final trip that I went on was to the Association of African American Museums (AAAM) conference in Nashville, Tennessee. During this trip, I helped to run a table where we explained our research and work to people who were interested. However, what I am most proud of doing during this trip was conducting interviews.

While I take photos as a hobby and passion, I have never branched much into film. However, during this trip, I was responsible for setting up lights, audio, and cameras to record people during the conference. The interviews are by no means perfect (there’s a lot of background noise, there’s too much back-lighting, and the framing isn’t ideal), but I’m still very proud of what I did and happy with both the results and experience.

This experience also allowed me to make very important connection with scholars who are very relevant in their respective fields. Bonding with these incredible people usually happened during the receptions that occurred daily after the main convention. The most memorable reception was the final one, in which AAAM hosted some prominent Black artists for a concert. The concert was incredible.

The experience was very similar to the Juneteenth festival. I was able to witness Black community in a way that I hadn’t before, and it was enriching.

Throughout this video, I have talked solely about the trips that we took. This is because I found those to be the most impactful on not only my professional life, but my personal life too. However, it is definitely worth talking a little bit about what I did when we weren’t directly engaging with communities.

As I briefly mentioned, Dr. Chavis is working on putting together a documentary about the story of Matthew Williams””the events, the investigation, and the modern day effects of the lynching. I drafted an outline for the script of the documentary, found photos and b-roll of the content discussed in the outline, worked on the budget for the film, took photos for the film, and I am currently working on sending out emails and gaining the rights to use other peoples’ photos and videos in the documentary.

This entire experience has been just extraordinary. Opportunities like these are why I love being a George Mason Student. Thank you so much for listening about my experience.

College of Engineering and Computing OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

RMT PROJECT

Author(s): Karmel Webster, Quentin Sanders

Mentor(s): Quentin Sanders, Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability among children. The disorder develops when a child experiences neurological damage during the prenatal, perinatal, or early postnatal periods. As a result, children with CP often have significant sensorimotor impairments, specifically in the upper extremities. Rehabilitation strategies with the strongest clinical evidence for restoration of upper extremity motor function include Constraint Induced Movement Therapy and Hand-Arm Bimanual Training. But, these options may be better suited for individuals with mild to moderate levels of impairment and may not be applicable for more severely impaired children. For children with more severe levels of upper limb impairment, mirror therapy could be a more feasible approach. Conventional mirror therapy consists of covering the impaired hand while the unimpaired hand performs exercises in front of a mirror. However, this limits sensory feedback to the user while simultaneously failing to provide a realistic training scenario that mimics movements used during everyday activities. The use of robotics combined with mirror therapy could potentially enhance the effects of traditional mirror therapy as robotic devices can be used to provide haptic feedback to the user. To explore this concept, this current work presents the design of a bilateral haptic robot with flexion / extension of the elbow joint. Here, measured movement of one limb connected to a sensorized gantry enclosed timing belt controls movement of a timing belt linear actuator connected to the other limb. Future work will evaluate the feasibility of this approach in children with CP.

Summer 2023 Oscar Celebration Video Transcript
July 31, 2023
Mentor: Dr. Quentin Sanders
OSCAR Student: Karmel Webster

INTRODUCTION AUDIO:
The focus of my research project for this Summer was to develop a rehabilitation robotic device specifically for the upper extremities for children with Cerebral Palsy. According to the Center for Disease Control, Cerebral Palsy is the most common motor disability in children today. CP develops after a child has experienced brain damage while in the womb or shortly after birth, which results in a decreased range of motion as well as sporadic movements of either the upper and/or lower extremities. Other rehabilitation strategies have been utilized to treat children with CP (such as Constraint-Induced Therapy), but due to there being limited treatment options and a need for more devices that treat severe cases of CP, additional rehabilitation methods have been explored, such as conventional mirror therapy.
Conventional mirror therapy works by covering the affected hand, while the unaffected hand remains uncovered to perform exercises in a mirror.
but the downside of conventional mirror therapy is that it only provides visual feedback and lacks sensory feedback, which limits the therapeutic benefit while simultaneously failing to provide an accurate training scenario that mimics movements used during everyday activities.
As a result, the objective of this research project was to develop a bilateral haptic robot that employs the concept of traditional mirror therapy by providing both visual and sensory feedback through execution of flexion and extension movements of the elbow.

CONTROLS AUDIO:
In order to develop this device, my mentor, Dr. Sanders, first taught me about the controls needed for this robot ,which first focused on using a Potentiometer (which is a variable resistor, that produces an output value from 0-1023) in order to control the position of a DC/direct current motor.
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Over the course of the Summer, I learned that PID control is a commonly used feedback loop system which stands for Proportional, Integral and Derivative. The proportional term is calculated by multiply the proportional constant (kp) by the error term, and is therefore directly responsible for decreasing the error in the calculated control signal, while the integral and derivative terms are calculated using the finite difference theorem (which is shown in the picture) in order to smooth out the control signal.
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The constants Kp,Ki, and Kd dictate how much each term will be represented when the control signal is calculated.
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Ultimately, I learned that PID controls the position of a motor by measuring the original position of the motor (using the encoders on the motor), and subtracting this value from the target position (which is the position of the potentiometer) in order to calculate the error term.
Once the error term was calculated, it was sent to the controller (which was the Arduino Uno) in order to be converted into a control signal that ultimately traveled to the plant (which is the DC Motor).
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This will turn the motor shaft clockwise or counter clockwise, which is dictated by the control signal and is displayed here in the video:
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learning this information allowed for the robot to be controlled using a DC motor, an Arduino mega, and a rotary encoder (instead of a potentiometer).
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DESIGN:
The next part of this project focused on the design aspects needed for the elbow module of the robot, which is displayed here in the design sketch along with the name of each component. The elbow module of the robot contains a motorized side (right side) and a sensorized side (left side), due to containing a motor and rotary encoder. In regard to the functionality of this robot, as the patient moves the rotary cart hand platform on the sensorized side, the hand cart will move the timing belt along 2 linear shafts. As the timing belt moves, it will simultaneously move the small metal pulley attached to the rotary encoder shaft, ultimately changing its position. This position change will then travel to the microcontroller (an Arduino mega), which will then convey a control signal message to the DC motor. When the control signal reaches the motor, the patient’s hand located on the right platform (which is the motorized side), will move in response to the position change from the rotary encoder.
—————————————————————————————————————————————— While some robot parts were purchased, I learned how to use the Cading Software called Fusion 360 in order to build 3D support models needed for the robot. This included:
A large 3D mount used to hold one side of the pulley and timing belt in place, which is show here in picture from the sketch diagram, as well as the CAD model and the printed 3D model.
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Smaller 3D mounts used to hold the long linear shafts in place.
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The hand clip, hand rotary cart, and hand platform for the patient to grab onto and push in order to move the timing belt along the linear shafts.
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A motor stand and rotary encoder stand to support and prevent excessive movement of the motor and encoder, while also securing the second pulleys on the opposite sides of the timing belt.
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Here is a picture of the right side of the robot (which is the motorized side of the robot). The left side of this robot (which is the sensorized side), is still being developed.
CONCLUSION:
Though the motorized side for this device has been developed, and the development of the sensorized side is still underway, we plan to implement pronation/supination movements to this robot for wrist movement, as well as a grasping motion to the robot for the patient’s hands.

