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Identifying The Relevance Of C-Reactive Protein Conformers And The Advancement Of A Membrane Curvature Binding Assay, Carrie Leine Moon Jan 2017

Identifying The Relevance Of C-Reactive Protein Conformers And The Advancement Of A Membrane Curvature Binding Assay, Carrie Leine Moon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lipid membranes play a vital role in cell signaling processes. Membrane shape and lipid content affect interactions between cellular membranes and proteins. This research focuses on characterizing those interactions and their impact by using various biochemical and biophysical assays. These assays were applied to C-reactive protein (CRP), an immune system protein that interacts with lipid membranes and has at least two forms with different properties. Native, pentameric CRP (pCRP) is found in blood serum and is commonly used as a marker for inflammation. The modified form of CRP (mCRP) binds to the protein C1q, which activates the complement immune response. …


Characterization Of The Atcc Α-Tc1-6 Pancreatic Alpha Cell Line To Study Glucagon Secretion, Larissa M. Ikenouye Jan 2017

Characterization Of The Atcc Α-Tc1-6 Pancreatic Alpha Cell Line To Study Glucagon Secretion, Larissa M. Ikenouye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The endocrine pancreas is responsible for maintaining glycemic equilibrium in the body. Given the importance of this blood-glucose homeostasis and the implication an unbalance has on Diabetes mellitus, the study of the glucose-sensing alpha and beta cells in the pancreas is a popular field for scientific researchers. In this study, we use immunofluorescence, qPCR analysis, intracellular calcium experiments, and biochemical glucagon secretion assays to determine if the commercially available tumor cell line clone, α-TC1-6 obtained from American Type Culture Collection, is an appropriate model system for glucagon secretion in pancreatic alpha cells. We confirm the production of the hormone peptide …