Biotechnology Commons^™

The Effect Of Transient Hmg-Coa Reductase And 1-Deoxy-D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase Overexpression On Terpene Production In Transgenic Tomato Fruits, Scott A. Gentry, Michael Gutensohn, Laura Henry, Natalia Dudareva

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Isoprenoids are secondary metabolites that control numerous plant functions including signaling, growth, photosynthesis, and membrane structure. The bioengineering of isoprenoid synthesis could produce plants with a variety of beneficial traits. Plants form isoprenoids using two different pathways, the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and the methylerithritol phosphate (MEP) pathway, which cooperate via metabolic cross-talk. Transgenic tomato lines expressing both the plastidic and cytosolic forms of the snapdragon nerolidol/linalool terpene synthase under a fruit ripening specific promoter were transiently transformed to overexpress key enzymes in the two isoprenoid pathways. Hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is the rate limiting enzyme in the MVA pathway that …

Applications And Improvements In The Molecular Modeling Of Protein And Ligand Interactions, Jason Bret Harris

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding protein and ligand interactions is fundamental to treat disease and avoid toxicity in biological organisms. Molecular modeling is a helpful but imperfect tool used in computer-aided toxicology and drug discovery. In this work, molecular docking and structural informatics have been integrated with other modeling methods and physical experiments to better understand and improve predictions for protein and ligand interactions. Results presented as part of this research include:

1.) an application of single-protein docking for an intermediate state structure, specifically, modeling an intermediate state structure of alpha-1-antitrypsin and using the resulting model to virtually screen for chemical inhibitors that can …

Construction And Characterization Of Non-Toxic Bacterial Enterotoxins As Vaccine Adjuvants, Lavanya Vempati

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The development of adjuvants that can promote the delivery of purified subunit vaccines by mucosal routes, such as the nose or the mouth, is recognized as a top priority for vaccine research. The bacterial enterotoxins; cholera toxin (CT) and E.coli heat-labile toxin (LTI), have long been recognized as powerful adjuvants with the ability to stimulate specific immune responses to co-administered antigens when delivered to mucosal surfaces. Shiga toxin 1 (ST1) and pertussis toxin (PT) are structurally homologous bacterial toxins secreted by Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and Bordetella pertussis respectively. ST1 and PT also have reported adjuvant activity but it is less …

Self-Assembled Gold Nanoplexes For Cancer-Targeted Sirna Delivery, Yongliang Shi

Master's Theses

Through layer-by-layer method, the authors have constructed three Au nanoplexes: AuPEI/RNA/PEI, AuPEI/RNA/PEI-mPEG, and AuPEI/NA/PEI-PEG-FA. All the nanoplexes are characterized by UV-vis spectrometry, DLS, and zeta potential. The surface density of the first layer PEI and second layer RNA were also determined. Moreover, the Au nanoplexes can protect siRNA from RNase degradation and are stable in cell culture medium.

siGLuc-ppp, ssRNA₈₀, and siF17 were delivered by the assembled Au nanoplexes, and the results were analyzed by GLuc assay, TB assay, and Luciferase assay. In terms of RNA delivery, the Au nanoplexes AuPEI/RNA/PEI exhibited excellent gene silencing efficiency (or causing …

Strategies To Sensitize Bladder Cancer Cells To Small Molecule Inhibitors Targeting The Pi3k Pathway, Giovanni Nitti

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

After many years of cancer research, it is well accepted by the scientific community that the future cure for this disease lies in a personalized therapeutic approach. Anticipating therapeutic outcome based on the genetic signature of a tumor has become the new paradigm. The PI3K pathway represents an ideal target for bladder cancer, as many of the key proteins of this pathway are altered or mutated in this particular type of cancer. Several small molecule inhibitors have been developed to target this pathway, but their efficacy has been shown to be heterogeneous among different cell lines and mostly cytostatic but …

Potential And Technological Advancement Of Biofuels, Rajee Olaganathan, Fabian Ko Qui Shen, Lim Jun Shen

Publications

This scientific paper examines the feasibility of biofuels as a solution to the world‟s energy crisis. It studies the development of the four different generations of biofuel that have been discerned over the years, determining the pros and cons of each. The paper further investigates the issues concerning each generation, and determines how their successors have solved and improved on those problems. In order to give the reader an unbiased perspective, the paper studies both general advantages and disadvantages that encompasses social, economic and environmental impacts. Research and development on the first two generations of biofuels have matured, and case …

