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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Characterizing The Rogfp2-Orp1 Fluorescent Biosensor For Detecting Oxidative Stress In Mammalian Cells, Sara A. Doan, Stevie Norcross, Mathew Tantama Sep 2015

Characterizing The Rogfp2-Orp1 Fluorescent Biosensor For Detecting Oxidative Stress In Mammalian Cells, Sara A. Doan, Stevie Norcross, Mathew Tantama

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease involving the death of neurons in the substantia nigra and loss of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. The disease leads to progressive loss of motor control. Exact causes and mechanisms by which Parkinson’s disease proceeds are unknown, however, previous experiments determine oxidative stress in mitochondria as a factor that results in cell death. Strategies have been implemented to generate fluorescent biosensors to monitor reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations while simultaneously measuring the spatiotemporal distribution and correlation between the ROS, cellular function and organelle. Orp1, an enzyme found in yeast, is a sensitive oxidizing species and when …


Characterizing The Role Of Aif4 In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Antonia L. Hur Ms., Nina Serratore Ms., Scott D. Briggs Aug 2015

Characterizing The Role Of Aif4 In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Antonia L. Hur Ms., Nina Serratore Ms., Scott D. Briggs

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Chromatin remodelers are important regulatory mechanisms that eukaryotic cells use to modify the structure of chromatin, which is made up of DNA and proteins. DNA wraps around histone proteins to make up chromatin. When these proteins are modified, the shape of the chromatin is altered. “Loosening” the chromatin structure by chromatin modifications allows for active gene expression whereas “tightening” or compaction of chromatin results in gene repression. Therefore the modifications on chromatin modulate gene expression in all eukaryotes. It has been shown that mis-regulation of chromatin remodelers contribute to various cancers. Understanding the biochemistry behind how chromatin associating proteins modify …


Viewing The Extracellular Matrix: An Imaging Method For Tissue Engineering, Michael Drakopoulos, Sarah Calve Aug 2015

Viewing The Extracellular Matrix: An Imaging Method For Tissue Engineering, Michael Drakopoulos, Sarah Calve

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The field of regenerative medicine seeks to create replacement tissues and organs, both to repair deficiencies in biological function and to treat structural damage caused by injury. Scaffoldings mimicking extracellular matrix (ECM), the structure to which cells attach to form tissues, have been developed from synthetic polymers and also been prepared by decellularizing adult tissue. However, the structure of ECM undergoes significant remodeling during natural tissue repair, suggesting that ECM-replacement constructs that mirror developing tissues may promote better regeneration than those modeled on adult tissues. This work investigated the effectiveness of a method of viewing the extracellular matrix of developing …


Using The Intact Method To Study Pickle In Individual Cell Types, Jacqueline L. Phipps, Daniela N. Martir, Ben Carter, Joe Ogas Aug 2015

Using The Intact Method To Study Pickle In Individual Cell Types, Jacqueline L. Phipps, Daniela N. Martir, Ben Carter, Joe Ogas

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cell differentiation is an essential part of development in multicellular organisms. Cells with identical genomic DNA are able to differentiate into a variety of tissues due to selective expression and repression of genes. This tissue-specific gene expression is enabled in part by proteins called chromatin remodelers, which can move, remove, or restructure histone proteins to restrict or allow physical access to genomic DNA. PICKLE (PKL) is a member of the CHD family of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers that promotes cellular identity in the plant model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. PKL promotes cell identity by silencing embryonic genes during seed germination by promoting …


A Screen To Identify Saga-Activated Genes That Are Required For Proper Photoreceptor Axon Targeting In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kaelan J. Brennan, Vikki M. Weake, Jingqun Q. Ma Aug 2015

A Screen To Identify Saga-Activated Genes That Are Required For Proper Photoreceptor Axon Targeting In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kaelan J. Brennan, Vikki M. Weake, Jingqun Q. Ma

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The inherited human genetic disease spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration and visual impairment that ultimately leads to blindness. SCA7 results from a mutation in the human ATXN7 gene that causes an expansion of polyglutamine tracts in this gene’s corresponding protein. Human ATXN7 protein serves as a component of the deubiquitylase (DUB) module of the large, multi-subunit complex Spt-Ada-Gcn acetyltransferase, or SAGA. SAGA is a transcriptional coactivator and histone modifier that functions to deubiquitylate histone H2B and allow for transcription of SAGA-mediated genes to occur. In Drosophila, mutations in SAGA DUB’s Nonstop and sgf11 components …


Elucidating The Role Of Hausp Ubiquitin Like Domains In The Catalytic Function Of Usp7, Anuj Patel, Nicole Davis, Andrew Mesecar Aug 2015

Elucidating The Role Of Hausp Ubiquitin Like Domains In The Catalytic Function Of Usp7, Anuj Patel, Nicole Davis, Andrew Mesecar

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Ubiquitin specific proteases (USPs) are a class of enzymes involved in myriad cellular processes. One USP of great interest due to its oncogenic properties is USP7. In normal conditions USP7 is closely regulated due to its responsibility for destabilizing the tumor suppressor, p53, through the deubiquitination of MDM2. In multiple myeloma cases, it appears the regulation of USP7 subsides, as it is largely overexpressed, leading to the inappropriate degradation of p53. Inhibition of USP7 could, therefore, prove a viable target for cancer therapy. A greater understanding of USP7’s function and structure can lead to more insight into how this enzyme …


