School of Science Division of Life Science 38 Neural Circuits for Prey Capture in Zebrafish Supervisor: Julie SEMMELHACK / LIFS Student: HUI Kei Meng / BIOT-IRE Course: UROP 1000, Summer Anxiety disorders are prevalent in humans, yet ethical constraints limit human studies, making animal models essential for understanding neurocircuits. Zebrafish larvae, with their rapid development and genetic manipulability, offer a promising model. We aimed to induce anxiety-like behaviors, such as immobility, in free-swimming and head-fixed zebrafish larvae using conspecific alarm substances (CAS). Contrary to expectations, CAS did not significantly alter larval behavior, possibly due to uncontrolled environmental factors or suboptimal CAS concentrations. If validated, CAS-induced responses in head-fixed larvae could enable neural circuit analysis via two-photon calcium imaging. Future studies should optimize CAS protocols and environmental controls to better elicit anxiety-like responses, advancing zebrafish as a model for anxiety research. Application of Chinese Medicine in Cosmetics Supervisor: TSIM Karl Wah Keung / LIFS Student: LAW Cheuk Ying / BIOT-AB Course: UROP 1000, Summer Kojic acid (KA), an anti-melanogenesis compound, which is widely used as the primary material for skinwhitening cream and skin protective lotions in the cosmetic market. With globally increasing demands for natural skin-lightening agents, companies mass-produce KA by fermenting various types of endophytic fungus. However, different culture conditions, such as fungi species and substrate composition may lead to diverse bioactive compounds formation. To explore the cosmetics application potential of the product extract, it is necessary to assess the effect of these bioactive compounds to ensure the ultimate skinwhitening ability. In this report, the effects of fungus crude extract on melanogenesis were studied by performing real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western Blotting. Application of Chinese Medicine in Cosmetics Supervisor: TSIM Karl Wah Keung / LIFS Student: MOK Hoi Kiu Ruby / BCB Course: UROP 1000, Summer Yu Ping Feng San (YPFS), a traditional Chinese medical (TCM) formulation, is composed of three components, Astragali Radix (AR; Huang Qi), Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (AMR; Bai Zhu) and Saposhnikoviae Radix (SR; Fang Feng). This study focuses on YPFS viability and its potential to mitigate inflammatory responses, via MTT cell-viability assay and qPCR analysis of pro-inflammatory cytokines expression, including interleukin (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). By acknowledging the therapeutic principle of YPFS’s anti-inflammatory effects, the curing of intestinal bowel disease (IBD) can be further secured. This study could also be preliminary to exploring feasible solutions for cancer drug induced inflammation. The results confirmed no detrimental effects on cell growth of YPFS on concentration range of 0.5 to 3 mg/mL and suggested a potential cytoprotective ability, aligning with reduction of gene expression to less than 0.5-fold of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The research ultimately aims to eliminate general or chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal inflammation and related diseases via cooperative treatment with Chinese herbal YPFS.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=