Life Sciences Commons^™

Prenylation In The Moss Physcomitrella Patens, Noela Botaka, Susana Perez-Martinez, Liang Bao, Parul Singh, Mark Running

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Protein prenylation is a post-translational modification that involves the addition of lipid groups to the end of a target protein and is necessary for protein activity. Prenylation has important roles in the cell: targeting and localizing proteins to subcellular compartments and promoting protein-protein interactions. Recently, we have found Protein Prenyltransferase Alpha Subunit-like (PPAL), which shares structural similarities to known prenylation enzymes. However, the biochemical function of PPAL is still unknown. PPAL is present in a single copy in other plants examined to date but is present in two copies in moss. Knockouts in our lab of either PpPAL1 or PpPAL2 …

A Crispr Platform For Rapid And Inducible Genome Editing In Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells, Lloyd Bartley

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for about 85% of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death in the world. High mortality rate associated with NSCLC is partially attributed to the limited understanding of NSCLC as well as ineffective therapeutic treatments. The initiation and progression of NSCLC involves genetic changes leading to alterations in the control of tissue development and homeostatic maintenance. Better knowledge about these genetic abnormalities is imperative for developing new chemotherapeutic drugs for NSCLC. Recent research demonstrates that the expression of paraoxonase 2 (PON2), a lactonase/arylesterase with anti-oxidant properties, are markedly enhanced in cancer …

Soil Responses To One-Season Winter Cover Crops, Mckenna Morgan, Iin Handayani

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Soil Responses to One-Season Winter Cover Crops

McKenna Morgan and I. P. Handayani

Hutson School of Agriculture Murray State University, KY, USA

Abstract

In regions like western Kentucky where wooded lots are common there is a growing interest in how to utilize them so that land profits can be maximized. The frequently poor soils in wooded areas due to erosion and lack of ground cover vegetation often cause complications in the creation of pasture areas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the effect of growing winter cover crops on soils to prepare for pasture systems in the …

Consumption Profiles Of Illicit And Neuropsychiatric Drugs In Urban And Rural Communities In Kentucky Using Sewage Epidemiology, Tara Croft, Katelyn Foppe, Rhiannon Huffines, Bikram Subedi

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The drug overdose deaths in the USA increased by ~20% from 2015 to 2016 to the total >63,600 drug overdose deaths in 2016. Kentucky is among the highest rate of drug overdose death states in the USA. The current estimates of the prevalence of substance abuse are based on the self-reported surveys, overdose/toxicological reports, and drug-related crime statistics. Survey-based conventional approaches are not only cost and time-intensive but also underestimate the actual consumption of drugs. As “wastewater never lie,” the drug residues in raw wastewater collected from the centralized wastewater treatment plants were utilized to determine the consumption rate of …

Impact Of Aerobic Compost Tea On Growth Of Lactuca Sativa Within A Peat-Based Growing Media, Ella Potts, Jessica Stoner, Alyx Shultz, Iin Handayani

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Compost and compost tea have been shown in practice to be valuable soil amendments across many horticultural applications; however, little rigorous quantitative work has been completed. Researchers designed a side-by-side trial with two replications to quantifiably study the impact of compost tea on the growth and vigor of soil-grown lettuce. A recycled poultry-litter-based aerobic compost tea was used for the treatment. Six lactuca sativa plants received each treatment or control. Researchers hypothesized the treatment plants would show more vigor and vegetative growth than control. The null hypothesis was treatment plants would be identical to control lettuce. Researchers failed to reject …

Development Of A Pd-L1 Pet Imaging Biomarker, Caleb Jack Bridgwater

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Immunotherapy strategies are very promising treatments for cancer patients. Specifically, Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy focusing on the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway shows long-lasting positive results in many cancer patients. Unfortunately, not all the patients can benefit from this highly effective treatment. Hence, there is a great need for predictive biomarkers. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining has been used as a way of predicting patient response, yet shows many problems. For example, IHC utilizes an invasive biopsy and sample fixing, which creates an incomplete and delayed picture of the patient’s biochemistry and the tumor microenvironment, consequently ignoring metastases.

The purpose of this study is to …

Histone Deacetylation Is The Primary Epigenetic Mechanism For Silencing Of Tumor Suppressor Gene - Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor-2 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells, Alisha Deshmukh, Shirish Barve

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. With a survival rate of less than 5 percent, a therapeutic treatment is desperately needed to manage this disease. Many epigenetic mechanisms that underlay HCC are being identified. A frequently silenced pathway tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a critical tumor suppressor gene. In HCC, inactivation of TFPI-2 leads to tumor growth. Recent research indicated Fas L plays a major role in apoptosis as part of HCC. For the purposes of this study, the phytochemical Curcumin was explored to observe its possible effects on the epigenetic mechanisms …