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Show Wednesday, March 26, 2014 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 3 INSPIRE Continued from page 1 vation research project will address a question raised by a research student at Utah State about the optimal growing conditions for bullrushes, a native wetland plant. "It seemed like the perfect time to bring everyone together and give the inmates an opportunity to do some hands-on science," GainesCrockett said. Gaines-Crocket called the arrangement a "win-win" situation for both inmates and professors, since inmates get CHRIS AYERS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Students work out in a free Zumba class offered as a part of the "UPC Loves U" event. ZUMBA Continued from page 1 Hansen is excited about the opportunity to share her love of Zumba with others. "It's the best," Hansen said. "Rather than sitting back and saying, 'Oh, that looks fun,' I want everyone to come out and see how much fun it really is." Clad in silver spangles, Hansen led the class through a series of lunges, jumping jacks and twists — all disguised as Latin dance routines. She kept the room's energy up by shouting encouragement to students and clapping at the end of every song. Camille George, assistant director of community service for UPC, said the event was a spin-off of last year's UPC Relaxation Week. "We figured everyone likes exercise and everyone likes moving, so what better way to give back than to put on a free, fun workout?" George said. Lacey Despain, UPC's community service director, said providing an exercise class is its own form of community service. "At UPC, we love finding ways to serve students, and giving them a unique thing like a workout class — which a lot of people don't normally get — is a fun way to cater to them and get people moving," Despain said. After the Zumba course, students congregated at a large orange water cooler to catch their breath and talk about their experience. Divya Raj, a graduate student in computer science, loved the small class size. "It was like a one-on-one on how to dance," Raj said. Buchireddygari said she had a fun first experience with Zumba and hopes to dance again soon. Despain said Zumba was a great way to get students "pumped for the week ahead." UPC's Love U week continues today with free bowling and Thursday with a spa night and service project. a.oligschlaeger@chronicle.utah.edu news can be inspiring, too. Contact a.drysdale@chronicle.utah.edu for information about being a news writer for The Daily Utah Chronicle. CHEMISTRY Continued from page 1 The gels acted as filters that helped researchers identify different types of proteins. Wirth said that although this method has been used for decades, it presents some inherent complications to researchers. "The trouble with [gels] is you get all these streaks," Wirth said. "The streaks are because the big proteins get stuck in small pores, and it takes them a long time to get out." The new research explores a variety of methods in an effort to improve the current gel fiber technique of detecting proteins. One tactic filters and identifies proteins more quickly and accurately by replacing gel fibers with silica nanopartides. This method allows researchers to detect specific proteins by regulating the size of the pores within the membrane more directly. Another method accomplishes a similar task, separating molecules according an opportunity to continue their educations, and professors get a new audience for their material and ideas. "[The] Bureau of Justice reports that incarcerated men and women who receive some kind of educational program are 13 percent less likely to re-offend and return to prison, which costs taxpayers money," Nadkarni said. "Exposure to science might awaken interest and awareness of the possibilities of finding employment in the science sector after they leave prison or jail." Gaines-Crockett said there are very few programs na- tionwide that teach inmates math and science, which makes the INSPIRE program even more rare. "To have a program brought in that is sciencefocused is unusual," GainesCrockett said. "At least in my view, the Washington [State] program that Nadkarni started io years ago was really groundbreaking in that regard." Gaines-Crockett said she expects the INSPIRE program to expand from the Salt Lake County jail to the state prison system. to size or other characteristics but using an electric field in congruence with a liquid to separate the molecules. Wirth said they have used this method to distinguish protein sizes and may even be able to separate protein shapes using this method. "We haven't started using electrophoresis for this approach yet, but this is what we're starting to think about," Wirth said. "We [may be able to] use electrophoresis to separate these subtle differences in shape of these disulfide isomers, so that's a possibility." Graduate students at Purdue continue to research these methods under Wirth's supervision. While each of these students is researching slightly different approaches, they are all looking to achieve the collective goal of more efficient and effective protein detection. Their findings will be used in conjunction with one another to determine the most effective ways in which the new methods may be utilized. These new techniques will also make it easier for researchers to isolate proteins critical to researching antibodies and treating patients with various medical conditions. Joe Glasing, a graduate student from Germany studying chemistry, said he thought the research would be especially useful within the medical field. "I think it's an important development because she's doing research on cancer and these antibodies," Glasing said. "I think it can be really useful." The Tuesday session of the Giddings Lecture was the first of a two-part series that will conclude Thursday. Wirth said she has already seen these methods open new doors of opportunity for study and hopes exploring these methods will ultimately create a faster and more efficient method of detecting proteins. "What we were interested in was using silica particles to replace the fibers in gels," Wirth said. "We didn't expect it to work this well." n.turner@ chronicle.utah.edu a.jose@chronicle.utah.edu U OF U SIMMER STOKRGE MORI. 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