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UC LEADS has made an impact in my life in a number of ways. Their constant support of academic advising, graduate school preparation, mentor and research opportunities, all built into a nurturing student community, enhanced and enriched my growth as a student and scientist. As a student with a slight learning disability, I built additional confidence through their encouragement of my abilities and talents. In all honesty, the success I celebrate today is shared with the UC LEADS Program because it was their faith in me that gave me the desire to continue with graduate studies and pursue my Ph.D.
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Sacramento Interstate-5 Aerosol Transect Study at Arden Middle School
Mentor: Dr. Thomas Cahill, UC Davis
Poor air quality is the primary source of asthma and lung complications in non-smoking children and adults. Aerosol samples were collected from December 12, 2002 through January 16, 2003 at nine sites along Interstate-5 and Watt Avenue from Davis, CA to Shingle Springs, CA, northwest of Sacramento. Continuous collection was accomplished on lightly greased Mylar strips by rotating drum impactors with either 3 stages (2.5 to 1.15, 1.15 to 0.34 and 0.34 to circa 0.15 µm diameters) or 8 stages (circa 12 to 5.0, 5.0 to 2.5, 2.5 to 1.15, 1.15 to 0.75, 0.75 to 0.56, 0.56 to 0.34, 0.34 to 0.26, and 0.26 to 0.09 µm in diameter). Analysis was performed on all samples (soft beta ray attenuation) and optical transmission (350-850 nm) in three-hour increments. Results found Arden Middle School samples have the highest concentrations of vehicular emissions. Several mitigating efforts have been suggested for the reduction of harmful particulates in that area, and will be investigated further.
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Analytical Method for Chiral Metabolites of Methamphetamine and Amphetamine
Mentor: Dr. E. Thomas Everhart, UC, San Francisco
Methamphetamine abuse is quickly becoming one of the major routes of HIV infection in California. Methamphetamine and amphetamine, its major metabolite, each consist of two enantiomers which possess distinct pharmacological profiles. In this study, a gas-chromatography mass-spectrometer (GC-MS) analytical method was developed to measure the concentrations of enantiomers of methamphetamine, amphetamine, p-OH methamphetamine, and p-OH amphetamine in biological fluids. This method may be useful for applications in further research involving enantiomers of methamphetamine and amphetamine in order to correct for losses during extractions and derivitizations processes. Deuterium-labeled internal standards were utilized. Human urine was used as a matrix and spiked with internal standard. The pH of each sample was adjusted with sodium bicarbonate buffer (pH 9.6), extracted with a methyl t-butyl ether t-amyl alcohol (5:1, v/v) solvent mixture, back extracted with the initial extract into dilute acid (0.1M HCl) and evaporated under a stream of nitrogen gas. Samples were then derivatized and analyzed by GCMS. Results showed distinct separation and large peak-height ratios of both labeled and unlabeled enantiomers using chiral column isobutene chemical ionization GCMS.
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Establishing GC/MS Analysis Sensitivity for Epoxyeicosatrienoic Fatty Acids
Mentor: Dr. Bruce D. Hammock, Mr. John W. Newman, Superfund Analytical Core, and UC Davis Cancer Research Project
This study expanded a novel technique for the quantification of linoleate epoxides to arachidonate epoxides. In this method, fatty acid moieties were methylated and epoxide functions were chemically reacted with fluorinated thiophenol to produce a hydroxyl-sulfanyl function. The remaining hydroxyl group was then silylated before GC/MS analysis. These arachidonic acid epoxides or epoxyeicosatrienoic fatty acids (EET) are endogenous modulators of blood pressure. A 1:1:1 mixture of three EET regioisomers was derivatized and used to prepare a dilution series and instrumental detection limit (IDL) of < 160pg/µl was determined. A spiking scenario was designed and applied to cell culture media to establish the methodological detection limit (MDL). Once optimized, the described procedure has the potential to significantly reduce analysis time over current methods, while allowing the simultaneous quantification of multiple classes of lipid epoxides as well as their corresponding diols.
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