Life Sciences Commons^™

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Creb Protein's Neuroplastic Functions And The Implications In Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Possible Link Between Synaptic Plasticity And Neurodegenerative Diseases, Mani Sarmast

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this two-part study, I investigated whether the cyclic-adenosine monophosphate response element-binding (CREB) protein has the potential to be clinically modulated as a therapeutic target for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Part one consisted of a systematic review that was conducted on select articles gathered through a stepwise method to explore (1) the relationship between diseased, neurodegenerative brains and levels of active, phosphorylated CREB (pCREB), (2) increased activation of CREB as a treatment for neurodegenerative symptoms, and (3) a potential therapeutic drug for neurodegenerative diseases that can target CREB signaling. The results of the systematic review showed evidence that suggested …

Investigating The Relationship Between Biological Age And Mutant Huntingtin Misfolding, Ratnesh Kesineni

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Huntington Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by an expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat tract in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. This CAG tract expansion causes production of mutant HTT (mtHTT) protein, which misfolds and forms inclusions in the brain that accumulate with age. Misfolded mtHTT aggregates have been linked with increased cell death in neuron cell culture, leading to speculation that mtHTT aggregates cause cell death. However, there are mouse lines that have robust mtHTT inclusion deposition, but no HD-like signs or neurodegeneration. Furthermore, neuronal HD cultured cells with inclusions were found to be …

The Effect Of Young Blood Anti-Aging Treatment On Protein Markers Of Age And Huntington Disease, Sujena H. Koilpillai

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract within the huntingtin (HTT) protein, forming mutant HTT (mtHTT). HD patients suffer from psychiatric, behavioral, cognitive, and motor abnormalities, with death typically occurring 15-20 years after symptom onset. Currently, there are no treatments able to slow disease progression or delay onset. HD is a disease of aging. Despite the mtHTT protein being produced throughout life, symptoms do not typically appear until adulthood. Furthermore, many cellular effects of normal aging are also seen in HD, including altered intercellular communication and loss of proteostasis. Recently, our lab found …

The Role Of Ms-818 In Altering Age-Related Characteristics Of An In Vitro Model Of Senescence In Neural Stem Cells, Sandeep Sreerama

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Aging of the brain is the leading risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases and brain cancers and has deleterious effects on brain functions. It follows that attempts to reverse the aging process may be therapeutically valuable. Neural stem cells (NSC) have been shown to play a critical role in maintaining brain functions, and their number is severely decreased with age. The development of senescence-like characteristics and declining functions in NSCs have been proposed to be responsible for brain aging and tumorigenesis. MS-818 is a pyrrolopyrimidine that has been shown to increase the NSC population and reverse the decline of behavioral function …

Overview Of Direct Thrombin Inhibitors For Use In Staphylococcus Aereus Infections, Joseph C. Risler

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The pathogenicity and intractable nature of the microorganism Staphylococcus aureus (SA) has been long documented and highlighted by many health care agencies, with emphasis on its ability to exploit the human coagulation system to deadly effect. Two drugs from a class of inhibitors known as Direct Thrombin Inhibitors (DTI) have been shown to have a substantial effect on the enzyme secreted by SA known as Staphylocoagulase (SC), but up until now the application of this potential treatment has been limited. This paper strives to supply an overview of these clinical studies and propose a novel protocol for testing DTI's on …

Targeted Delivery Of A Therapeutic Protein For The Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Heather Holman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction and the underexpression of TOM40, a protein with chaperone-like qualities that is responsible for transporting precursor proteins into the mitochondria. Overexpression of TOM40 is reported to partially restore mitochondrial dysfunction and decrease the accumulation of neurotoxic aggregates of α-synuclein. Our goal is to develop an effective method for delivery of TOM40 protein to the brain.

Previous studies have used lentiviruses to carry TOM40 into the hippocampus of α-synuclein transgenic mice. The disadvantage of lentiviral transfection is the random insertions of the target gene into the host …

The Effect Of K562-Il21-2 Plasma Membrane Particles On The Proliferation Of Natural Killer Cells To Fight Cancer, Michelle Prophete

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Immunotherapy has emerged as a current and future paradigm of cancer treatment, which utilizes the body’s immune system to eradicate cancer. Natural Killer (NK) cells as part of the innate immune system have immense potential in their anti-tumor cytotoxic activities and host cell surveillance properties. NK cells comprise approximately five to fifteen percent of peripheral blood lymphocytes and can be proliferated in vitro using recently developed methods with co-cultures with feeder cells (derived from engineered tumor cells) or plasma membrane (PM) particles, produced from the fore mentioned feeder cells, in combination with soluble cytokines. For efficient growth and maintenance of …

An Rnai Screen To Identify Components Of A Polyamine Transport System, Adam J. Foley

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Polyamines, specifically putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, are small cationic molecules found in all organisms. Cells can biosynthetically make these molecules, or alternatively, they can be transported from the extracellular environment. Malignant cells have been shown to require relatively high amounts of polyamines. There is a chemotherapeutic agent, DFMO, used to block the biosynthesis of polyamines. Many malignant cells can circumvent DFMO therapy by activating their transport system. A potential solution is to simultaneously block biosynthesis and transport of polyamines. However, little is known about the polyamine transport system in higher eukaryotes.

This thesis aims to add to the basic biological …

Vitamin D Clinical Relevance In The Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury Among The Military Population, Yuisa M. Colón

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) still remains a difficult disorder to treat. TBI has been associated to chronic neuroinflammation and a high risk for neurodegenerative disorders. Since 2001 between ten to twenty percent of all deployed military members have suffered a combat-related TBI. Nearly twenty to thirty percent of those will experience chronic cognitive, behavioral and somatic symptoms after suffering a TBI.
Methods: The objective of this review is to evaluate current literature examining vitamin D as a neurosteroid with protective properties and its clinical relevance after traumatic brain injury. Vitamin D is known to participate in neurobiological …

The Effect Of Caffeine On Migraine Headaches, Deborah Shimshoni

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As the most widely consumed drug around the globe, there is a vast array of contradicting research available on caffeine. One of the most debated and researched topics on caffeine is its effect on the brain. Meanwhile, the data on the neurological condition of migraine has information scattered throughout countless research articles and experiments.

Although neither migraine or caffeine are completely understood by the medical world, this analysis attempts to give a more coherent understanding of the relationship between the two. This is done by first understanding the known and theorized mechanisms of caffeine as well as the pathologies of …