This poster was presented by Dalya Aljanabi at the Undergraduate Scholarly Showcase, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio on April 24, 2026. The abstract is located below.
Abstract
Cancer recurrence remains a major challenge in oncology due to the persistence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSC presents a small but highly aggressive subpopulation of tumor cells characterized by their self-renewal ability, resistance to therapy, and their ability to initiate new tumor growth. Because of these properties, CSCs are one of the main targets for the development of more effective treatment and efficient management of cancer. Recent studies by others suggest that certain antibiotics can selectively inhibit CSC activity. Through our collaboration with the Tiny Earth antibiotic discovery network, antibiotic containing media supernatants produced by soil bacteria were obtained. We screened these supernatants for their ability to destroy lung CSCs using lung CSC-derived tumorspheres. A tumorsphere is a spherical formation generated from the proliferation of one cancer stem cell. During our recent studies, CSC activity was evaluated using tumorsphere assays using (A549) lung cancer cells. Pre-formed A549 lung CSC tumorspheres were treated with antibiotic containing bacterial media supernatants for five days. A549 lung CSC tumorsphere viability was tested using a 3D-Glo luminescence assay. We found that supernatant 19 demonstrated strong suppression of A549 lung CSC tumorsphere viability while additional supernatants showed moderate inhibitory activity. These findings indicate that soil-derived antibiotics can effectively target lung CSC populations. This research supports continued investigation into bacterial derived compounds as potential CSC targeted treatment and establishes a comparative CSC screening framework. This CSC screening framework lays out the foundation for identifying microbial derived compounds capable of targeting CSCs across multiple non-small cell lung cancer models including NCI H460 derived CSC tumorspheres which represents a more aggressive lung carcinoma.
Non-small cell lung cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer that is responsible for
the majority of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Recurrence and metastasis continue as a
major barriers to the successful treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer stem cells are a
main contributor to cancer recurrence and metastasis thus, a target for lung anticancer therapy.
Evidence that some antibiotics are effective cancer stem cell inhibitors makes the identification
of new antibiotic cancer stem cell inhibitors a key area in lung anticancer drug discovery.
Previously we isolated antibiotic producing bacteria as a part of the Tiny Earth® network and
screened their media supernatants for the ability to inhibit cancer stem cells using a
tumorsphere assay. One supernatant inhibited breast, prostate, and lung cancer stem cells. In
the present study, we find that this antibiotic active supernatant selectively inhibits A549 lung
cancer stem cells over bulk A549 lung cancer cells.
Can magnets repel hurricanes? Well, no... but maybe new magnet technology could play a role in helping prevent future hurricanes. Jett Barham, a 4th year materials engineering undergraduate at the University of Kentucky explores motivations behind research into rare-earth free magnets while sharing his experience as a part of the 2026 REALIZE program at UC.
Rare earth elements. They are a hot topic in the news... but why? What technologies are they used in? Jett Barham, a materials engineering major at University of Kentucky, describes his summer doing research at University of Cincinnati and how new magnet research could shape the global energy landscape.
This research analyzes the "syndemic" of mental stress and physical pain among 299 unregulated laborers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results reveal that psychological distress increased the risk of physical injury by 28-fold, highlighting a critical link between economic instability and worker health. These findings offer urgent parallels to the U.S. "gig economy," where delivery and warehouse workers face similar occupational injustices without safety nets. The presentation moves beyond ergonomics to propose a Social Justice Framework, challenging attendees to advocate for ethical supply chains and for mental health protections for vulnerable workers, both globally and locally.
What happens when the biggest barrier to scientific discovery isn’t a lack of ideas, but the cost of the tools themselves? In this episode, Jarin Earle, a junior in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina A & T State University, shares how a summer research project designing a low-cost viscometer changed the way he thinks about engineering; not as a way to build machines, but as a way to expand who gets the opportunity to do science.
Through my college journey, the terms “research” and “zero-emissions” have become central to my academic identity. Not just because they reflect both my lab experience and keen interest in sustainable tech, but because they evoke a personal question that many high school seniors and college underclassmen grapple with: what does it mean to be a scientist? I’m Trevon Collins, a mechanical engineering student at Tennessee Technological University. In this podcast episode, I’ll share the answers I’ve found through investigating age-old secrets of phase change and their implications for the green transition.
