Development of a standardized multiplex Filovirus and SARS-CoV2 antibody immunoassay

With the goal of producing multivalent recombinant subunit filovirus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, we develop formulations using surface glycoproteins of Ebola, Marburg and Sudan viruses or the Spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In determining the potency of our formulations in generating an immune response in mice and non-human primates (NHP), serum antibody titers are used. Instead of using conventional antigen-binding ELISA assays for each antigen, we conduct testing by a custom multiplex immunoassay. This method uses regionally different magnetic beads coupled to purified recombinant antigens which are incubated with serum dilutions to simultaneously determine the antibody titers to the different immunizing antigens. After application of a secondary, fluorescently labeled antibody, values are normally shown as median fluorescent intensity or MFI. By converting the MFI to an actual concentration, samples from different studies can more easily be compared. For this, standard curves using purified antigen-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) to the three filovirus GP’s or SARS-CoV2 spike protein are established with each assay. Standards were prepared passing high-titered mouse or NHP sera over a protein G column to isolate IgG, then purified further using affinity-chromatography columns with individual filovirus GP’s or SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to select for antigen-specificity. The standards are quantified and curves are generated which will be run with each set of serum samples. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

Consensus Building in Native American Outreach: A Process Plan for Consensus Building in the Evaluation of the NSGC Native American Outreach Program

The NASA Nebraska Space Grant (NSGC) & EPSCoR Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha have embarked on a unique educational journey. This journey, known as the Native American Outreach program has been a highly successful endeavor since its inception five years ago. The Native American Outreach Program’s main objective is to make Native American students more competitive in mathematics and science. This program is the most comprehensive Native American program of any state and has allowed for a variety of activities to take place including: regional and national presentations; interfacing between schools; and formulating administrative leadership conferences. In order to continually provide effective support to Nebraska’s Native American community, NSGC & EPSCoR sought an evaluation technique for the Native American Outreach Program. To execute such an evaluation, the NSGC organized the first Nebraska Aeronautics Education Summit (NAES) Meeting. The diverse group of educators, researchers, and practitioners present at the summit provided a unique opportunity to gather information by employing a focus group research technique. This opportunity was not only beneficial to the Native American Outreach program by assessing its strengths and weaknesses, but also to those who participated in the study by providing them with a worthwhile learning experience. The results and recommendations acquired and included in this document were indeed remarkable. The utilization of the summit participants’ recommendations and innovative future plans will ensure continued shared success between NSGC & EPSCoR and the Nebraska Native American community

Out of school play of grade one students : child and parent perceptions and their relation to academic outcomes

It is frequently claimed that play is crucia1 to young children's development (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Ginsburg, 2007; Ranco, 1996; Tsao, 2002) and that how children spend their out of school time has a significant impact on their social and academic achievement at school (Hofferth & Jankuniene, 2001; Miller, O'Connor & Sirignano, 1995). However very little research has been conducted on the out of school play activities of five- to eight-year-olds, and on whether these activities are related to developmental outcomes. This mixed methods study examined children's play outside of school; their academic, social, emotional, and creativity outcomes in school; and parent and child beliefs about play at this age level. Sixty-nine children attending public schools in the suburban regions outside of Montreal, and their parents and teachers, participated in the study. Findings indicated that children spent between one and two hours playing after school each day, and that the most common form of play was active physical play. The most common social arrangement during play was play with siblings. Free time in the morning and total choice in the afternoon, watching others play, and play with commercial toys were predictive of report card grades, behaviour scores, and creativity scores. Parents reported valuing play at this age level, but restricting certain activities, while encouraging others. Children reported enjoying many types of play, and play partners, including play with their pets

Range perception through apparent image speed in freely flying honeybees

When negotiating a narrow gap, honeybees tend to fly through the middle of the gap, balancing the distances to the boundary on either side. To investigate the basis of this "centering response,” bees were trained to fly through a tunnel on their way to a feeding site and back, while their flight trajectories were filmed from above. The wall on either side carried a visual pattern. When the patterns were stationary vertical gratings, bees tended to fly through the middle of the tunnel, i.e. along its longitudinal axis. However, when one of the gratings was in motion, bees flying in the same direction as the moving grating tended to fly closer to while bees flying in the opposite direction tended to fly closer to the stationary grating. This demonstrates, directly and unequivocally, that flying bees estimate the distances of surfaces in terms of the apparent motion of their images. A series of further experiments revealed that the distance to the gratings is gauged in terms of their apparent angular speeds, and that the visual system of the bee is capable of measuring angular speed largely independently of the spatial period, intensity profile, or contrast of the grating. Thus, the motion-sensitive mechanisms mediating range perception appear to be qualitatively different from those that mediate the well-known optomotor response in insects, or those involved in motion detection and ocular tracking in ma