Thank you!

College of Public Health College of Science OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Mpala Waterborne Disease Project

Author(s): Nisa Berlas, Peyton Beaumont, Nicole Brandt

Mentor(s): Michael Von Fricken, College of Public Health

Waterborne illnesses present a significant threat to the health of humans, animals, and the surrounding environment. According to a study titled, the intersection of land use and human behavior as risk factors for zoonotic pathogen exposure in Laikipia County, Kenya, “œIn Kenya, resource sharing, or common use of grazing and watering resources among humans and animals, is prevalent in pastoral communities and within arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) areas. Human interactions with domestic animals can increase risk of zoonosis transmission within communities that practice animal production, particularly via contact with infected food and water.” (Kamau et al., 2021). A study by Manetu & Karanjai in 2021 stated that infections can be acquired through untreated water sources while bathing, washing, drinking water, and eating foods exposed by contaminated water. This can result in several symptoms, with diarrhea and vomiting being the most common. According to the study titled Waterborne Disease Risk Factors and Intervention Practices, the Ministry of water and Irrigation report (2012), 50% of Kenya’s households did not have access to safe drinking water and the proportion for the poor households was higher. Most of the Kenyan rural populations obtain their water supplies from unprotected sources, underground water, streams, spring wells, ponds and lakes frequently resulting in diarrhea diseases” (Manetu & Karanja, 2021). Due to the lack of accessibility to safe drinking water, testing the water at the Mpala Research Centre at the 5 different sites would help to evaluate the various pathogens that may be present within the Mpala ecosystem. Additionally, this knowledge could assist in informed decision-making regarding wastewater treatment and could help prevent any future outbreaks of diseases in the Mpala and local communities.

Hello, my name is Nisa Berlas, my name is Peyton Beaumont, and I’m Nicole Brandt; and this is the Mpala Waterborne Disease Project. We spent 3 weeks at the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia county, Kenya to conduct research on pathogens in the area that could impact the health of humans and wildlife in the surrounding environment. Our original plan was to research vector-borne pathogens, but then we learned about an ongoing diarrheal disease outbreak at Mpala. We decided our resources and time would be better spent investigating this outbreak in real-time to find the source of exposure. The objective of the Mpala Waterborne Disease Project was to isolate potential waterborne pathogens from different sources at the Mpala Research Centre and provide recommendations for preventing future disease exposure. Our group designed an original protocol to conduct an experiment with methods derived from similar research studies on wastewater collection. We collected twenty-eight samples from septic tanks and pit latrines around the campus, as well as water from communal sources such as sinks and showers. A nearby dam, which is the water source for Mpala, acts as a watering hole for local wildlife. Because this water is used by both humans and animals, it was also tested to determine any traces of pathogenic origin that could have caused a spillover event. By collecting and testing these water samples, we were able to determine the likely cause of the outbreak. We decided to collect our samples between 9am and 11am due to a recommendation from a previous study by Kevill et al. in 2022 that used similar wastewater collection methods. Next, we needed to figure out how long we would need to sample for, to gather adequate results. We decided two collection days were sufficient enough after several sample test runs of the tampon-dip method. Collection tubes were respectively labeled for wastewater, communal water, and dam water, along with positive and negative controls. We mapped out our collection sites with their corresponding coordinates to determine if location impacted which pathogens may be present. A cooler with ice packs and a tube rack were brought along as we moved from site to site to keep the samples viable. Using proper PPE listed in the protocol, a new tampon was tied to a string and lowered into the wastewater to collect a sample at each site. Once a minute had passed, the tampon was removed from the wastewater and liquid was extracted by squeezing it into a collection tube. Then, a sliver of the tampon was cut and placed into a tube to be homogenized later for PCR.
Between collection sites, new PPE was donned, and ethanol and bleach were used for surface decontamination. For communal water, a collection tube was brought to each site and the water source was run for 20 seconds prior to collection to wash away any stagnant impurities.
The dam water was collected during normal collection times and poured into a whirl-a-bag with approximately two cups of water from the upstream and downstream face of the dam. These steps were respectively repeated for each collection site for the two testing days. To process the field samples, we first used the Biomeme M1 Sample Prep to extract DNA from the collected water to obtain a purified sample. It includes a single-use syringe, binding column tip, and a cartridge with subsequent washes to obtain a purified sample upon elution. Each section of the cartridge has a recommended number of times the syringe must be pumped to mix the solution. Additionally, between each section the contents of the syringe must be expelled before insertion into the next section.
First, using a pipette the sample is transferred into the lysis and binding section of the cartridge, which breaks open the cells. This step was repeated for the protein and salt wash sections to remove any possible proteins and salts present. The syringe was then injected into the drying section of the cartridge where it was pumped rapidly to remove any remaining fluid. Lastly, the syringe was inserted into the elution step which is the process of extracting a substance that is absorbed to another by washing it with a solvent. As a result, the DNA has been isolated and is ready to be extracted and prepared for PCR.
In preparation for PCR, the sample was added to the Biomeme 3-welled Cave Panel B Go-Strips using a pipette. This is a small sterile strip with 3 wells that contains a lyophilized master mix in each well with primers, probes, and enzymes. Each well tests for 3 different waterborne diseases including Salmonella, Listeria, Legionella, Giardia, Campylobacter, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and Human Fecal Matter (HF183) as the positive control. Additionally, our group used Phosphate- Buffered Saline (PBS) as the negative control to determine if there were any environmental contaminants present. After the sample was added to the Go- Strip, it was flicked several times to ensure there were no air bubbles present which could hinder the results. The Go- Strip is then inserted into the thermocycler machine to undergo PCR, which amplifies the DNA isolated from the Biomeme M1 Sample Prep to determine if there are any waterborne diseases present in the collected water. In a perfect experiment, a researcher wants as many variables as possible to be the same to yield the most accurate results. Unfortunately, there are always some limitations with field work as there are many variables that may be impossible to control. For example, two of the sites that we collected from were open to environmental contaminants, which could have impacted the pathogens found at those locations. Additionally, the tampon saturation varied between testing locations due to the differing characteristics of each site. For instance, when we tested the pit latrines, our tampons did not get fully saturated as the pit latrines did not contain much liquid waste. Another limitation was our sample size, as a larger sample size could have yielded more accurate results. However, on account of our limited time at Mpala Research Centre, as well as resource sharing with other projects, we were unable to collect as many samples as we had initially hoped. Our experiment yielded positive results for diarrheal diseases, however, we will not be disclosing which specific pathogens were found due to privacy reasons. Our research was conducted to help the Mpala Research Centre find the source of exposure so they could make an informed decision about what steps could be taken to prevent future outbreaks. It was determined that the likely source of the pathogen was the dam water that wildlife often uses as a watering hole. While this water is filtered before it gets to Mpala, some pathogens are able to pass through the filter, likely contributing to waterborne disease outbreaks. Because of our research, a fence is being built around the dam to prevent disease spillover from wildlife, and a representative from Mpala will be testing the water on a monthly basis. As a result of our findings, we suggest that any future diarrheal outbreaks be treated with antiparasitics rather than antibiotics. If you would like more details on our research methods, a link to the protocol we wrote will be included at the end of this presentation along with our sources. Overall, this was a great opportunity which helped us start our introductive journey into academic research and helped build our critical thinking skills in terms of developing our own scientific protocol. We were also able to have a positive impact, as our research led to the creation of protective measures to prevent future waterborne disease outbreaks. We would like to thank the OSCAR office, Dr. Michael Von Fricken, and the Mpala Research Centre for making this project possible. We can’t wait to continue our research in the future.

