Learning from Experience: Librarians as Research Partners

Given current discussions in the field about librarians’ engagement in research partnerships, this study examines the experiences of librarians at The Ohio State University, a doctoral university with very high research (R1), to better understand their preparation for the collaborations, the knowledge and skills they contributed, their roles on project teams, their motivation for joining teams, and the subsequent criteria they have adopted for determining participation on future projects. Interview and post-interview survey findings indicate librarians have developed their own strategies for determining their roles on research teams based on their individual strengths and that they have benefited from the experiences overall. This study also reveals inconsistencies in support for this form of engagement and makes recommendations for libraries related to scoping involvement and establishing criteria for participation of librarians on research teams.Publisher allows immediate open acces

A Cutting-Edge Magnetic Immunocapture Method to Isolate Cell-Type-Specific Mitochondria from Complex Neural Tissue

Best Undergraduate Poster (Discovery Category) - OSU CBI Research Day 2025Alterations in neuronal and glial metabolism contribute to numerous neurodegenerative diseases, and the crosstalk between these two cell types (i.e., axoglial metabolic coupling) is at the center of extensive investigation. Metabolic alterations frequently culminate in mitochondrial dysfunction, but so far it has proven challenging to obtain cell-type-specific metabolic data from neuronal or glial mitochondria in mouse models of injury or disease. Magnetic immunocapture of genetically tagged mitochondria has emerged as a powerful strategy, yet existing methods are either incompatible with sensitive downstream multi omic workflows or not yet tested in complex tissues with highly heterogeneous cell populations. Here, I refined the “MITO-Tag” approach, which leverages a Cre dependent 3×HA EGFP OMP25 epitope tag localized to the outer mitochondrial membrane. Following enzymatic and mechanical dissociation, mitochondria were rapidly immunopurified from cortical neurons, oligodendrocyte lineage cells, and—accomplished here for the first time—peripheral nerve axons using anti-HA magnetic beads in liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-compatible KPBS buffer. This method yields specific and structurally intact mitochondria, as confirmed by live-organelle imaging and Western blotting for compartment-specific markers (COXIV, VDAC, citrate synthase), with minimal contamination from other organelles. Proteomic analysis of brain-derived immunoprecipitates (IPs) revealed mitochondrial enrichment comparable to existing magnetic immunopurification workflows. By enabling multi-omic mitochondrial profiling from moderate-abundance cell types within complex tissues, this method provides a versatile tool for investigating mitochondrial involvement in neurological disease and injury in vivo. Notably, isolation from peripheral nerve axons now offers the ability to characterize Wallerian degeneration and axoglial metabolic coupling mechanisms at an unprecedented resolution.NIH R01NS123450-01NIH R01NS111024-02OSU College of Engineering Thesis Research Grant2025 CAN-ACN Travel GrantNo embargoAcademic Major: Biomedical Engineerin

Other Lovings: An AfroAsian American Theory of Life

Introduction: Other lovings and racial ontology -- Audre Lorde and affectable flesh -- David Henry Hwang and Asian American love-being -- The Amiri Baraka of surplus love -- Jeremy Lin, G Yamazawa, Lyricks: an AfroAsian commons -- Gayl Jones and somatic wisdom -- Adrian Tomine and the love of the Asian American object -- Theodor Adorno, Eve Sedgwick, and the Kyoto School's optimism -- Conclusion: bell hooks's and Charles Yu's love-being in practice.Item embargoed for five year

The Biochemical Characterization of Plastin-3 (PLS3) variants linked to Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) is a severe congenital disease characterized by an incomplete formation of the diaphragmatic septum leading to mis-localization of the abdominal organs (e.g., the liver, stomach, and bowel) to the chest cavity. Through a combination of clinical and genetic analysis, eight novel mutations in plastin-3 (PLS3), an actin-binding and bundling protein, were linked to CDH. PLS3 has two actin-binding domains, ABD1 and ABD2, which determine how the protein binds and bundles actin filaments (F-actin). The successful binding and bundling of F-actin are essential for the cell's normal functions. If the ability of PLS3 to bind and/or bundle F-actin is impaired by pathological mutations, the cell’s morphological features and critical functions will be severely altered. The CDH-linked PLS3 mutations studied in this project are localized at different domains of the protein, and their effects on the protein structure and function are characterized through high- and low-speed co-sedimentation assays, fluorescence anisotropy (FA), and differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF). All mutated plastins displayed a high degree of destabilization, when characterized through DSF, and significantly increased F-actin bundling activity, compared to wild-type (WT) protein.Thomas J Byers Memorial Scholarship, The Ohio State University Molecular Genetics DepartmentArts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Scholarship, The Ohio State University Arts and Sciences Honors CommitteeA three-year embargo was granted for this item.Academic Major: Molecular Genetic

Understanding Career Doubling Up: Why Men Combine Legal Work and Income Generating Crime

Studies have shown that career doublers, those who engage in income-generating crime while also working a legal job, do so because the illegal work is lucrative. Few studies research the motivations for continuing legal work and those that do tend to focus on the monetary gains and benefits associated with legitimate work. After interviewing 100 incarcerated men in Ohio, our data found that people are just as inclined to keep their legal jobs if there are intrinsic rewards associated with the work. Specific answers varied from personal pride to enjoyment of work, but they all supported the finding that money is not the sole motivation for working. Instead, identity characteristics can motivate a person to desist from future criminal activity. Previous research provides a foundation for understanding career doubling, while our study expands upon it, arguing for additional research on the connection between internal motivations for career doublers and desisting from crime.No embargoAcademic Major: Criminology and Criminal Justice Studie

Canonical mRNA cap binding proteins have distinct roles in regeneration from the fish specific ortholog eif4e1c