Characterization Of A Recently Purified Thermophilic Dnase From A Novel Thermophilic Fungus, Kyle Landry, Robert Levin

Kyle S Landry

Metagenomic Identification Of A Novel Salt Tolerance Gene From The Human Gut Microbiome Which Encodes A Membrane Protein With Homology To A Brp/Blh-Family Beta-Carotene 15,15'-Monooxygenase, Eamonn P. Culligan, Roy D. Sleator, Julian R. Marchesi, Colin Hill

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

The human gut microbiome consists of at least 3 million non-redundant genes, 150 times that of the core human genome. Herein, we report the identification and characterisation of a novel stress tolerance gene from the human gut metagenome. The locus, assigned brpA, encodes a membrane protein with homology to a brp/blh-family β-carotene monooxygenase. Cloning and heterologous expression of brpA in Escherichia coli confers a significant salt tolerance phenotype. Furthermore, when cultured in the presence of exogenous β-carotene, cell pellets adopt a red/orange pigmentation indicating the incorporation of carotenoids in the cell membrane.

Experimental Demonstration Of Bindingless Signal Delivery In Human Cells Via Microfluidics, Fang-Tzu Chuang

Fang-Tzu Chuang

The cellular signal transduction is commonly believed to rely on the direct “contact” or “binding” of the participating molecule reaction that depends positively on the corresponding molecule concentrations. In living systems, however, it is somewhat difficult to precisely match the corresponding rapid “binding,” depending on the probability of molecular collision, existing in the cellular receptor-ligand interactions. Thus, a question arises that if there is another mechanism (i.e., bindingless) that could promote this signal communication. According to this hypothesis, we report a cellular model based on the examination of intracellular calcium concentration to explore whether the unidentified signal delivery in cells …

Concepts Of Cancer And A Novel Cancer Therapy: Treating Tumors As An Aggressive Organ, Stephen J. Beebe

Bioelectrics Publications

No abstract provided.

Affluent Populations And Their Effect On Biological Diversity Through The Consumption Of Meat, Electronics, And Motor Vehicles, Melody Flores

Honors College Theses

The human has caused a far greater impact on the planet's biodiversity than any other species in existence, due to the impact of population, afflluence, and technology. This thesis will argue the importance of biological diversity and how affluent populations are reducing biodiversity through the consumption of meat, electronics, and motor vehicles. Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic" and Herman Daly's "The Impossibility Theorem", among others, create a rubric evaluating human activities and provide alternative views on economic impossibilities. Consumption is reviewed from an ecocentric perspective, a holistic outlook placing emphasis on the ecosystem. The reader will become cognizant of their …

Plasmonic Optical Sensors: Performance Analysis And Engineering Towards Biosensing, Peipei Jia

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing for quantitative analysis of chemical reactions and biological interactions has become one of the most promising applications of plasmonics. This thesis focuses on performance analysis for plasmonic sensors and implementation of plamonic optical sensors with novel nanofabrication techniques.

A universal performance analysis model is established for general two-dimensional plasmonic sensors. This model is based on the fundamental facts of surface plasmon theory. The sensitivity only depends on excitation light wavelength as well as dielectric properties of metal and dielectrics. The expression involves no structure-specified parameters, which validates this formula in broad cases of periodic, quasiperiodic …

A Magnetic Compass Aids Monarch Butterfly Migration, Robert Gegear, Patrick Guerra, Steven Reppert

Robert J. Gegear

Convincing evidence that migrant monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) use a magnetic compass to aid their fall migration has been lacking from the spectacular navigational capabilities of this species. Here we use flight simulator studies to show that migrants indeed possess an inclination magnetic compass to help direct their flight equatorward in the fall. The use of this inclination compass is light-dependent utilizing ultraviolet-A/blue light between 380 and 420 nm. Notably, the significance of light <420 nm for inclination compass function was not considered in previous monarch studies. The antennae are important for the inclination compass because they appear to contain light-sensitive magnetosensors. For migratory monarchs, the inclination compass may serve as an important orientation mechanism when directional daylight cues are unavailable and may also augment time-compensated sun compass orientation for appropriate directionality throughout the migration.