College of Humanities and Social Science College of Science OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Indigenous Environmental Mapping & Resilience Planning Project with Chickahominy Indian Nation

Author(s): Sunehera Hasib, Domi Hannon, Madison Clayton, Vick Maddox, Sara Jefferson

Mentor(s): Jeremy Campbell, GMU Institute for a Sustainable Earth

After centuries of marginalization, Indigenous nations in Virginia have successfully mobilized for recognition and self-determination in recent decades. Most concretely, Virginia Tribes have recently come into direct control of over 4,500 acres (and counting) of their ancestral lands throughout the Commonwealth. In this project, GMU researchers partner with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe of Charles City County as they seek to identify culturally- and environmentally-appropriate methods for managing 1,060 acres of recently reacquired lands along the Chickahominy and James Rivers. We utilize mixed methods to assess the environmental health of Tribal lands; to research and revive traditional ecological knowledge practices; and to create decision-making models that support Chickahominy Sovereignty.

[Displayed on the screen]

Land acknowledgment engages all present in an ongoing indigenous protocol to enact meaningful, reciprocal relationships with ancestors and contemporary tribal nations. As a state university, we have a responsibility to include and support indigenous communities and sovereign tribes in our work. At the place George Mason University occupies, we give greetings and thanksgivings to these Potomac River life sources, to the Doeg ancestors, who Virginia annihilated in violent campaigns while ripping their lands apart with the brutal system of African American enslavement, to the recognized Virginia tribes who have lovingly stewarded these lands for millennia including the Rappahannock, Pamunkey, Upper Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Nansemond, Monacan, Mattaponi, Patawomeck, and Nottaway, past, present, and future, and to the Piscataway tribes, who have lived on both sides of the river from time immemorial.

Dana: My name’s Dana Adkins. I am a citizen of the Chickahominy Indian tribe and my official position with the tribe is environmental

Domi: This summer, a team of five undergraduates and two graduates, headed by Dr. Jeremy Campbell of GMU’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth, Dr. Tom Wood of the School of Integrative Studies, and Dr. Shima Mohebbi of the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, continued their environmental work with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe of Charles City, Virginia. Last summer, the relationship with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe began, with the first Summer Team Impact Project. This first group of students began gathering and analyzing baseline data regarding the environment, data sovereignty, and food sovereignty. Picking up the work, with new faces and returning faces, students worked on assessing wildlife, building traditional ecological knowledge, and modeling data for future decisions made by the Chickahominy Indian Tribe’s council.

Dana: So this particular piece of property is called Mammanahunt. It’s one of the traditional village sites that was in place during the time of contact in 1607. The significance of it is just what I just mentioned. We were forced off of our land in the mid 1600s. We are traditionally river people. We haven’t had a presence on the river since about 1644. So the significance is actually reaquiring this spot. This village site has deep cultural significance to us.

Vick: The Chickahominy Indian Tribe is one of the first Native tribes of Virginia to encounter the English settlers, including John Smith. The Chickahominy have existed in their ancestral lands, which are now known as the Charles City and New Kent areas of the state of Virginia, since time immemorial. As one of the first tribes to interact with the English settlers, the Chickahominy, like their other Powhatan Confederacy relatives, were overwhelmed by colonial disease and violence. However, they have remained a people with a unique cultural and ways of living despite these hardships. The tribe first gained state recognition in 1983 before gaining federal recognition in 2018. Over 850 people are enrolled members and live within a five mile radius of the tribal center, which is located near the site of an ancestral, pre-contact village

Maddie: As a part of our work with the Chickahominy, we, with permission from the tribal council, set up 15 Song Meter Micro recorders for the purpose of ecosystem, biodiversity, and soundscape monitoring on the land that the Chickahominy has a relationship with – the ancestral site called Mamanahunt, located on the Chickahominy River, and another site on the James River, or the Powhatan River, as it was called pre-colonization. These song meter recorders were set to record for 4 hours in total per day – two hours around dawn, and two hours in dusk. These recorders captured not just song from birds, but also frog data as well as other sound data from mammals.

Along with the sound recordings, we spent many hours at these two sites recording what we saw in the area – from animal relatives to insect relatives and plant relatives. We discussed the historical and cultural significance of birds such as the Portoratary Warbler and the Purple Martin, whom the Chickahominy have had long term relationships with. We also brainstormed ideas on supporting relatives like the Purple Martin through initiatives like building them traditional nesting sites made out of gourds, and how to engage all members of the tribes in conservation work.

Domi: Traditional ecological knowledge, which is apart of Indigenous knowledge, is the on-going knowledge, understanding and coexistence of nature and people, specifically in the relationships between Indigenous peoples and the land they are from and have stewarded since time immemorial. Part of our work this summer has been talking with tribal members such as Dana on what TEK the Chickahominy community possesses, as well as investigating through scholarly and other resources what TEK the community may have possessed at one point. This cumulated in an extensive ethnobiological data collection on the plant, animal, and insect relatives present at Mamanahunt and Chickahominy on the Powhatan. This data features TEK about the relative and extremely detailed physical descriptions of the relative. This ethnobiology spreadsheet, along with other data collected, belongs solely to the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, in order to maintain their data sovereignty.

Sara: So right now, we’re at Samaria Baptist Church where we’re holding our summer culture camp of Chickahominy Indian Tribe and one of the components of our camp is that there is a gardening portion. We got the grant from the Newman’s Own Company to do this and so part of the grant was that we had to have a garden portion and a culture portion, so, as you can see right now, we are doing our gardening portion. We have these raised beds that were generously donated to us as all of all the seeds that we have and the soil that we have.

We started these raised beds with the kids talking about crops we wanted to grow for our families and for our gardens so we have some tomato plants that we just planted. And we also have stuff like cucumber, watermelon, and I know we have pumpkin, lettuce, carrots, beets, all the vegetables you can think of that we want to plant and hopefully at the end of the camp, we can harvest these and send some home with the kids.

Sunehera: The Data Modeling for Decision-Making group embarked on a crucial project to enhance the resiliency of Chickahominy lands in the face of disasters and determine the optimal strategy for using farmlands. This endeavor involved four key steps: collecting diverse datasets, designing research questions, integrating datasets, and making informed decisions based on the research. The project focused on Physical, Environmental, Time Series, and Other datasets, each offering unique insights into Chickahominy’s environment and community.

The team began by diligently collecting datasets that directly or indirectly influenced Chickahominy. These datasets were classified into Physical, Environmental, Time Series, and Other categories. Physical datasets provided location-based attributes, Environmental data encompassed information about natural disasters and hazards, Time Series datasets revealed temporal patterns and trends, while Other datasets contained social and demographic information.

