Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Antifungal Defense Molecules From Bacterial Symbionts Of North American Trachymyrmex Ants, Georgia Scherer

CMC Senior Theses

Defensive symbioses, in which microbes provide molecular defenses for an animal host, hold great potential as untapped sources of therapeutically useful antibiotics. Fungus-growing ants use antifungal defenses from bacterial symbionts to suppress pathogenic fungi in their nests. Preliminary chemical investigations of symbiotic bacteria from this large family of ants have uncovered novel antifungal molecules with therapeutic potential, such as dentigerumycin and selvamicin.

In this study, the bacterial symbionts of North American Trachymyrmex fungus-growing ants are investigated for antifungal molecules. Plate-based bioassays using ecologically-relevant fungal pathogens confirmed that these bacteria have antifungal activity. In order to purify and identify the antifungal …

Giardia Lamblia Growth In Viscoelastic Fluids, Kelly Watanabe

CMC Senior Theses

Giardia lamblia is a single-celled protozoan parasite that when ingested, causes diarrheal disease and infects 33% of people in developing countries. Previous studies observe Giardia in water-like fluids, but Giardia's infectious environment consists of viscoelastic mucus in the small intestine. Therefore, Giardia was cultured in viscoelastic fluids, and its population growth was observed in vitro. To create shear-thinning viscoelastic fluids, 0.2% and 0.4% long-chain polyacrylamide (LCPAM) was added to cell culture media. Giardia was cultured in control media, 0.2% LCPAM, and 0.4% LCPAM, and population growth was quantitatively determined over time. Increasing LCPAM concentration resulted in a solution with …

Preventing Mother-To-Child Transmission Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (Hiv-1): Effects Of Intrapartum And Neonatal Single-Dose Nevirapine Prophylaxis And Subsequent Hiv-1 Drug Resistance At Antiretroviral Treatment Initiation, Amanda L. Harmon

CMC Senior Theses

The prevention of mother-to-child transmission is one of the most powerful tools in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) prevention and has huge potential to improve both maternal and child health. In the absence of any preventative measures, infants born to and breastfed by their HIV-positive mothers have roughly a one-in-three chance of acquiring the infection themselves. HIV can be passed on from mother-to-child during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, and even after during breastfeeding.

Intrapartum and neonatal single-dose nevirapine (sd-NVP) is the foundation of preventing mother-to-child transmission in lower resource settings where it has been used alone or as …