Deconstructing Cation-Pi Interactions: Understanding The Binding Energies Involved With Metal And Aromatic Amino Acid Residues, Jen E. Werner, Lyudmila V. Slipchenko, Yen Bui Aug 2015

Deconstructing Cation-Pi Interactions: Understanding The Binding Energies Involved With Metal And Aromatic Amino Acid Residues, Jen E. Werner, Lyudmila V. Slipchenko, Yen Bui

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method is a computationally efficient technique for describing non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces. Cation-pi interactions are a type of non-covalent interactions and are thought to be important in biological processes, such as permittivity of ion channels. The goal of our work is to establish that the EFP method reliably describes the strength, directionality, and composition of cation-pi interactions. Optimal geometries were found for a series of biologically relevant cations (K+, Li+, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+) and aryl moieties appearing …


A Novel Synthetic Yeast For Enzymatic Biodigester Pretreatment, Tianyu Tan, Mark S. Aronson, Arren Liu, Jill H. Osterhus, Melissa Robins, Suraj Mohan, Erich Leazer, Bowman Clark, Alexa Petrucciani, Katherine Lowery, James Welch, Casey Martin, Helena Lysandrou, Michael E. Scharf, Jenna Rickus Aug 2015

A Novel Synthetic Yeast For Enzymatic Biodigester Pretreatment, Tianyu Tan, Mark S. Aronson, Arren Liu, Jill H. Osterhus, Melissa Robins, Suraj Mohan, Erich Leazer, Bowman Clark, Alexa Petrucciani, Katherine Lowery, James Welch, Casey Martin, Helena Lysandrou, Michael E. Scharf, Jenna Rickus

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lignin, a complex organic polymer, is a major roadblock to the efficiency of biofuel conversion as it both physically blocks carbohydrate substrates and poisons biomass degrading enzymes, even if broken down to monomer units. A pretreatment process is often applied to separate the lignin from biomass prior to biofuel conversion. However, contemporary methods of pretreatment require large amounts of energy, which may be economically uncompelling or unfeasible. Taking inspiration from several genes that have been isolated from termites and fungi which translate to enzymes that degrade lignin, we want to establish a novel “enzymatic pretreatment” system where microbes secrete these …


Regulation Of The Ampa Glutamate Receptor Homolog Glr-1 At The Endoplasmic Reticulum In C. Elegans., Sam Witus, Lina Dahlberg May 2015

Regulation Of The Ampa Glutamate Receptor Homolog Glr-1 At The Endoplasmic Reticulum In C. Elegans., Sam Witus, Lina Dahlberg

Scholars Week

In C. elegans, the glutamate receptor GLR-1 functions in the nervous system to decode environmental stimuli and sensory experiences, and to regulate locomotion and the formation of long-term memory. C. elegans GLR-1 is homologous to mammalian glutamate receptors, and we can use this simple organism as a system to better understand the life cycle of human receptors (1). Because GLR-1 is a membrane protein, it is first assembled in the interior of a neuron, and then it is transported to the membrane at the surface of the cell so that it can receive chemical signals (glutamate) from the environment. Currently, …


Reverse Gyrase Is Not Necessary For Survival Of Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus Furiosus, Farshid Taghizadeh, Michael S. Bartlett May 2015

Reverse Gyrase Is Not Necessary For Survival Of Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus Furiosus, Farshid Taghizadeh, Michael S. Bartlett

Student Research Symposium

Reverse gyrase is the only known topoisomerase enzyme with positive supercoiling activity on covalently-closed DNA. This positive supercoiling is required to prevent DNA from denaturation at high temperatures. The gene that codes for this protein is present in all hyperthermophiles and absent from all mesophilic and thermophilic genomes, suggesting that this enzyme is the only hyperthermophile-specific protein. To investigate if this protein is vital for the cells, we knocked out its gene from the genome of living organism Pyrococcus furiosus. Pyrococcus furiosus is a hyperthermophilic archaeon that grows between 70°C to 103°C with an optimum growth temperature of 100°C. …


Biotransformations: Reaction Conditions, Antimicrobial Properties, And Enzyme Isolation, Jasmine Moreland, Marianne Burnett, Amey Gonzalez, Michele Harris Apr 2015

Biotransformations: Reaction Conditions, Antimicrobial Properties, And Enzyme Isolation, Jasmine Moreland, Marianne Burnett, Amey Gonzalez, Michele Harris

Undergraduate Research Conference

Biotransformation reactions using whole cell or organisms have been extensively studied. Most of the studies have focused on producing and characterizing the enantiospecific products. Benefits of biotransformation reactions include the use of water and other environmentally friendly conditions. We decided to focus on a single reaction to determine the best reaction conditions for the biotransformation, explore possible antimicrobial activity of the product, and isolate and characterize the protein involved in catalyzing the reaction.


