Life Sciences Commons^™

Targeted And Controlled Anticancer Drug Delivery And Release With Magnetoelectric Nanoparticles, Alexandra Rodzinski

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major challenge of cancer treatment is successful discrimination of cancer cells from healthy cells. Nanotechnology offers multiple venues for efficient cancer targeting. Magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENs) are a novel, multifaceted, physics-based cancer treatment platform that enables high specificity cancer targeting and externally controlled loaded drug release. The unique magnetoelectric coupling of MENs allows them to convert externally applied magnetic fields into intrinsic electric signals, which allows MENs to both be drawn magnetically towards the cancer site and to electrically interface with cancer cells. Once internalized, the MEN payload release can be externally triggered with a magnetic field. MENs uniquely allow …

Profiling Populations Using Neutral Markers, Major Histocompatibility Complex Genes And Volatile Organic Compounds As Modeled In Equus Caballus Linnaeus, Ketaki Deshpande

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assessing the genetics of wild animal populations aims to understand selective pressures, and factors whether it be inbreeding or adaptation, that affect the genome. Although numerous techniques are available for assessing population structure, a major obstacle in studying wild populations is obtaining samples from the animals without having to capture them, which can lead to undue distress and injury. Therefore, biologists often use non-invasive sampling methods (i.e., collection of feces, hair) to extract host DNA. In this study, new DNA extraction protocols were developed that improved the quality and quantity of DNA obtained from fecal matter. Fecal samples aged up …

Medicinal Plants Of Trinidad And Tobago: Selection Of Antidiabetic Remedies, Angelle L. Bullard-Roberts

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of non-infectious diseases that cause hyperglycemia. DM symptoms were first clinically described by ancient Greek physicians whose prescriptions included plant-based remedies. Today, DM affects >400 million people globally and prevalence rates are rapidly increasing in developing countries where basic healthcare relies on local knowledge of botanical remedies. Many developing countries are home to diverse peoples and plants—providing fodder for varied plant-selection strategies and unique botanical pharmacopoeias.

I addressed the plant-selection strategies used in a multi-ethnic, developing country, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), to ascertain their role in shaping the local antidiabetic pharmacopoeia and to assess …

The Degradation Of Pharmaceutical Pollutants In Wastewater Catalyzed By Chloroperoxidase And The Construction Of Chloroperoxidase H105r Mutant, Qinghao He

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trace amounts of pharmaceuticals have been detected in water, from nanograms per liter to micrograms per liter, and have a negatively effect in the aquatic environment and an increased potential risk of drug poisoning for human and animals. In order to address the problem, drug degradation catalyzed by chloroperoxidase (CPO) has been investigated. CPO is a heme-containing glycoprotein secreted by the fungus, Caldariomyces fumago, it catalyzes two major types of oxidations, two one-electron oxidations as catalyzed by most peroxidases and two-electron oxidations which are rare for conventional peroxidases.

Five common drugs from a variety of classes which were persistent in …

Conformational Dynamics And Stability Associated With Magnesium Or Calcium Binding To Dream In The Regulation Of Interactions Between Dream And Dna Or Presenilins, Khoa Ngoc Pham

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) is involved in various interactions with targets both inside and outside of the nucleus. In the cytoplasm, DREAM interacts with the C-terminal fragments of presenilins to facilitate the production of β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. In the nucleus, Ca²⁺ free DREAM directly binds to specific downstream regulatory elements of prodynorphin/c-fos gene to repress the gene transcription in pain modulation. These interactions are regulated by Ca²⁺ and/or Mg²⁺ association at the EF-hands in DREAM. Therefore, understanding the conformational dynamics and stability associated with Ca²⁺ and/or Mg²⁺ binding to DREAM …

Extraction, Purification And Partial Characterization Of A Carotenoid Binding Protein (Cbp) From The Epidermis Of The Monarch Butterfly Larvae (Danaus Plexippus), Nan Fang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the purification and partial characterization of CBP from the epidermis of the monarch butterfly larvae (Danaus plexippus). A yellow protein-carotenoid complex was extracted from the yellow pigmented epidermal tissue from monarch butterfly larvae by homogenization. Additional steps in the purification process included differential precipitation with ammonium sulfate, cation and anion chromatography, and lastly size exclusion chromatography. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrates that a single protein was isolated (M-LBP) having a ~60 kDa molecular weight, the value has subsequently been confirmed by HR-tandem MS. Lutein is the sole carotenoid bound by M-LBP with a stoichiometry of the …

Conjugated Polymer-Based Biomaterials Through Controlled Self-Assembly, Megan Twomey

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Synthetic polymeric materials have gained significant use as biological materials (biomaterials) in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. As a result, a demand for well-defined polymers with tunable properties has emerged. The synthetic versatility of polymeric biomaterials allows the opportunity to understand the structure-property relationship of materials and their cellular interactions. A novel class of polymeric biomaterials are conjugated polymers (CPs), which possess desirable physicochemical and excellent photophysical properties, including inherent fluorescence. The synthetic versatility of CPs allows easy modification of the conjugated backbone to tune emission and side chain structures to adjust biocompatibility through increased water solubility, controlled biodegradability, and incorporation …