Amy B. Ellis

Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance

Gender differences in mathematics performance and ability remain a concern as scientists seek to address the underrepresentation of women at the highest levels of mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering. Stereotypes that girls and women lack mathematical ability persist and are widely held by parents and teachers. Meta-analytic findings from 1990 (6) indicated that gender differences in mathematics performance in the general population were trivial, d = -.05. d = Mmales – Mfemales sw

Algebra in the Middle School: Developing Functional Relationships Through Quantitative Reasoning

Understanding function is a critical aspect of algebraic reasoning, and building functional relationships is an activity encouraged in the younger grades to foster students’ relational thinking. One way to foster functional thinking is to leverage the power of students’ capabilities to reason with quantities and their relationships. This paper explicates the ways in which reasoning directly with quantities can support middle-school students’ understanding of linear and quadratic functions. It explores how building quantitative relationships can support an initial function understanding from a covariation perspective, and later serve as a foundation to build a more flexible view of function that includes the correspondence perspective.

A comprehensive collection of systems biology data characterizing the host response to viral infection

The Systems Biology for Infectious Diseases Research program was established by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to investigate host-pathogen interactions at a systems level. This program generated 47 transcriptomic and proteomic datasets from 30 studies that investigate in vivo and in vitro host responses to viral infections. Human pathogens in the Orthomyxoviridae and Coronaviridae families, especially pandemic H1N1 and avian H5N1 influenza A viruses and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), were investigated. Study validation was demonstrated via experimental quality control measures and meta-analysis of independent experiments performed under similar conditions. Primary assay results are archived at the GEO and PeptideAtlas public repositories, while processed statistical results together with standardized metadata are publically available at the Influenza Research Database (www.fludb.org) and the Virus Pathogen Resource (www.viprbrc.org). By comparing data from mutant versus wild-type virus and host strains, RNA versus protein differential expression, and infection with genetically similar strains, these data can be used to further investigate genetic and physiological determinants of host responses to viral infection.

Characterization of T Cells Specific for CFP-10 and ESAT-6 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Mauritian Cynomolgus Macaques

ABSTRACT Nonhuman primates can be used to study host immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (MCMs) are a unique group of animals that have limited major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genetic diversity, such that MHC-identical animals can be infected with M. tuberculosis. Two MCMs homozygous for the relatively common M1 MHC haplotype were bronchoscopically infected with 41 CFU of the M. tuberculosis Erdman strain. Four other MCMs, which had at least one copy of the M1 MHC haplotype, were infected with a lower dose of 3 CFU M. tuberculosis. All animals mounted similar T-cell responses to CFP-10 and ESAT-6. Two epitopes in CFP-10 were characterized, and the MHC class II alleles restricting them were determined. A third epitope in CFP-10 was identified but exhibited promiscuous restriction. The CFP-10 and ESAT-6 antigenic regions targeted by T cells in MCMs were comparable to those seen in cases of human M. tuberculosis infection. Our data lay the foundation for generating tetrameric molecules to study epitope-specific CD4 T cells in M. tuberculosis-infected MCMs, which may guide future testing of tuberculosis vaccines in nonhuman primates.