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Western Washington University

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

A General Method for Evaluating Incubation of Sucrose Craving in Rats

Jeffrey W. Grimm¹, Jesse Barnes¹, Kindsey North¹, Stefan Collins¹, Rachel Weber¹

¹Department of Psychology and Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Western Washington University

Responding for food or drug-paired cues increases over the course of a period of abstinence and this may relate to an increased susceptibility to relapse behaviors. Here we detail a procedure for evaluating this "incubation of craving" in rats that have self-administered sucrose.

Biology

Isolation of Native Soil Microorganisms with Potential for Breaking Down Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films Used in Agriculture

Graham Bailes¹, Margaret Lind¹, Andrew Ely¹, Marianne Powell², Jennifer Moore-Kucera³, Carol Miles², Debra Inglis², Marion Brodhagen¹

¹Biology Department, Western Washington University, ²Washington State University Northwestern Research and Extension Center, ³Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University

Plastic films labeled "biodegradable" are commercially available for agricultural use as mulches. Tillage represents an attractive disposal method, but degradation under field conditions is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to develop methods for isolating native soil fungi and bacteria that colonize plastic mulch films after field burial.

Environment

Experimental Protocol for Biodiesel Production with Isolation of Alkenones as Coproducts from Commercial Isochrysis Algal Biomass

Gregory W. O'Neil¹, John R. Williams¹, Julia Wilson-Peltier¹, Gerhard Knothe², Christopher M. Reddy³

¹Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, ²Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, ³Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Detailed methods are presented for the production of biodiesel along with the co-isolation of alkenones as valuable coproducts from commercial Isochrysis microalgae.

Chemistry

Fabrication of Spherical and Worm-shaped Micellar Nanocrystals by Combining Electrospray, Self-assembly, and Solvent-based Structure Control

Xinyi Ding^1,2,3, Yuxiang Sun^1,2,3, Yanming Chen^1,2,3, Wanchuan Ding^1,2,3, Steven Emory^1,2,3,4, Tianhao Li^1,2,3, Zixing Xu^1,2,3, Ning Han^1,2,3, Jun Wang^1,2,3, Gang Ruan^1,2,3

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, ²Institute of Materials Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, ³Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, Nanjing University, ⁴Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University

The present work describes a method to fabricate micellar nanocrystals, an emerging major class of nanobiomaterials. This method combines top-down electrospray, bottom-up self-assembly, and solvent-based structure control. The fabrication method is largely continuous, can produce high quality products, and possesses an inexpensive means of structure control.