The summer 2023 project focused on addressing critical concerns to enhance Chickahominy’s resilience and optimize farmland usage. The main research questions included:
What policies can be implemented to enhance the resiliency of Chickahominy lands in the face of disasters?
How can the accessibility of shelters be calculated for different polygons in Charles City County?
How should food resources such as grocery stores and restaurants be allocated to each polygon during disasters?
What is the level of accessibility of food resources for each polygon in the region?
How can the currently available farmlands in Chickahominy be effectively evaluated?
From a financial perspective, what constitutes the optimal strategy for utilizing farmlands effectively?

These research questions formed the core of the project’s objectives and laid the foundation for data modeling and decision-making. By addressing these inquiries, the team aimed to provide valuable insights and recommendations to enhance Chickahominy’s resilience, allocate resources efficiently during disasters, and optimize the management of farmlands for sustainable growth and financial viability. Each dataset was meticulously evaluated, visualized, and explained in a separate Word file, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of their contents and significance.

To address the first research questions, the team focused on calculating the accessibility of shelter and food resources for each polygon in Charles City County during disasters. They considered various criteria such as vehicle numbers, vulnerable age groups, and more, enabling them to propose suitable policies to enhance resilience.

Vick: The members of our undergraduate team, as well as graduate team are grateful for their experience. They would like to thank the Chickahominy Indian tribe, with a special thanks to Dana Adkins for his guidance and help this summer. We would also like to thank the GMU Office for Student Scholarship and Creative Activities for funding our work for a second year in a row. We hope to continue our work with the Chickahominy Indian tribe for many years to come, as a reciprocal relationship between them and GMU is imperative for decolonial, indigenizing work.

[Future Collaboration]

Maddie: What do you want to see or develop out of this collaboration?

Dana: I would like to see this collaboration actually be a pipeline to more of our youth going into post-secondary education. We’ve seen more and more of our students going to university now. And we see it having- people that we know- friends that we know- at George Mason- maybe being able to increase that pipeline of the flow rate of the people our student, our youth, going into education beyond highschool.

College of Education and Human Development College of Humanities and Social Science College of Public Health OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Addressing Barriers to Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Among Immigrant Populations in Fairfax County

Author(s): Ha Le, Elizabeth Fortson, Paridhi Pradhan, Nallely Calles, Lina Hussein

Mentor(s): Denise Hines, Social Work

The immigrant population in Fairfax is one of the highest in the NOVA region; however, these populations can be underserved and underrepresented in domestic and sexual violence treatment. Literature shows that domestic and sexual violence is prevalent within different immigrant communities, but little is known about the barriers that can prevent potential clients from seeking help. This project involved a scoping review and interviews with community leaders of select immigrant populations: Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, South Asian, Latinx, SWANA, and Eastern European. We find that while there are specific considerations for each population, immigration impacts every part of an immigrant’s life and creates a fear of authorities. Additionally, a lack of knowledge of U.S. institutions as well as traditional gender and family dynamics often leave victims unaware of what is considered abuse and what services or options are available. Additionally, the public perception of sexual and domestic violence services within these populations typically views them as serving “other kinds” of people, and unable to address the specific and nuanced needs of immigrant clients.

Lina: Welcome to our Oscar Celebration of Learning presentation! This was a summer
team impact project. Here are some key terms and statistics to go over before we go into this
presentation I do want to point out a trigger warning. Topics on sexual and
domestic violence will be discussed, our main focus was on intimate partner violence. On the left side you can read a definition of intimate partner violence and on the
right side are some facts pertaining to the U.S

Paridhi: The summer team impact project was a collaboration with Fairfax County DSVS
to better understand ways in which to provide care for underserved populations.

Elizabeth: To tackle this project we conducted an intensive literature review and
interviewed community leaders to find out what’s known about potential barriers when accepting Domestic and Sexual Violence Services among different populations in the literature review. We looked at General barriers for different populations within the United States as well as potential solutions to overcome these barriers.

Lina: let’s go over some key findings from this scoping review.

Nallely Calles: These are some themes that we all found within our respective immigrant communities. The first one being you know societal perceptions barriers and fears,
family and traditional roles and values, preferences in surface usage, and just the general of lack of awareness and knowledges on services.

Lina: As an example, we will delve into how different communities experience
traditional and familial roles. In the SWANA Community a common traditional perception held by women is the idea of maintaining the family unit. Women feel that by exposing their abuse to outside agencies they are bringing shame and dishonor to their families. This can lead to social ostracization as women are outcasted from their society, which is why women prefer to use informal networks. These perceptions of shame and honor are passed down through
intergenerational transfer. When women are at a power imbalance with their abuser because they are financially dependent on them or rely on them for their immigration status. They are left in a no-win situation where if they stay with their abuser they continue their abuse but if they leave they are left with nothing.

Nallely: In the Latinx community we see family as a support system you know Familismo
which is essentially a built-in support system we have. We come from a collectivist culture that
really prioritizes family. Family is a barrier this prioritization of family can cause women to endure unnecessary abuse. Distance from family, (Pause) a lot of women or immigrants leave their families behind, and they no longer have the support system that they’re used to. Uh gender norms, machismo and marianismo and just conflicting cultural values when
they come to the US specifically with the gender norms that they’re used to.

Elizabeth: In my research I focused on two populations Eastern European immigrants
and sub-Saharan African immigrants, however I found that among both groups immigration can complicate the family roles within a household. As typically in traditional roles the wife would take care of the children whereas the husband would be the main breadwinner of the family. After immigrating to the U.S this wasn’t very feasible as a single income was enough to support the family which meant that the wife would have to go and take on more work which would lead to what was called role strain which could cause conflict that could then escalate into domestic violence.

Paridhi: These are some of the themes that were prevalent among the South Asian
population the first one is insecurity of immigration status since most of the victims immigrated to the United States through marriage for social mobility, but this also gave the risk of not having knowledge about the new country they were going to be living. In the second theme was a lack of support system where victims of domestic violence were conditioned to not speak out about their abuse and many of the victims were also financially dependent on their abusers since they were not allowed to hold jobs.

Paridhi: And lastly moving on to the implications of the project these are the future efforts and
implications it includes understanding societal context to meet the unique needs of each population through a culturally centered approach the main takeaway is that service providers and community members must collaborate together in order to engage effectively to and to make progressive changes.

Paridhi: Thank you for watching our presentation!

College of Public Health OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

“The Analysis of Filth Flies as potential Vectors for Disease from Septic Tanks and Latrines at Mpala Research Center” Part of Life at the Watering Hole””A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Laikipia County, Kenya

Author(s): Gabriel Ransom, Sonny Todd

Mentor(s): Michael von Fricken, One Health Center of Excellence at the University of Florida

Flies are major vectors of disease that mechanically transmit different pathogens to human populations. The Filth Fly Study aims to further evaluate how flies function as mechanical vectors of disease by collecting and analyzing the genetic makeup of flies from latrines and septic tanks to humans at the Mpala Research Center. Identifying what pathogens are present in local flies would be vital to understanding and potentially improving the health of individuals at the Mpala Research Center. A three-day collection period of flies was undertaken at the Mpala Research Center around the latrines and septic tanks through the placement of flytraps. After a four-hour collection period, the captured flies were homogenized and had their DNA extracted for a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. As of right now, results can not be discussed as requested by the Mpala Research Center, but it can be stated that pathogens have been noted from testing done. Overall, further testing should be done on local flies to better expand upon knowledge of flies as vectors for disease.

