State of Change: Civil Rights and the Virginia Constitution

State of Change: Civil Rights and the Virginia Constitution, a Bridgewater College Special Collections exhibit opened April 16, 2021. The exhibit celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Virginia Constitution. State of Change utilized Bridgewater College\u27s Robert R. Newlen \u2775 and John C. Bradford Special Collections\u27 primary sources to explore civil rights in Virginia, especially within the context of differences between the 1971 (current) and 1902 (earlier) Virginia Constitution.. The exhibit focused on themes of Virginia constitutional history, slavery in the Shenandoah Valley, African American voting rights, criminal justice, the Civil Rights movement in Virginia, and work by the Church of the Brethren The exhibit team was managed by Librarian Stephanie Gardner and included Special Collections interns Nathan Bademian and Decklan Wilkerson, both Class of 2021. Kylee Lorio, BC Digital Scholarship Guru, Class of 2022, was the exhibit\u27s graphic designer. Dr. Stephen L. Longenecker, Bridgewater College Edwin L. Turner Distinguished Professor of History was a special guest contributor. Librarian Taylor Baugher designed, coded, and managed the exhibit\u27s website. Baugher also managed the creation of a video introducing the project. Librarian Vickie Montigaud-Green created a display of circulating materials that was exhibited in the John Kenny Forrer Learning Commons. In addition, Montigaud-Green and Bademian curated a robust list of further reading for inclusion on the exhibit\u27s website. The exhibit\u27s website has been preserved and shared here as pdf files

Genome-Wide Gene Expression in relation to Age in Large Laboratory Cohorts of \u3ci\u3eDrosophila melanogaster\u3c/i\u3e

Aging is a complex process characterized by a steady decline in an organism’s ability to perform life-sustaining tasks. In the present study, two cages of approximately 12,000 mated Drosophila melanogaster females were used as a source of RNA from individuals sampled frequently as a function of age. A linear model for micro array data method was used for the micro array analysis to adjust for the box effect; it identified 1,581 candidate aging genes.Cluster analyses using a self-organizing map algorithm on the 1,581 significant genes identified gene expression patterns across different ages. Genes involved in immune system function and regulation, chorion assembly and function, and metabolism were all significantly differentially expressed as a function of age. The temporal pattern of data indicated that gene expression related to aging is affected relatively early in life span. In addition, the temporal variance in gene expression in immune function genes was compared to a random set of genes. There was an increase in the variance of gene expression within each cohort, which was not observed in the set of random genes.This observation is compatible with the hypothesis that D. melanogaster immune function genes lose control of gene expression as flies age

Genome-Wide Gene Expression in relation to Age in Large Laboratory Cohorts of \u3ci\u3eDrosophila melanogaster\u3c/i\u3e

Aging is a complex process characterized by a steady decline in an organism’s ability to perform life-sustaining tasks. In the present study, two cages of approximately 12,000 mated Drosophila melanogaster females were used as a source of RNA from individuals sampled frequently as a function of age. A linear model for micro array data method was used for the micro array analysis to adjust for the box effect; it identified 1,581 candidate aging genes.Cluster analyses using a self-organizing map algorithm on the 1,581 significant genes identified gene expression patterns across different ages. Genes involved in immune system function and regulation, chorion assembly and function, and metabolism were all significantly differentially expressed as a function of age. The temporal pattern of data indicated that gene expression related to aging is affected relatively early in life span. In addition, the temporal variance in gene expression in immune function genes was compared to a random set of genes. There was an increase in the variance of gene expression within each cohort, which was not observed in the set of random genes.This observation is compatible with the hypothesis that D. melanogaster immune function genes lose control of gene expression as flies age