Zebrafish are valuable models for cardiac regeneration due to their remarkable ability to regenerate heart tissue. Our research focuses on the eIF4E family of translation initiation factors, which are suspected to play a role in this process. While canonical eIF4E is found in all terrestrial vertebrates and is essential for cell viability, zebrafish also contain an additional ortholog that is unique to aquatic vertebrates, called eif4e1c. Previously, we showed that deletion of eif4e1c impaired growth, survival, and heart regeneration. It is unclear whether these phenotypes result from the reduced total level of cap-binding proteins-or if eif4e1c has specialized functions. To investigate further, we used CRISPR to make zebrafish deletion mutants for canonical eif4ea and eif4eb. Concurrent deletion of eif4e1c and eif4ea resulted in a further mortality and size deficits when compared to the solo eif4e1c mutants. Compound mutants of eif4e1c and eif4eb found similar growth defects, but no exacerbation of mortality. The eIF4E family of translation initiation factors are required for viability in eukaryotes from yeast to mice. Surprisingly, deletion of both eif4ea and eif4eb did not result in any obvious phenotypic changes in survival, growth, nor heart size. However, it was found that the loss of canonical eif4ea or eif4eb alone results in improved cardiomyocyte regeneration, and impaired fin regeneration. Compound mutants of a canonical and eif4e1c lose these regeneration phenotypes suggesting a “goldilocks” threshold where eif4e1c begins to compensate fully for the loss of canonical factors. This is to say, there may be a required ratio – canonical factors to eif4e1c – which allows for compensation. These results suggest eif4e1c can fully compensate for the loss of the canonical EIF4E factors, while the canonical factors only partially compensate for the loss of eif4e1c. This suggests that the fish specific eif4e1c ortholog is a bona fide translation initiation factor with additional functions that impact growth and survival.No embargoAcademic Major: Biolog

The Role of Moral Information in Changing Mental Representation

Individuals spontaneously form initial impressions of new people, which can be “undone” if individuals are provided with new information that allows them to reinterpret their prior evaluations (Mann & Ferguson, 2015). Using reverse correlation, a data-driven technique to visualize mental representations, this study investigated whether these mental representations are malleable and whether they can be changed following exposure to novel information in the same way that our evaluations of others has been shown to be. We examined how participants' mental representations of a fictional character, accused of infanticide in a TV miniseries And Then There Were None, change based on moral information provided in three conditions (a) positive, (b) negative, or (c) reinterpretation. After watching one hour of edited video, eighty-two participants' mental representations of the character were measured. The results showed significant differences in evaluations between the positive and negative conditions, as well as between the pre-reinterpretation and post-reinterpretation conditions. We found that the reinterpretation information provided to participants appears to influence their prior impressions of the character's physical appearance, effectively reversing their mental representation. This study extends our understanding on mental representation and demonstrates the importance of moral character in person perception. Future studies can look at intergroup differences in mental representation and how novel information can change these representations.Academic Major: Psycholog

Comparing Effectiveness of Nanog/Pou5f3 and SOX2/Lin28a in Pluripotent Stem Cell Induction of Leghorn Chicken Fibroblasts

Pluripotent stem cells have incredible differentiation potential, making them ideal candidates for various therapeutic and research applications. One particularly interesting application involves the use of stem cells from endangered species for conservation purposes. Naturally harvesting pluripotent stem cells, however, involves significant health risks and is, therefore, avoided in the context of conservation. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) can serve as a replacement due to their minimally-invasive potential. Previous literature tends to utilize a large and possibly redundant amount of genes to induce pluripotency. While effective, issues may arise regarding vector capacity and potential transcription factor conflicts. Our study sought to elucidate the necessary genes to induce pluripotency in avian fibroblasts by comparing the effectiveness of two common gene combinations, Nanog/Pou5f3 and Sox2/Lin28a, using the Leghorn Chicken as a model organism. Due to the essential nature of genes Nanog/Pou5f3, we hypothesized that they would be more effective at inducing pluripotency than genes Sox2/Lin28a. Using RT-qPCR, we quantified the gene expression of pluripotent maintenance genes and found that the overexpression of Sox2/Lin28a upregulated Sall4 and Klf4 more effectively than Nanog/Pou5f3. We also found that the presence of Nanog/Pou5f3 may inhibit the upregulation of Sall4 via Sox2/Lin28a. Finally, we present evidence of Klf4 upregulation via both Nanog/Pou5f3 and Sox2/Lin28a, a potentially novel mechanism.CFAES Small Grant AwardA one-year embargo was granted for this item.Academic Major: Animal Science

Transitions Of Care Nurse Effect on No-Show Clinic Rates: A Quality Improvement Project for Stroke Survivors

Background: Stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability in the United States (US). In the US, stroke systems of care (coordination of care from pre-hospital assessment to post-acute care for stroke) over the last 15 years have witnessed an increase in stroke treatment rates, resulting in stroke dropping from the third leading cause of death to the fifth in the US. Problem: Despite improvements in acute care treatments, stroke survivors have a higher incidence of hospital readmission, recurrent stroke rates, and an increase in morbidity and mortality when they do not complete post-discharge clinic visits with a neurologist. Intervention/Methods: This evidence-based quality improvement project involves the implementation of the transitions of care nurse (TCN) role in improving clinic appointments scheduled before discharge for stroke patients and decreasing clinic no-show rates. Pre- and post-implementation data were collected, including the percentage of patients discharged to home with a follow-up appointment scheduled before discharge and the missed appointment rate. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and display the data. Outcomes: This project demonstrated that the TCN role increased the number of appointments scheduled before discharge and decreased clinic no-show rates. Conclusion: Implementing a TCN for stroke allowed the host organization to ensure that many patients' follow-up appointments were made before discharge and decreased clinic no-show rates.No embarg