When you think of African wildlife, what comes to mind? Elephants? Lions? Welp, how about arthropods? Insects, bugs, arachnids; they are everywhere. Usually, they are manifested in nightmares, like an inherent, primal fear. These creatures are usually regarded as pests. At best, they annoy their hosts by swarming around them, or with their loud noises. But at worst, they cause epidemics that can kill millions. This is where the GMU STIP team comes in handy.

Led by Dr. Michael Von Fricken, a former professor of community health at GMU and the current director of the One Health Center of Excellence at the University of Florida, the George Mason team efficiently tackled our mission by dividing into three groups: ticks, flies (which we belonged to), and water. Our fly group consisted of Sonny, Gabriel, and James. While we assisted all three groups to some extent, our primary focus for the STIP project was evaluating flies as mechanical vectors of disease. This involved collecting flies from latrines and septic tanks at the Mpala Research Center in Laikipia County, Kenya, and analyzing their genetic makeup. Mpala, located in a secluded rural area, provided pristine wildlife testing grounds. We gathered around 5 flies from each site, homogenized the samples, and utilized a Biomeme machine using a CAVE B panel test for real-time PCR amplification of pathogen DNA carried by the flies. The panel tests included detecting pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, Legionella, Giardia, Campylobacter, E. coli, human fecal matter, and Cryptosporidium.

The first step was gathering the flies. This was done by placing a sheet of 3×5 inch fly paper at our six chosen locations and using sugar/fruit to lure them onto it. Over a 4-hour period from 10:00 am to 2 pm, the traps would be checked at 1-hour intervals on a daily basis for the three days of collection. The pool size representing each site was 5 flies, with 1 pool being collected from each site. The tested sites were a public men’s latrine, two separate septic tanks near housing, and a staff latrine. It should be noted that we originally also included areas around the dining facility, however, due to staff concerns, we were unable to complete testing there.
The second step was homogenizing our samples. After we collected the flies from the traps with tweezers, we put them into labeled test tubes. To begin, 400 microliters of lysis buffer was taken from the Sample prep Biomeme cartridge and put into the sample test tube. After 2 minutes the flies are crushed up using a pestle to fully lyse the cell membrane so as to obtain the nucleic materials. Afterward, the Biomeme cartridge is put to use, and the different formulated buffers inside each of the cartridge’s sections are pumped to the recommended set numbers with a syringe. Through this process, the subsequent buffers allow for the nucleic acids to be cleaned and ready for analysis. Once these steps are completed, 800 microliters are extracted and put in another clean test tube for it to be analyzed later.
The third and final step is simply putting it into the Biomeme machine, which is a portable thermocycler, so it can process and analyze each sample for the presence or absence of the searched for target pathogens. How we put it in the machine is by transferring 3 sets of 20 Microliter samples from the test tube into a Go-strip, a set of 3 small vials containing our master mix, and pump the solution using a pipet to ensure there are no bubbles. Finally, we carefully put it into the Biomeme machine, and wait for it to finish reading the fly samples.

So, to preface this aspect, we did find pathogens at all the tested sites. Although our results cannot currently be discussed due to varying factors, the research completed certainly allowed for a variety of new experiences and learning opportunities. In addition, this experience gave us a better scope of the logistics behind research and our limitations. For example, having an increased budget and a longer allotted collection period could potentially allow for more definite results. In addition, the collection of multiple and larger pools for sampling could allow for more accurate results given the increased time window. The use of other means of collection is another topic to consider. Using an apparatus such as a high-powered aspirator could allow for differing results due to the live, whole nature of the flies that the flypaper didn’t always produce. Overall, the opportunity to take part in this research project was an eye-opening experience, and certainly a good start into the field of research.

Although the GMU STIP team worked diligently on vector-borne illnesses, there was also some time for fun and exploring Kenya. We went to an animal habilitation sanctuary. This place helps rescue and rehabilitate troubled wild animals. Another cool thing we got to do was hike to a small waterfall. It was spectacular, to say the least. And of course, we also got to see the local wildlife on a game drive.

We would like to thank the STIP and overall OSCAR program for allowing us to take part in such an exciting program. Without our funding, this project never would have gotten off the ground. In addition, we would like to thank Dr. Von Fricken, the Mpala Research Center staff, and our partner project Wastewater.

Summer Team Impact Project

Mason Summer Team Impact Project-Bas Rawat & Jo Hoye

Author(s): Bas Rawat, Jo Hoye

Mentor(s): Denise Hines, Department of Social Work

Domestic violence (DV) affects individuals within intimate relationships, including verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. The transgender community is particularly vulnerable to DV, facing disproportionately high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, research on tailored support services for this community is scarce. This study aims to identify barriers hindering transgender individuals from accessing crucial support systems, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of their unique needs and fostering the development of inclusive and effective services.

Slide 1 (Bas Rawat): Hello everyone! My name is Bas Rawat, I use they/he pronouns, and I worked with Jo Hoye (who uses they/them pronouns) on our Summer Team Impact Project. Our project focused on the narriers the transgender community faces when trying to access Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence services within Fairfax County.

Slide 2 (Jo Hoye): So our research question for this project was, “what is known about how–if at all–experiences with transphobia and homophobia may impact transgender individuals’ decisions about identity disclosure or willingness to access domestic violence or sexual violence services. And we also wanted to identify any additional barriers. So essentially what this is, is we are trying to identify barriers that transgender individuals might face when they are trying to get help from domestic and sexual violence services. Now there are a lot of barriers faced by individuals who are in a minority, because domestic violence services are primarily accessed and geared towards middle-class white women. So what we are doing in this study is we are examining individuals who are outside of the norm, so to speak. Outside of the typically”¦ of the group typically associated with domestic and sexual violence, and we are examining on why they don’t report domestic and sexual violence as much.

Slide 3 (Bas Rawat): The objectives of this study is to critically evaluate the barriers that deter transgender individuals from accessing crucial support systems for addressing DV and SV. “‹By doing so, we can contribute to the knowledge base and stimulate further research on the development of inclusive and effective services, especially for magrinialisexd communities like the trasngedner community.

Slide 4 (Jo Hoye): All questionable articles were ultimately screened out. The search process was conducted on Academic Search Complete and Google Scholar. A social-ecological model will be used to determine how transphobia affects transgender individuals through the research that we conducted.

Slide 5 (Bas Rawat): Intially, Jo and I had many search terms that we wanted to use when searching for articles and journals. This included (but were not limited to) these LGBTQ+ specific terms: Transexual, agender, intersex, and many more that fall under the umbrella of the transgender community. There were also non-LGBTQ+ terms that we wanted to include in our initial search terms such as, sexual violence, doemstic violence, intimate partner violence, services, disrcimination and more. Howevever, we narrowed our search terms down to transgender, intimate partner violence, LGBT, and domestic violence”‹. We narrowed down our terms because when using the more LGBTQ-specific terms, there were no research studies that correleated to our research questions.