Kennedy Whiters lives by "Do not fear failure; rather, fear not trying." She participated in the REALIZE REU when she was a junior at Albany State University. Kennedy performed research on methanogens, a type of anaerobic bacteria that consumes carbon dioxide and turns it into natural gas, which we can use as a source of energy in power plants. In this episode, she describes her experience working in the lab of Prof Annie Rowe, where she found the lab group to be a good source of positive support, like her family.
This archeometric study analyzed local clay deposits at the Ingels Family Farm, settled in the Early Nineteenth Century in Bourbon County Kentucky. The redware pottery made on site was bartered and sold in the region, and the clay deposits were also used to make the bricks that constructed the 1820 Ingels family residence, still extant as of May 2026. Numerous materials characterization techniques including XRD, XRF, DTA/TGA, Spectroscopy, wet chemical analysis, and SEM were used to determine the characteristics of the local clay deposit and the identifying characteristics of the redware. The study also tested the wares to determine an approximate firing range, which was consistent with the requirements of low-to-mid fired earthenware. This study was done using archaeological materials from a previous archaeological investigation of the farm, but new material was added with the assistance the USDA Soil Survey Office in Kentucky, who drilled core samples for the project in Spring 2012.
This paper explores queer artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt (b. 1948) and his piece titled Allegory of the Stonewall Riot (Statue of Liberty Fighting for Drag Queen, Husband, and Home) (1969). I take a biographical approach to the paper, dissecting Lanigan-Schmidt’s childhood and young adult life living as a queer street kid in the 1960s. I follow him to New York City, where he continued creating his kitsch style art and started getting recognized for it. Outside of his artistic endeavors, Lanigan-Schmidt would catch himself hanging out at The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street. In the early hours of June 28, 1969, The Stonewall Inn was unexpectedly raided by the police. At a time when being queer was criminalized, the patrons of Stonewall had had enough and fought back against the police, sparking a riot that turned into a weeks-long protest. Lanigan-Schmidt was in attendance that night and joined the fight for gay liberation. It was this night that inspired his creation, Allegory of the Stonewall Riot (Statue of Liberty Fighting for Drag Queen, Husband, and Home). By analyzing the contextual importance of The Stonewall Inn and the riots that ensued, I show how Allegory of the Stonewall Riot reflects queer life in the 1960s. In the art historical canon, queer art is largely underrepresented. However, in this paper I show how Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt and Allegory of the Stonewall Riot deserve a place in the art historical canon
This project will explore the artist Leonora Carrington’s Self-portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse, ca. 1937-38) and its relationship to and rejection of the male-centric, sexist ideology of psychoanalysis that governed the Surrealist movement. As outlined in Andre Breton's First Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), Freudian psychoanalysis had a great influence on Breton, the movement's founder (1896-1966). He believed in Freud's tenets and theories regarding dreams and the unconscious as a liberating and radical force that could tear down society’s systems of oppression. Yet there is a willful ignorance in Breton’s philosophy on the deep-rooted misogyny of Freud’s psychology and how the institution of psychoanalysis ignores the realities of female development and existence within inherently sexist societal structures of that period. However, Leonora Carrington rejected psychoanalytic theory as it pertained to her art. She refused to be categorized within sexist ideologies and asserted herself as a creative artist with her own interpretations of her work, positing her own ideologies in the process. She demonstrated her identity through her work and found liberation by developing her own feminist consciousness. Through researching Carrington's work, I want to expand on her ability to challenge the sexist paradigms of Surrealism and to reaffirm how her rejection demonstrates that female nonconformity is not only revolutionary but also necessary for female artistic freedom today. Other scholars have delved into this driving aspect of Carrington’s work but I will be utilizing Helene Cixous’ concept of “ecritutre feminine” in order to demonstrate how Carrington developed a “pictorial language” of her own within her work Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse). I will use Cixous’ seminal work, "The Laugh of the Medusa," to expand on this idea and how Carrington developed that language, constituted of her own personal symbols, which is on full display in her self-portrait.
