MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Beginning: Will hook audience by describing the prevalence of obstructive lung diseases and the lack of direct methods to monitor disease progression. Will describe obstructive lung diseases and current diagnostic/disease monitoring procedures.

Middle: Will describe recent advancements in field (tracking of nanoparticles in mucus samples), along with the shortcomings of this technique that make it not accessible to clinical laboratories. Will use papers from Weitz and Duncan.

End: Will describe the method I have developed to measure the rotational diffusion of nanoparticles and how this can be applied to disease monitoring in obstructive lung diseases. Will use my own results along with papers/book chapters from Spakowitz, Jameson, Lakowicz, and Yufang to support this claim. Will end by addressing limitations of this technique.

LOGOS: 1) data on prevalence of obstructive lung diseases; 2) peer-reviewed papers on tracking the translational diffusion of nanoparticles; 3) book chapters on the technique of fluorescence polarization

PATHOS: Will describe substantial mortality of obstructive lung diseases (life expectancy of those with cystic fibrosis (CF) is only 37 years; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is 3rd leading cause of death in United States).

ETHOS: Credibility of authors such as Weitz, Duncan, Spakowitz, Jameson, Lakowicz, Yufang who are all professors at major research universities.

STRUCTURE: I will use two structures: 1) Literature Review; 2) Description and summary of research findings.

GOAL: Describe how my Honors thesis independent research project represents an advancement in the field of microrheology and its applications in monitoring disease status in obstructive lung diseases.

R, such important work and I am glad you see the pathos context that provides such meaning to your work.

COPD and heart disease are now understood to be, in part, diseases of air pollution (NOX, SOX, OZONE, and Particulate Matter)

I would if, at some point, this technology can be an alert system within lungs for early treatment or a network of alert systems that help us develop new policies about air pollution regulation or even retrofits in workplaces (like poultry houses) where PM exposure is huge.

Thank you for this work, R.