Slide 6 (Jo Hoye): Themes that we discovered within our results included transphobia, abuse, lack of resources, legal and medical barriers, fear, and intersectionality. Of these themes, transphobia, lack of resources, legal and medical barriers, fear, and intersectionality all factored into the barriers that transgender people face when seeking help from domestic violence services. Fear, for example, represents the fear that transgender people face when thinking about reaching out to domestic violence services, including fear of being discriminated against, fear of not being believed, and fear of how they might be perceived by their community afterwards. Intersectionality represents the intersection between barriers for transgender minorities and barriers for other minorities. For example, there are different barriers for people of color, but a person who is both a person of color and transgender would face the barriers of a transgender person and a person of color, making it that much harder to access services. Legal and medical barriers represent the discrimination within the legal and medical systems which makes it harder for transgender people to access services. Transphobia represents the general transphobia of the world, both systematic and personal, that prevents transgender people from accessing domestic violence services. And lack of resources represents the lack of resources that we have in most of our systems to accommodate transgender people who often don’t match their legal or biological sex in the way that they present, but still deserve to be treated as the gender they present as and be referred to as.

Slide 7 (Bas Rawat): To address the increase in Domestic Violence faced by transgender individuals, it is crucial to implement actionable solutions. One effective approach is to mandate trainings for staff members within social services, enabling them to develop the necessary cultural competence and sensitivity to interact with transgender individuals effectively. By equipping these professionals with the knowledge and tools to provide appropriate support, we can foster an environment that is safer and more supportive for the trans community.

It is essential that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners collaborate to bridge the existing knowledge gap and work towards more inclusive and informed strategies to combat Domestic Violence and sexual violence affecting transgender individuals. Only through such concerted efforts can we create a society where all individuals, regardless of their gender identity, feel secure, respected, and protected from violence and discrimination. However, there needs to be more research done on this topic in order to verify what barriers the transgender community faces when trying to access Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence services.

Summer Team Impact Project

Life at the Watering Hole””A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Laikipia County, Kenya

Author(s): Risper Mwingirwa, Marcara Wright

Mentor(s): Michael Von Fricken, College of Public Health

Our Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) took us on a transformative three-week journey to Kenya, where we focused on crucial public health challenges through the lens of One Health. Our project, “Life at the Watering Hole – A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Laikipia County, Kenya,” explored the intricate interplay between wildlife, domestic animals, and human health in the region.

At the core of our project was tick collection using innovative CO2 traps, a vital aspect of disease surveillance. Employing two distinct trapping methods, we used dry ice as a surrogate for CO2 and host-like attraction to draw ticks toward our traps, gaining insights into disease transmission dynamics. Tick collection occurred at two different locations, Bomas, where animals were sprayed with insecticides and animal resting sites.

Amidst our scientific pursuits, our time in Kenya provided a profound cultural immersion, enhancing our appreciation for the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the crucial role of human-animal-environment interactions in safeguarding public health.

Hello, my name is Risper Mwingirwa. I’m a student at George Mason University. I study computer science and I’m a rising sophomore.

Hi everyone, my name is Marcara Wright, a senior at George Mason University from Richmond, Virginia, majoring in community and global health.

This summer I had a chance to participate in a summer team impact project in Laikipia County, Kenya, where we were focusing on life at the water and our one health approach to disease surveillance in Kenya. During the three weeks that we were there, we were able to immerse ourselves into deep research and also into the Kenya project.

Our project for the three weeks that we were in Laikipia County, Kenya focused on using carbon dioxide as a means to trap ticks. This was done by different types of methods that we tested out. The main two methods that we used were the tick-dragging method as well as the pitfall method. And we did these at two different locations, one being the Bomas, which is a livestock enclosure, and then the second location, just being animal resting sites around Laikipia County, Kenya. Our research question is, how does dry ice attract ticks based on location? We started off this project by first doing our research. We wanted to know exactly what hard ticks were, soft ticks were, CO2 tick dragging, tick dragging overall, pitfall methods, and any other methods that will be useful for us to know during this whole process. From there, we then decided to build our protocol. There are many different aspects and factors that we needed to think about before we were able to go out and start collecting. The first thing was the collection form. Were we going to use pen and paper or were we going to use some kind of app to help us with our collection? We decided to use an app called the Kobo Collect. And it has the different GPS coordinates, the temperature, has you take pictures, all things like that to make sure you have all documentation needed for your end report. And then we had to determine our materials. Do we need a CO2 monitor, a scale, how many gloves do we need, tweezers, icebox, all things like that was very important before we were able to go out and start our collection. The next step was going to be our procedures. So our first procedure is going to be the CO2 tick trapping traditional method, which focuses on us doing a tick drag and then placing a white fabric down with a box that has dry ice inside of it, finding five rocks, placing four around the corners and one on top of the box to ensure that the dry ice does not leave out too quickly or it is not tampered with by animals or by the weather. Our second procedure, which is going to be our pitfall trap method, consists of us having to dig a hole. And then after that, we will then use the muesli container that we discussed in our materials. And then it will be a cup inside of that muesli container with dry ice. From there, we will then cover the hole so that the ridges are even to the ground. And then we will then put a rock on top of the pitfall trap, covering it just enough so that we know where it is and so they will not get tampered with but as well so that ticks are still able to get in. We now have our two locations. The first location being the Bomas and at this location animals there were being sprayed with insecticides once per week. Our next location is going to be animal resting sites where animals are not being sprayed at all. Since we know our two locations we’re now able to move into our results. There were more ticks collected at the animal resting sites than the bomas because unlike the bombers where the animals are getting sprayed with insecticides every week, the animals at the resting sites were not being sprayed at all. After the ticks were collected, we took them to the lab where we’d classify them under a microscope based on their distinctive features such as patterns on their shells, gender, scutum, feestons, and their mouthparts. I got to learn a lot of new things during the three weeks that I spent at the Mpala Research Center. Since I’m a computer science major, this project gave me a chance to explore a totally different field from what I’m used to. I learned new information on ticks and tick collection methods. Also, since I’m considering public health as my minor during the fall, this was a really enlightening experience for me.

I am beyond grateful to have had this opportunity and to embark and immerse in Kenyan culture. And I am very stoked to say that this experience has helped me learn more about what I would like to do in my future after undergraduate. And I would just like to thank all of the graduate assistants, Graham, Nora, Abby, as well as Dr. Michael Von Fricken. Thank you so much and I appreciate the opportunity.

College of Humanities and Social Science College of Public Health OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Karissa Raucheisen – Summer Team Impact project: Celebration Video

Author(s): Karissa Raucheisen

Mentor(s): Denise Hines, College of Public Health

Summer Team Impact Project: Reducing Inequalities in Fairfax County’s Domestic and Sexual Violence Services. Identify populations that are underserved according to their data. Populations were teenagers, refugees, transgender people, and people with disabilities. During the summer we worked on a scoping review and interviews with community leaders. A scoping review was conducted of relevant literature. For the interviews, I reached out to leaders in the teenage community to be interviewed. Then compare the data from the scoping review to the interview data.

