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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

From The Headlines: A Textual Analysis Of Social Polarization And Discord In Times Of Pandemic Across A Century In The United States, Alexa Demarco Aug 2022

From The Headlines: A Textual Analysis Of Social Polarization And Discord In Times Of Pandemic Across A Century In The United States, Alexa Demarco

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Within the past century, three major pandemics have affected the United States – the Spanish Flu, AIDS, and COVID-19. Each of these pandemics has tested the capabilities of the public health sector and the social resilience of the population. Scientists have studied the viruses and implemented public health measures to limit viral transmission, but the social responses to these preventative measures proved to be difficult to predict and control. The dissonance and polarization between the public health initiatives and the response of the general public in the most recent pandemic was apparent. Was this a pattern in other pandemics? Was …


Qualitative Proteomic And Genomic Analysis Of Klebsiella Pneumoniae Bacteriophage Kaomega, Emilee Carr Aug 2022

Qualitative Proteomic And Genomic Analysis Of Klebsiella Pneumoniae Bacteriophage Kaomega, Emilee Carr

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae that is a common nosocomial pathogen causing pneumonia, infections in the bloodstream, wound infections, and meningitis. It has developed natural resistance to multiple antibiotics, most notably carbapenems which are often seen as the last line of defense against multi-drug resistant pathogens. Bacteriophages are being investigated as a promising alternative treatment to antibiotics in fighting these resistant pathogens. KaOmega, a Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteriophage, was isolated, sequenced, and annotated to characterize and understand its potential for use in a phage therapy. Characterization included Phyre2 analysis to predict putative protein functions based on structural homology, burst size …


Exploring Melatonin As A Treatment For Oral Ulcers, William H. Sutherland Jun 2022

Exploring Melatonin As A Treatment For Oral Ulcers, William H. Sutherland

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The hormone melatonin is best known for its role in the sleep-wake cycle, but its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects have significant implications that have not been fully explored in oral health. Some studies use melatonin to treat gastrointestinal ulcers, including duodenal ulcers and oral mucositis, but we found no study reporting its effects on more common oral ulcers, like aphthous stomatitis. We hypothesize that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant characteristics of melatonin could effectively prevent and heal oral ulcers. In this paper, we review the literature on melatonin to propose its use as a treatment for oral ulcers. We also include …


Potential Regulation Of Breast Cancer Invasion By Thymidine Kinase 1, Eliza E. Bitter, Rachel M. Morris, Toni O. Mortimer, Kai Barlow, Abigail Schekall, Michelle H. Townsend, Jonathan Skidmore, Brett E. Pickett, Kim L. O'Neill Mar 2022

Potential Regulation Of Breast Cancer Invasion By Thymidine Kinase 1, Eliza E. Bitter, Rachel M. Morris, Toni O. Mortimer, Kai Barlow, Abigail Schekall, Michelle H. Townsend, Jonathan Skidmore, Brett E. Pickett, Kim L. O'Neill

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and is largely treatable within the early stages of the disease. However, patient mortality drastically declines as the tumor begins to invade other tissues and metastasize, making aggressive phenotypes especially problematic to treat. Such treatment typically requires an aggressive and decisive multidisciplinary approach. The recent expansion of immunotherapy as a viable treatment option has greatly improved treatment outcomes, especially with aggressive breast cancer phenotypes. Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is a DNA salvage pathway enzyme that is highly expressed during S phase and involved in cell cycle repair. Past studies indicated that …


The Role Of Cd5 In Cd4+ T Cell Metabolism, Joshua Bennett, Kiara Whitley, Claudia Freitas Phd, Christopher Haynie, Carlos Moreno, Scott Weber Mar 2022

The Role Of Cd5 In Cd4+ T Cell Metabolism, Joshua Bennett, Kiara Whitley, Claudia Freitas Phd, Christopher Haynie, Carlos Moreno, Scott Weber

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

T cells serve a key role in the immunological response in the adaptive system. Different receptors present on the T cell have certain roles and are able to either inhibit or stimulate signaling which consequently regulates the function and metabolism of the cell. CD5 is an inhibitory co receptor expressed on the surface of T cells known to regulate thymocyte selection and TCR signaling . Our goal is to better understand the effects of CD5 regulation in metabolism. Using metabolic flux assays, we found that CD5KO naïve T cells have increased glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration in comparison to wild type …