Evaluation Of Polyamine-Anthracene Conjugates As Dna Ligands: A Potential Anti-Cancer Agent, Khoa T. Nguyen, Sunhwa Joung, Jennifer J. Archer, Otto Phanstiel Iv, Kathryn B. Grant Apr 2015

Evaluation Of Polyamine-Anthracene Conjugates As Dna Ligands: A Potential Anti-Cancer Agent, Khoa T. Nguyen, Sunhwa Joung, Jennifer J. Archer, Otto Phanstiel Iv, Kathryn B. Grant

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Studies Of Hmut Protein In The Heme Uptake Pathway Of Corynebacterium Diphtheriae, Stephanie Thompson, Tiffany Natasha Thompson Apr 2015

Studies Of Hmut Protein In The Heme Uptake Pathway Of Corynebacterium Diphtheriae, Stephanie Thompson, Tiffany Natasha Thompson

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

gsurc 2015


Preliminary Report On The Production Of A Shiga-Like Toxoid Fusion Protein As Associated With Novel Flic Vaccine, Michael Maulin Apr 2015

Preliminary Report On The Production Of A Shiga-Like Toxoid Fusion Protein As Associated With Novel Flic Vaccine, Michael Maulin

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Methods In Extracting Dna: Using Phenol-Chloroform On Formalin Fixed Human Brain Tissue, Stefanie Rigg, Nathaniel Kennedy Apr 2015

Methods In Extracting Dna: Using Phenol-Chloroform On Formalin Fixed Human Brain Tissue, Stefanie Rigg, Nathaniel Kennedy

Undergraduate Research Conference

Genetic markers of diseases can be studied post-mortem with the isolation of DNA from tissues. While protocols exist for DNA extraction from fresh and formalin-fixed-paraffin embedded tissue and formalin fixed hard tissues such as bone, there are no published methods for formalin fixed soft tissue such as brain. Extractions from formalin fixed soft tissues are more difficult due to the higher amount of cellular degradation that results from fixation. The development of efficient DNA extraction protocols for formalin fixed soft tissues will allow post-mortem study of genetic markers and aid in identification of genetic diseases. Existing techniques of phenol-chloroform extraction …


A Rapid And Sensitive High-Throughput Screening Method To Identify Compounds Targeting Protein–Nucleic Acids Interactions, Nicole Alonso, Roboan Guillen Mar 2015

A Rapid And Sensitive High-Throughput Screening Method To Identify Compounds Targeting Protein–Nucleic Acids Interactions, Nicole Alonso, Roboan Guillen

Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

DNA-binding and RNA-binding proteins are usually considered ‘undruggable’ partly due to the lack of an efficient method to identify inhibitors from existing small molecule repositories. Here we report a rapid and sensitive high-throughput screening approach to identify compounds targeting protein–nucleic acids interactions based on protein–DNA or protein–RNA interaction enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (PDI-ELISA or PRI-ELISA). We validated the PDI-ELISA method using the mammalian highmobility- group protein AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) as the protein of interest and netropsin as the inhibitor of HMGA2–DNA interactions. With this method we successfully identified several inhibitors and an activator for HMGA2–DNA interactions from a collection of 29 …


Conformational Kinetics Study Of Mp-11 Using Tims-Ms And Molecular Dynamics, Christopher Harrilal, Jaroslava Miksovska, Emily R. Schenk Mar 2015

Conformational Kinetics Study Of Mp-11 Using Tims-Ms And Molecular Dynamics, Christopher Harrilal, Jaroslava Miksovska, Emily R. Schenk

Undergraduate Research at FIU (URFIU) Conference

In the present work, we studied the conformational kinetics of microperoxidase 11 (MP-11), a digest fragment of cytochrome C that contains 11 amino acids with a covalently attached heme group. In particular, a novel technique recently developed at FIU in collaboration with Bruker Daltonics Inc. combined with theoretical calculation was used for the characterization of MP- 11 conformational space [1-3]. Accurate ion-neutral collision cross sections were measured for all MP-11 generated charge states. Since MP-11 (like cytochrome C) undergoes conformational changes as a function of the solvent state, MP-11 ions were produced by electrospray ionization (ESI) in order to preserve …


The Effects Of Tetracycline And Ibuprofen On Common Duckweed, Lemna Minor, John Von Drasek Feb 2015

The Effects Of Tetracycline And Ibuprofen On Common Duckweed, Lemna Minor, John Von Drasek

2015 Honors Council of Illinois Region Student Symposium

Pharmaceuticals and chemicals are finding their way into drinking water by means of household and industrial sewage. This study explores the effects of two common pharmaceuticals—tetracycline and ibuprofen—on the growth of Common Duckweed, Lemna minor. The number of duckweed per test tube for each treatment was compared after 37 days. Tetracycline was not found to effect clonal growth of duckweed. There was significant difference in duckweed count between the ibuprofen treatment and the control treatment with ibuprofen inhibiting the growth of the duckweed. It is possible that the tetracycline prevented the protein synthesis of any harmful bacteria growing with the …


2015 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Northeastern State University Jan 2015

2015 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Northeastern State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

This document contains all abstracts from the 2015 Oklahoma Research Day held at Northeastern State University.