hi everyone my name is Karissa Raucheisen and I’m here to talk to you about the summer team impact project that I worked on this summer here at George Mason University so the summer team impact project I got to work on was the reducing inequalities in the Fairfax County’s Domestic and Sexual Violence services to at-risk communities and so one of the first things we did was look at the populations that were underserved according to their data set some of these populations included teens transgender people and people with disabilities and so my group that I chose to do was teenagers and so there were two main things that we did with our data set the entire summer the first is a scoping review and the second is interviewed with people who were identified as Community leaders I am first going to talk about the scoping review that I did so if you don’t know what a scoping review is it’s essentially a review of all relevant literature through different databases or platforms and so I did the scoping review and got some data from that and so I wanted to talk a little bit about the process of the scoping review so when I started the scoping review I plugged in the search terms to the database and I also plugged in exclusion terms to narrow down my search results after I got the search results I screened them in or out through a title and Abstract reading and after that I was left with about like 17 or something articles and so of those articles I either screened them in or out through a full text reading meaning by I read the entire thing and after that I was left with a total of five articles and so after that I coded and did themes from that and that took a very long time but I thoroughly enjoyed it and so I got seven identified themes from that which I can’t talk about yet but I would happily talk about once I’m allowed to talk about and so after the scoping review we did interviews with Community leaders so that was my favorite part about working on the summer team impact project I got to email people about this project and if they would be interested in participating in the interview so I did teens again and so I just emailed people who are leaders within the teenage Community to ask them to interview and then after that we would gather data from that because we would record it and then we would transcribe the data and then code the data from that and so right now it’s just really comparing the data from the interviews to what we have in the scoping review right now so that’s pretty much all I have for you I just wanted to say uh thank you to everyone who helped me throughout this project which is uh Professor Booth Dr Hines and Dr Hand so thank you for allowing me to join you guys on this project I thoroughly enjoyed it thank you!

Summer Team Impact Project

Pathogen Testing in Ticks: A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Turkana, Kenya

Author(s): Grace Lee

Mentor(s): Michael Von Fricken, Department of Environmental and Global Health

Turkana, a county located in the Northwestern part of Kenya, is an arid region with pastoralism as the primary economic activity. These characteristics, coupled with a constant migration of people and livestock across shared watering holes, render Turkana susceptible to tick infestation and tick-borne diseases. Because pastoralists in Turkana are politically and economically marginalized, and their livelihoods depend on the health of their livestock, tick-borne diseases pose a serious economic and public health threat in Turkana. The One Health approach, grounded in the concept that the health of the environment, animals, and humans are all interrelated, is an effective framework for mitigating tick-borne illnesses (Griffith et. al 2020). This study employed the One Health approach in conducting tick-borne disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya. Over 1200 ticks were collected from livestock and the environment within Turkana county. These ticks were then identified morphologically and grouped by species, host, and region. Genetic material was subsequently extracted from the ticks and analyzed using real-time PCR and cDNA sequencing to identify the pathogens carried by them. Although the data and results of this study are unable to be shared at this time, they will be published in the future. These findings will be valuable for detecting, understanding, and mitigating specific tick-borne diseases that spread among the environment, animals, and people in Turkana, Kenya.

TITLE
Hello! I’m Grace. I’m Margaret. For our STIP project, Margaret and I helped investigate pathogen testing in ticks: a one health approach to disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Our research is grounded in the concept of one health, the idea that the health of the environment, animal, and human are all interrelated. We specifically focused on vector-borne diseases, which are illnesses spread among humans and animals by living organisms known as vectors. Common examples of vectors include arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, flies, fleas and lice.

TURKANA, KENYA
Our research employs an One Health approach to conducting tick disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya. Kenya is a country located in Eastern Africa, and Turkana is a county located in the Northwestern part of Kenya, bordering Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Turkana is an arid region with pastoralism as the primary economic activity. These characteristics render Turkana susceptible to ticks and tickborne diseases because ticks thrive in arid conditions and prefer livestock as hosts. Moreover, due to the low population density of 14 people per square kilometer, individuals frequently travel long distances with their livestock and congregate at shared watering holes. The livestock carry and shed ticks, which then multiply and latch onto the next group of people and livestock that arrive at the watering hole. Consequently, the constant migration of ticks, livestock, and people across these shared areas facilitates the transmission of tickborne diseases.

TICK DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
To employ the one health approach to conducting tick disease surveillance in Turkana, Kenya, the following four-step process was followed.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 1: collect, identify, and group ticks.

STEP ONE: TICK COLLECTION AND IDENTIFICATION
Over 1200 ticks were collected from animals and the environment within Turkana county. These ticks were then identified morphologically and grouped by region, species, as laid out in the left side of the slide, and host animals from which they were collected, as can be seen from the right side of the slide.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 2: Extraction of genetic material from ticks

DNA EXTRACTION FROM TICKS
The ticks were then crushed and processed for DNA (genetic material) extraction.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Step 3: identify pathogens. Pathogens are bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms that can cause disease

IDENTIFICATION OF TICK-BORNE PATHOGENS
Real-time PCR, which stands for polymerase chain reaction, was performed to make multiple copies of the specific pieces of DNA to make it easier to detect and identify pathogens. cDNA sequencing was then performed to compare the tick DNA segment of interest with known DNA sequences of the four pathogens listed in this slide, leading to their identification and helping us understand what kind of diseases these ticks spread.

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE THROUGH TICKS
Data and results will be shared in the future. These findings are valuable for detecting and understanding the specific diseases that spread among the environment, animals, and people in Turkana, Kenya.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We’d like to thank all the people who’ve helped us conduct this research:
Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) Program, Office of Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) at George Mason University
Dr. Michael Von Fricken, Nora Cleary, Abby Lilak, and Graham Matulis (project mentors)
REDI-NET Team, Mpala Research Center
Biomeme staff

THANK YOU

College of Engineering and Computing Honors College OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Optimizing Sensitivity of Methods for Detecting Analytes Released During Inflammation

Author(s): Joelle Nguyen

Mentor(s): Caroline Hoemann, Bioengineering

During inflammation, there are microparticles that are released from the formation of blood clots. From these microparticles, bioactive lipids such as eicosanoids, which can be further categorized as prostaglandin, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes, are released. There are also proteins such as LOX-1, known to participate in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and lung cancer and is expressed by neutrophils in patients with COVID-19. Soluble LOX-1 protein (sLOX-1) was found to become elevated in blood plasma of patients with diabetes, atherosclerosis, non-small cell lung cancer and acute myocardial infarction. The clinical challenge is that these biomarkers are difficult to detect because they are at low concentrations in the bloodstream. The goal of my project is to develop more sensitive methods to detect these biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring, and progression of diseases.

This project involved creating a lipidomic and proteomic profile of human blood plasma and serum samples. All samples were from de-identified healthy donors under IRB-approved protocols with written informed consent. Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) is the ideal method of creating lipidomic profiles of lipid analytes due to its high specificity and sensitivity. Plasma samples’ lipids contents were extracted using 2:1:1 v/v chloroform/methanol/water or 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol. These extraction methods were compared for their sensitivity in detecting certain analytes, and it was found that 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol was the better extraction method. Nanotraps, made of various types of nanoparticles, were utilized to bind to sLOX-1 in sample and deplete them for analysis using ELISA, where it was discovered that the majority of sLOX-1 fraction was depleted by the Nanotraps in citrated plasma/serum with recombinant sLox-1 but not much in human blood serum alone. Future sample preparation modifications are needed before LC-MS analyses of Nanotrap-associated sLOX-1.

