Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Molecular Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Lymphoid Hematopoiesis And The Role Of B-Cells In Transgenic Mouse Model Of Sickle Cell Disease, Christina Cotte May 2017

Lymphoid Hematopoiesis And The Role Of B-Cells In Transgenic Mouse Model Of Sickle Cell Disease, Christina Cotte

University Scholar Projects

Sickle cell disease (SCD) has been shown to be associated with decreased baseline immunity and thus increased susceptibility to infection. I sought to discern possible causes of this by looking into the correlations between SCD and hematopoiesis, the immune system and the neuroendocrine system, and ultimately by conducting experiments surrounding the impaired immune system of SCD. These experiments focused on the potential causes and effects of the diminution of B-1a cells in the SCD spleen. Adoptive transfers, infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae, and histologic imaging were conducted to establish if the diminution of the B-1a cells in the SCD spleen …


Characterization Of Induced Rnai Silencing Of Vaccinia Virus Essential Genes, Kewa Jiang May 2016

Characterization Of Induced Rnai Silencing Of Vaccinia Virus Essential Genes, Kewa Jiang

University Scholar Projects

Vaccinia virus (VACV) is a large double-stranded DNA virus and the prototypical member of the family Poxviridae and is most notable for its use as the vaccine that eradicated smallpox (variola virus). More recently, VACV has been used to develop recombinant vaccines and immunotherapies. However, many of these processes require VACV replication to be tightly controlled. RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool for in vitro silencing of mRNAs that are complimentary to 19-21 base pairs (bp) of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This project outlines the design and preliminary analysis of two inducible RNAi silencing constructs targeting multiple VACV essential genes …