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Maternal Nicotine Exposure Induces Congenital Heart Defects In The Offspring Of Mice, Elizabeth Greco Jul 2019

Maternal Nicotine Exposure Induces Congenital Heart Defects In The Offspring Of Mice, Elizabeth Greco

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Congenital heart defects are the most prevalent birth defect, and maternal cigarette smoking is a known risk factor. Nicotine replacement therapies are recommended to pregnant women who smoke to aid in smoking cessation, as this alternative is thought to be much safer compared to cigarette smoking. However, these products contain nicotine, and the safety of nicotine on the developing heart is not well known. In this thesis, a mouse model was used to test the hypothesis that maternal nicotine exposure (MNE) during pregnancy leads to congenital heart defects and coronary artery defects in the offspring of mice. MNE resulted in …


Hyperactive Torc1 Sensitizes Yeast Cells To Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress By Compromising Cell Wall Integrity, Khadija Ahmed Apr 2019

Hyperactive Torc1 Sensitizes Yeast Cells To Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress By Compromising Cell Wall Integrity, Khadija Ahmed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The disruption of protein folding homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) results in an accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins and activates a network of signaling events collectively known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). While UPR activation upon ER stress is well characterized, how other signaling pathways integrate into the ER proteostasis network is unclear. Here, I sought to investigate how the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) signaling cascade acts in parallel with the UPR to regulate ER stress sensitivity. Using S. cerevisiae, I found that TORC1 signaling is attenuated during ER stress and constitutive activation of TORC1 …