Hello my name is Joelle Nguyen and this is my project on “Optimizing the Sensitivity of Methods for Detecting Analytes Released During Inflammation.” To start with an introduction on the problem I’m trying to address with my project. The biomarkers involved in inflammation and found in the blood are difficult to detect at low concentrations so it’s necessary to develop assays and lab techniques that have enough sensitivity to detect these biomarkers. These biomarkers can include bioactive lipid mediators such as thromboxanes, prostaglandin, and leukotrienes which form from the oxidation of arachidonic acid, and there are biomarkers categorized as proteins such as the sLox-1 receptor. Specific eicosanoids as seen in this diagram here including thromboxane and HETE species are pro-inflammatory mediators that can play a role in platelet aggregation or inflammatory responses. sLox-1 receptors are elevated in blood plasma of patients with diabetes, atherosclerosis, non-small cell lung cancer and acute myocardial infarction. Detecting these biomarkers can aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases as well as their progression. The hypothesis tested was that methods can be developed to improve the sensitivity of inflammatory biomarker detection by LCMS for lipids and proteins.

So to move on to the methodology of my project, there were two approaches. One was comparing two different extraction methods for the lipid analytes found in blood plasma samples for a lipidomic mass spectrometry analysis, and the other was examining the extent of depletion using nanotraps on the sLox-1 protein receptor in plasma/serum samples for a proteomic mass spectrometry analysis. To go into more detail on the lipidomic experiment, I had compared 2:1:1 v/v chloroform/methanol/water with 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol as potential extraction solvents. To compare these methods, I analyzed the peak areas of lipid analytes from duplicate citrated plasma samples and used JMP to provide a descriptive statistical analysis. For the proteomic experiment, there were six dyed nanoparticles used as Nanotraps to deplete sLox-1 in plasma/serum samples and an ELISA test was done to analyze the concentration of depleted sLox-1. The samples were not analyzed with mass spectrometry quite yet but the ELISA results provided future directions for sample preparation and LCMS analysis.

Here are the results for the lipidomic profile made using LCMS. The experiment had two different blood donors, and for this donor here you can see that there is a higher peak area for lipid analytes extracted by hexane on the JMP graph to the left and visually to the right you see that 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol has a higher peak area for the specific lipid analytes called 4-HNE-H2O. The same can be said for the second donor in my experiment where again the hexane extracted analytes had a higher peak area both on the JMP plot and the mass spectra graph for 4 HNE-H2O. Now for the mass spectrometry proteomics experiment, there was the ELISA data collected which showed that not a lot of sLox-1 depleted from the nanotraps, only around 20% or less for serum with free sLox-1. The figure to the right shows that citrated blood plasma combined with recombinant sLox-1 protein had a much higher depletion of sLox-1 with 90-100% depleted.

Therefore based on the results of my experiments, the 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol is the better solvent to use for extracting lipids from citrated blood plasma samples for a lipidomic profile. For the proteomic experiment, the nanotraps shown in the excel bar graphs showed that they did not interfere with ELISA detection of sLox-1 in control samples. The nanotraps only depleted 0 to 20% of free sLox-1 in serum and depleted 40-100% of recombinant sLox-1 in citrated plasma. The next steps for my project would include doing more experimental trials with both extraction methods to see that 3:2 v/v hexane/isopropanol produces reproducible data. There could also be future modifications to plasma/serum sample preparation to improve sLox-1 binding to the nanotraps.

Thank you for listening and I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Hoemann, Dr. Girgis, Dr. Karen Lee, Dr. Luchini, Rayan Ibrahim Alhammad, and Julia Leonard for their help throughout this project.

College of Humanities and Social Science Summer Team Impact Project

Mapping Inequality through Land Ownership and Land Use Change in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

Author(s): Colin McDonald, Alice Christensen

Mentor(s): Levi Van Sant, School of Integrative Studies

This Summer Team Impact Project was focused on looking at land use and land ownership changes in the Shenandoah Valley in the past few decades. The project had two sides, qualitative and quantitative based research, with this video focusing on the qualitative team’s work and findings. The qualitative team created landowner profiles for the top ten landowners in each county of the Shenandoah Valley, including information such as when they acquired the land, from who, and what they used the land for. Another aspect of land ownership that was examined was the percentage of absentee ownership that was present in each of the counties. The last project we worked on was contextualizing quantitative findings with the historical and human elements of the Shenandoah Valley.

In this video we will quickly summarize the three key projects that the qualitative team worked on this summer and our findings.

Hello I’m Colin I’m one of the research assistants on this project looking at land use and land ownership change in the Shenandoah Valley. Hello my name is Alice Christensen and I am part of the qualitative team for the STIP project mapping inequality through land use in the Shenandoah Valley. The main goal of the qualitative team is to generate information about land ownership to contextualize the quantitative team’s work. This Summer’s research is part of a larger ongoing project so the main goal of the qualitative team this summer was to generate a lot of qualitative information for use later on in the project. One of the reasons that this is important is because land use is changing in the Shenandoah Valley which affects people’s livelihoods and it’s important to understand the human element of land ownership and land use changes. In addition to what Colin said about changes happening in the valley right now it’s also really important that we develop methods for looking at land ownership and use in rural areas because a lot of this research focuses on urban areas and those methods can’t always be applied in the same way to rural areas so this is looking at a new focus that requires new methodology and innovation.

First we research the top 10 landowners in each of the 10 counties in the Shenandoah Valley we searched online for any information we could find about the owners such as how long they had owned the land for who they acquired it from and most importantly what they were using the land for. Using this information we created comprehensive profiles for each owner one difficulty we encountered in this process was the lack of information available for some of the landowners still we were able to find a fair amount of information for most of them which let us see some trends in the top owner land use. Agriculture was heavily represented in the top owners reflecting the historical use of the valley also present among the top 10 landowners were developers or entities holding land for investment conservation organizations Recreation and Hospitality Business Industrial manufacturers and some quarries.

Using the information we had gathered for our top landowner profiles we were able to identify some trends in absentee ownership amongst our top landowners. Absentee ownership is when a landowner does not actively reside on or manage the property they own to compare absentee trends in our top landowners with overall trends in the county. we used a formula to determine whether or not the mailing address listed in County property tax records was an in-county address if the address was out of County the owner was considered an absentee owner. We found that overall most counties were composed of primarily in-county owners with this group owning 66 percent or more of the parcels within each County however one County in our data set Rockbridge had a 64.2 percent majority of its Parcels owned by absentee owners although we can’t say for sure why Rockbridge is so distinct it might be because of this County’s smaller population. For our top landowners we found that in-county owners still held a majority of these Parcels but there was a larger range between in-county owners across counties once again there was one outlier but this time it was Rockingham County since the majority of top landowner Parcels are owned by one owner in this County a resort company based in Charlottesville Virginia in-county ownership in this county is only 35 percent.

The third project we worked on was humanizing and contextualizing quantitative work the quantitative team is able to look at really broad trends across the whole Shenandoah Valley but they often are not able to look into specific data points with a lot of depth. Qualitative methods let us answer a lot more why questions we looked at historical information considered personal and family dynamics visited sites in the valley and listened to the experiences of people living and working in the valley to explain some of the trends identified by the quantitative team. Although we have no specific findings to report at this point in the project contextualizing data and uplifting the voices of the people who live in this region is one of the most important parts of our work what we’ve done this summer is set up a foundation for this research as it moves forward.