This paper discusses the appropriation of body positivity discourse by Kathryn Budig and the yoga industry. During the appropriation process, the political nature of the movement is decontextualized and erased through adoption of individualized messages of body acceptance that largely ignore bodily differences by participation in ideologies of body-blindness. Despite the best of intentions and positive, heartfelt messages of body acceptance, Budig’s developing role as the face of body positivity continues overrepresentation of the “ideal yoga body” in mainstream yoga culture and contributes to restricted systems of meaning regarding (a) who is an “authentic” yogi and (b) what the practice of yoga looks like that continue to marginalize “Other” yogis who face the burden of new industry demands that you #loveyourbody (as long as it is white, thin, acrobatic, female, heterosexual, and so on). By downplaying the importance of the systemic critique of dominant yoga culture to focus on individual solutions, Budig and the yoga industrial complex contribute to the marginalization and “eating” of the Other yogi while simultaneously profiting from the individualization and depoliticization of the body positivity movement.

The interplay between particle physics models and their cosmological implicationsprovides a crucial set of constraints for model-builders. As upcoming experiments set out to determine the particle nature of dark matter, detect primordial gravitational waves (GWs), and map primordial non-Gaussianities (PNGs), a unique opportunity arises to search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) at scales that may be as high as 10^13 GeV. This thesis explores these three examples of cosmological aspects of model- building. We begin with a review of the problems that motivate the search for BSM physics, touching on both the naturalness problems and the inflationary paradigm. Then, we introduce a parity-based solution to the strong CP problem, motivating the question of whether a model containing a heavy mirror copy of the SM gauge group may contain a viable candidate for dark matter. We then turn to GWs, introducing a new source of primordial GWs from stochastic fluctuations of scalar fields in the early universe. Finally, we turn to effective field theories (EFTs) in de-Sitter space, introducing the problem in the context of cosmological collider physics and initiating a systematic understanding of EFT construction in inflationary spacetimes. In turn, we illustrate the promise of near-future cosmological probes to provide insights into the underlying physics of our universe.

What with today’s pandemic causing the cancellation of our graduation, it’s easy to wonder if anything that occurred in these past three years were anything more than a fever dream. By ending this graduate training with such an abrupt dissipation, it feels like my dreams have been deferred, without my permission. Langston Hughes, poses the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” I am not only forced to answer this question as myself, but as Bennie.

During the winter quarter of first year, I had the incredible privilege of playing Lorraine Hansberry’s classic, semi-autobiographical Beneatha Younger in “A Raisin In the Sun.” My exploration of Bennie was perhaps one of the most rewarding, intangible gifts I could have ever received-- perhaps because the performance was rooted in the fundamentals. We had created an environment in which we could listen and respond truthfully to one another from the first week we started to block the play, so that by the time our run commenced, our vessels were ready.

These impassive times might be robbing us of a graduation ceremony, but it does not negate the intangible gifts we have acquired over the past three years. Whether it be the embodiment of Beneatha, the reclaiming of my physical health, imparting encouragement and wisdom in the classroom, and psychological & spiritual repair, I have rooted myself in the fundamentals which have made me ready. I choose to view my circumstances, my dreams deferred, and access my vulnerability to keep driving my vessel & my dreams alive...much unlike a raisin in the sun.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that can infect any warm-blooded mammal, making it one of the most successful parasites in the world. It is estimated to infect approximately one-third of the global human population and can cause life threatening complications in immunocompromised individuals and congenitally infected neonates. During the acute infection, rapidly multiplying T. gondii tachyzoites must balance between avoiding clearance to ensure the infection and limiting parasite replication to avoid killing the host. While most tachyzoites are eliminated during the acute infection by the host’s immune response, a fraction converts into slow growing bradyzoites that are encased by a cyst wall that constitute the chronic infection. These infectious tissue cysts remain largely undetected from the host’s immune surveillance.The ability of T. gondii to survive intracellularly and establish a productive infection relies significantly on its capacity to regulate host cell functions. One way the parasite achieves this is through the secretion of dense granule proteins (GRAs) that are involved in remodeling the parasitophorous vacuole (PV), obtaining nutrients from the host, manipulating the host cell cycle, and modulating the immune response. Because of their diverse functions during infection, the goal of this work is to identify and characterize novel GRAs in the acute and chronic infection to better understand the array of effectors this parasite uses to colonize its mammalian hosts. This work first describes a proximity labeling experiment to identify several novel T. gondii GRAs, GRA55-59, that are expressed in bradyzoites. Deletion of these GRAs does not affect parasite fitness in vitro. Further characterization of GRA55 reveals that its deletion does not impact virulence during the acute infection but does reduce brain cyst burden in infected mice. This suggests that GRA55 is an important secreted protein for the establishment or maintenance of the chronic infection in mice. The next section identifies the dense granule protein GRA83 and reveals that this effector is secreted into the PV and plays a role in modulating a key element of the host’s innate immune response. Disruption of GRA83 impacts proinflammatory cytokine production and increases T. gondii’s virulence during the acute infection. This also results in a significantly higher brain cyst burden during the chronic infection in mice. Therefore, this effector functions in a pro-host manner to limit unrestricted parasite growth. Lastly, this work describes the novel secreted effector, GRA84, that is exported to the host cell nucleus. GRA84 is dependent on the aspartyl protease (ASP5) and the MYR translocon to traverse the PV barrier and reach the host cell nucleus. Disruption of GRA84 does not substantially impact in vitro parasite growth or the chronic infection in mice. Most interestingly, this work demonstrates that GRA84 is proteolytically cleaved for maturation in its N-terminus and that this processing event is essential its ability to translocate across the vacuolar membrane to reach its destination in the host nucleus. Together, this thesis identifies and characterizes an array of novel GRA proteins that regulate Toxoplasma infection, which is likely to aid in the development of new treatments or therapeutics that can ultimately clear this widespread human infection.

Environmental chemicals can affect the world’s food quality and quantity in multiple ways. There is increasing evidence for chemical contamination of food and water, such as pesticide residues on fruits or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. Some of these chemicals can persist in the environment and ultimately bioaccumulate through organism of the terrestrial and aquatic food chains, including fish and other seafood. Other chemicals, such as crop pesticides, can cause collateral or unintended toxicities to non-target organism, including pollinator insects, that are essential workforces for agricultural industries. Yet, the mechanism of chemical bioaccumulation in marine top predators or the (toxic) effects of unintended chemical co-exposures to pollinator insects are still poorly understood.To counteract xenobiotic insults, all living organisms possess a sophisticated cellular defense system consisting of three major mechanisms, including xenobiotic sensors like the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), detoxifying enzymes like cytochrome P450 (CYP450), and efflux transporters like P-glycoprotein (P-gp). P-glycoprotein (aka MDR1 or ABCB1) is a Multidrug resistance (MDR) transporter ubiquitously expressed in biological barriers, including liver, kidneys, lungs, intestine, brain, and gills. Due to its poly-specific recognition and elimination of xenobiotics, the ABCB1 is considered a key determinant of drug and xenobiotic disposition in all organisms. In this thesis, I seek to explore how environmental chemicals interact with the protective ABCB1 transporter of the apex predator yellowfin tuna and the European honeybee as an agriculturally important pollinator insect. The results of my thesis will provide new avenues to better predict pollutant bioaccumulation in commercial fish species as well as evaluate and mitigate potentially toxic mixture effects of crop pesticides and in-hive medicines to honeybees.

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