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

Effect Of Group Iic Introns On Host Gene Expression In S. Cerevisiae, Daniel P. Bollen May 2016

Effect Of Group Iic Introns On Host Gene Expression In S. Cerevisiae, Daniel P. Bollen

Biological Sciences

Group II introns are self-splicing ribozymes believed to be the evolutionary ancestors to eukaryotic spliceosomal introns. They are found in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic organelles but not in eukaryotic nuclear genomes. Group IIA and IIB introns introduced to nuclei in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are able to transcribe and splice, but post-transcriptionally silence their host genes. It has been shown that both RNA-RNA interactions and pre-mRNA cytoplasmic mislocalization contribute to the silencing of the genes. RNA-RNA interactions include binding between the exon-binding sequences (EBS) in the intron and intron-binding sequences (IBS) in the ligated exons. Group IIC introns contain reduced EBS-IBS sequences …


Study Of Protein-Protein Interaction By Using In-Cell Nmr In Human Cells, Asma Salem M Aldousary Jan 2016

Study Of Protein-Protein Interaction By Using In-Cell Nmr In Human Cells, Asma Salem M Aldousary

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

We developed a new technology to study protein-protein interaction in mammalian cells. This technology is based high resolution of Nucleic Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Using this technology we studied interaction between the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE). RAGE- is a multiligand receptor of immunoglobulin receptor family that is activated by a multitude of ligands. Activation of RAGE results in signal transduction that leads to the inflammatory response implicated in the complications of Diabetes. RAGE is an emergent drug target that has been explored for the variety of pathologist including cancers, neurological disorders, inflammatory disease, and diabetes. and Intracellular effector …


Investigation Of Enzymatically Synthesized Glycogen As A Novel Nanodendrimer For Therapeutic Delivery, Sarah Ann Engelberth Jan 2016

Investigation Of Enzymatically Synthesized Glycogen As A Novel Nanodendrimer For Therapeutic Delivery, Sarah Ann Engelberth

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The field of medicinal chemistry is ever expanding, designing and discovering new therapeutic strategies. Oftentimes, it is challenging for these therapeutics to undergo clinical translation due to ineffective administration or unwanted toxicity in vivo. As such, drug delivery vehicles are designed to overcome these hurdles, allowing for delivery to the site of action by improving biodistribution, protecting therapeutic cargo, and decreasing toxicity. The work presented here aims to investigate a naturally-derived carbohydrate nanodendrimer, enzymatically synthesized glycogen (ESG) for drug delivery. This nontoxic, highly-branched, glucose-based structure has interior void volumes to allow for cargo encapsulation as well as a large density …


The Use Of Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry For The Structural Elucidation Of Progressively Larger Nucleic Acids, Jennifer Lynn Lippens Jan 2016

The Use Of Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry For The Structural Elucidation Of Progressively Larger Nucleic Acids, Jennifer Lynn Lippens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The biomedical community and pharmaceutical industry have come to rely in ever


Restriction And Characterization Of Human Breast Cancer Using A Three-Dimensional Embryonic Stem Cell Model, Bridget Mooney Jan 2016

Restriction And Characterization Of Human Breast Cancer Using A Three-Dimensional Embryonic Stem Cell Model, Bridget Mooney

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Human breast cancer is currently the highest diagnosed form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American women. Triple negative breast cancer is of the basal subtype and displays the worst prognosis owing to its highly metastatic properties. Current treatments focused on eradicating breast tumors in lieu of or following local therapy include chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and targeted therapy. Hormonal therapy is not an option for triple negative breast cancer as it does not contain hormone receptors and there are currently no approved biological targeted therapies. Chemotherapy has proven unsuccessful because triple negative breast cancer is …


Bayesian Signal Detection And Source Separation In Simulated Brain Computer Interface Systems, Muhammad Asim Mubeen Jan 2016

Bayesian Signal Detection And Source Separation In Simulated Brain Computer Interface Systems, Muhammad Asim Mubeen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The problems of signal detection and source separation are important in many fields of science and engineering. In many cases, a target signal needs to be detected in real time and is contaminated by noise. Sometimes the level of noise is on the order of the signal itself. The real time detection of a target signal is of key importance in problems such as the brain computer interface systems. In brain computer interface systems, the neural activity (electric signals) of the brain is detected using sensors (electrodes) on the surface of the brain or the scalp. This signal is contaminated …


The Gammaturc Nanomachine Mechanism And Future Applications, Timothy Riehlman Jan 2016

The Gammaturc Nanomachine Mechanism And Future Applications, Timothy Riehlman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The complexity and precision of the eukaryotic cell’s cytoskeletal network is unrivaled by any man-made systems, perfected by billions of years of evolution, mastering elegant processes of self-assembly, error correction, and self-repair. Understanding the capabilities of these networks will have important and far reaching applications in human medicine by aiding our understanding of developmental processes, cellular division, and disease mechanisms, and through biomimicry will provide insights for biosynthetic manufacturing at the nanoscale and across scales. My research utilizes cross species techniques from Human to the model organism of Fission Yeast to investigate the structure and mechanisms of the g-tubulin ring …


Beta-Sheet Forming Peptides By Design : Control Of Folding And Applications, Gaius Takor Jan 2016

Beta-Sheet Forming Peptides By Design : Control Of Folding And Applications, Gaius Takor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The focus of the present research is the synthesis of polypeptides for the study of protein folding and misfolding and for the development of novel polypeptide-based optical antennas in nanotechnology. It is hypothesized that simple polypeptides can be used as models to mimic in vivo folding of globular proteins. Desired repetitive polypeptides were genetically encoded and expressed in E. coli using conventional methods and characterized using a variety of spectroscopic (including circular dichroism (CD), deep UV resonance Raman (DUVRR), UV-vis and fluorescence) and microscopic (atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)) techniques. The polypeptides predominantly formed bilayer, fibrillar …


A Survey Of The Current Drug Screening Techniques To Obtain Rational Design And Study Drug-Target Interactions, Stephen Dansereau Jan 2016

A Survey Of The Current Drug Screening Techniques To Obtain Rational Design And Study Drug-Target Interactions, Stephen Dansereau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Different techniques have been developed over the years for the purpose of studying proteins and understanding their functions. Early techniques typically employed bioluminescence or fluorescence such such as the firefly protein luciferase and the jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP), respectively, to localize proteins within the cell. X-ray crystallography has also provided valuable structural details of many different proteins in vitro. Yet, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy offers the most realistic insight into proteins' physiologic structures and how proteins function in their native, cellular environments.


The Chemistry Of New Garlic-Derived Organosulfur Compounds And The Molecular Basis Of Olfaction, Berenice Dethier Jan 2016

The Chemistry Of New Garlic-Derived Organosulfur Compounds And The Molecular Basis Of Olfaction, Berenice Dethier

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Garlic is a very popular condiment that has been used around the world for centuries. It is also a source of a remarkably extensive range of organosulfur compounds, whose chemistry is the focus of this thesis. The central reaction in formation of these compounds is the enzymatic cleavage of alk(en)yl cysteine sulfoxides by alliinases, which leads to sulfenic acids. The latter can then undergo condensation and rearrangement into various organosulfur compounds. Three aspects of the chemistry of garlic have been investigated in this thesis.