At the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium, students affiliated with the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact showcase their work across disciplines - including bioengineering, neuroscience, physiology, and biochemistry. These presenters are conducting research in Knight Campus labs, supported by initiatives like the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance and the Knight Campus Undergraduate Scholars program. 

Oral Presentations:

• Megan Adamec: "A Capacitive Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Adherent Cell Growth and Orthopedic Applications"
• Camilla Der: "Tracheostomy Tube Sensor Attachment for Detecting Emergency Airway Events in Pediatric Patients"
• Caroline Foskett: "Engineered Hydroxyapatite-Binding Fusion Proteins to Improve Localized Delivery of BMP-2"
• Charlotte Lippa: "Composite Microfiber-Hydrogel Scaffolds Improve Cellular Viability and Seeding in Muscle Constructs"
• Cinthia Muñiz: "Brain Activity During Movement Stopping: Parkinson's Disease vs. Controls"
• Emily Sverdrup: "Investigating an encapsulated pro-resolving lipid mediator for the treatment of osteoarthritis"

Oral and Poster Presentations: 

• Alyssa Chi: “Aligned Hyaluronic Acid Composite Polycaprolactone Scaffolds for Enhanced Muscle Repair”
• Madeline Luu: “Automated Pipeline Method for Serial Image Analysis of Muscle Biopsy Cross-Sections”
• Esben Schroeder: “3-Dimensional Myonuclear Analysis on Single Muscle Fibers using Imaris”
• Jack Woolf: “Cellular Impact of Calcium Signaling on Fin Outgrowth Cessation”
• Yun Craddock: “Crosstalk Effects of Trace Size and Pitch in Thin-Film Neural Interface Devices” 

Poster Presentations: 

• Alexandra Aeschliman: “Leveraging Biomimetic Peptide Structure for Targeted Fracture Healing”
• Kaitlyn Augienello: “Impact of EAA vs EAA+BFR on Myonuclear Accretion & Muscle Memory”
• Lucas Bambaren: “Bone Fixation Plates Measuring Torsional and Axial Strain”
• Sophie Biegel: “Polymeric nanoparticle-mediated siRNA delivery to a 3D model of cartilage degradation”
• Brooklyn Cessna: “Computational Design of Protein Pathway Inhibitors”
• Aletta Combs: “How Vertical Oscillation and Stiffness Influence Uphill Running Economy”
• Brock Cottle: “Tailoring Hydrogel Stiffness: The Role of Chemistry in Gelatin Bio-inks”
• Olivia DeVelasco: “The Impact of Menstrual Cycle Hormone Fluctuations on Gross Efficiency During Cycling”
• Zara Elliott: “Proliferation Markers in Early Mouse Colon Development”
• Liliana Escobedo: “Comparative Analysis of Protein Expression in Normal and Keratoconus Cornea Cells”
• Ella Fliesler: “Investigating the activities of the microbiome-derived protein, Beta-cell Expansion Factor A (BefA)”
• Sophia Foerster: “The Role of Estrogen in Cartilage Extracellular Matrix Homeostasis”
• Esmee Fuller: “Cryopreservation of 3D Chondrocyte Constructs for Accelerating Osteoarthritis Research”
• Lia Godino: “EAA and BFR Treatment to Induce Muscle Resilience Prior to Eccentric Damage”
• Auveen Hajarizadeh: “Using Intermittent Rest to Enhance Bone Regeneration and Immune Modulation During Rehabilitation”
• Sarah Kraske: “Investigating Nucleolar Protein Reassembly After Pt(II) or Small Molecule Induced Nucleolar Stress”
• Haley Mae Lohf: “Accelerated Long-term Chemical Stability Evaluation of Multichannel Thin-film Implants”
• Arya Massarat: “The Impact of Muscle Strength on Joint Kinetics While Under Uphill Running Conditions”
• Joshua Miller: “Evaluating therapeutic interventions for osteoarthritis of the rat knee joint following ACL rupture”
• Daela Montgomery: “Assessing sex-specific heat-induced DNA damage in H3K9 methyltransferase mutants in C. elegans”
• Gabriel Oh-Keith: “Histamine Modulates the Vasodilatory Response to Resistance Exercise”
• Aiden Rinehart: “Impact of Simulated Quadriceps Strain Injury on Muscle Stiffness, Strength and Plyometric Performance”
• Tanner Rozendal: “Preictal Pupil Dynamics as Non-Invasive Predictors of Absence Seizures”
• Jaisel Sappal: “Development of a hyaluronic acid-based coating for enhancing the longevity of neural implants”
• Hannah Siegler: “Computational Design of a Cyclic Peptide for HRAS”
• Mia Tamashiro: “Characterizing osteogenic potential of patient-specific stromal cells in 2D culture and 3D hydrogels”
• Mason Vaughn Brown: “Fatiguing Effects on Patellar Tendon stiffness”
• Corey Whalen: Achilles tendinopathy alters muscle activation patterns during isokinetic joint action”
• Garrow Whitefield: “Characterization & Kinetic Study of Poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride)-block-polystyrene (PSMA-b-PS)”
• Tallula Wynia: “Sex Specific Variations in Vasodilatory Protein Abundance During Arterial Aging”
• Bella Yannello: “Qualitative Histological Analysis of Achilles Tendon Rupture in a Preclinical Rat Model”
• Sarah Young: “Mechanical Loading Modulates Inflammatory Cartilage Degradation in Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis”