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High-Throughput Polygenic Biomarker Discovery Using Condition-Specific Gene Coexpression Networks, William Louis Poehlman

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Biomarkers can be described as molecular signatures that are associated with a trait or disease. RNA expression data facilitates discovery of biomarkers underlying complex phenotypes because it can capture dynamic biochemical processes that are regulated in tissue-specific and time-specific manners. Gene Coexpression Network (GCN) analysis is a method that utilizes RNA expression data to identify binary gene relationships across experimental conditions. Using a novel GCN construction algorithm, Knowledge Independent Network Construction (KINC), I provide evidence for novel polygenic biomarkers in both plant and animal use cases.

Kidney cancer is comprised of several distinct subtypes that demonstrate unique histological and molecular …

Bacteria-Mediated Delivery Of Mazf Mrna Into Cancer Cells For Induction Of Apoptosis, Maryam Saffarian Abbas Zadeh

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Programmed cell death (PCD), an active process that leads to cell suicide, is a critical mechanism in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In eukaryotes, apoptosis, a well-characterized form of PCD, is a gene-directed program that can be inhibited by some oncogenic mutations, resulting in the development of cancer. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) is one example of an intracellular death program that is present in almost all bacteria and comprises a stable toxin and a labile antitoxin that blocks the lethal function of the toxin. MazEF, one of the best studied bacterial PCD systems, includes a toxin, namely, MazF that cleaves mRNAs at ACA sequences …