Fabrication, Rheology And Antioxidant Activity Of Palm Esters-Based Emulsions Loaded With Tocotrienol, Ng S.H, Mahiran B, Zahariyah I

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Palm oil esters are wax esters derived from palm oil and oleyl alcohol. Palm oil esters have many applications due to their luxurious moisturizing properties, non-greasy and blend easily with fragrances and colours when applied on skin surface. The aim of this research was to fabricate palm esters-based emulsions cream for topical delivery, characterise the rheological properties and in vitroantioxidant activity of the palm esters-based emulsions system. Emulsions containing palm oil esters loaded with tocotrienol were obtained in two stages, with propagation of rotor-stator at 6000 r.p.m. for 5 min and further emulsified using an ultrasound at various acoustic amplitudes …

Cigarette Smoking Among Male Teenagers In Malaysia ― A Narrative Review, Dioso R.Iii P

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

This narrative review of a contemporary healthcare issue focuses on strategies and healthcare initiatives to curtail the increasing prevalence of active cigarette smoking among male teenagers in Malaysia — a mission of the Malaysian Millennium Development Goal and the United Nations Development Programmes on all health sectors. This narrative review analysed global and Malaysian views on cigarette smoking.

Forecsting Of Hydrological Time Series Data With Lag-One Markov Chain Model, Malek M. A, Baki A.M

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Planning and operation are important elements in water resource management. Rainfall forecasting is one of the conducts commonly used to extend the lead-time for catchments with short response time. However, it is difficult to obtain a high degree of accuracy in rainfall forecasting using deterministic models. Therefore, a probability-based rainfall forecasting model, based on Markov Chain provided a better alternative due to its ability to preserve the basic statistical properties ofthe original series. This method was especially useful in the absence of long-term recorded data, a rampant phenomenon in Malaysia. Comparison of statistics in the generated synthetic rainfall data against …

Assessment Attributes On Effective Construction Management For Property Developers In Malaysia, Norizam Ayob, Malek M.A, Mohamad I

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Property developers are financially capable of running construction projects. Nevertheless, in Malaysia it was found that many of these construction practitioners failed to provide effective construction management which affected society. The success of a project and its Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are considered as tools to improve the effectiveness of project management. Eventhough many researchers have conducted studies on CSFs, the use of CSFs has remained ambiguous. The main objective of this study is to validate the proposed assessment attributes obtained from the property developers based on CSFs. A questionnaire survey was conducted to validate this predeterminedattributes. Comparison was made …

Pd(Ii) Complexes With Nitrogen-Oxygen Donor Ligands: Synthesis, Characterization And Catalytic Activity For Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reaction, Amalina M.T, Hadariah B, Karimah K, Nazihah W.I.W

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Inexpensive bidentate Schiff base ligands (O1, O3) and their Pd(II) complexes (OPd1, OPd3) were successfully synthesized and characterized using CHN elemental analysis, FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR, melting point determination, molar conductivity and magnetic moment. It revealed that these Schiff bases behaved as bidentate ligands in their complexes. The spectral data indicated that the ligands co-ordinated through the phenolic oxygen and the azomethine nitrogen atoms. Magnetic momentdata suggested the existence of square planar Pd(II) complexes, while non-electrolytic behaviour indicated the absence of counter ions in chloroform. The Pd(II) complexes showed good catalytic activities for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction between iodobenzene with …

Antibody-Drug Gold Nanoantennas With Raman Spectroscopic Fingerprints For In Vivo Tumour Theranostics., Joao Conde, Chenchen Bao, Daxiang Cui, Pedro V. Baptista, Furong Tian

Articles

Inspired by the ability of SERS nanoantennas to provide an integrated platform to enhance disease targeting in vivo, we developed a highly sensitive probe for in vivo tumoral recognition with the capacity to target specific cancer biomarkers such as epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on human cancer cells and xenograft tumour models. Here, we used ~90 nm gold nanoparticles capped by a Raman reporter, encapsulated and entrapped by larger polymers and a FDA antibody-drug conjugate –Cetuximab (Erbitux®) – that specifically targets EGFR and turns off a main signalling cascade for cancer cells to proliferate and survive. These drug/SERS gold nanoantennas …

Tattletales And T-Bow Update 20140602mon, George Mcnamara

George McNamara

Tattletales and T-Bow Update 20140602Mon

http://works.bepress.com/gmcnamara/42

Please see also http://works.bepress.com/gmcnamara/26

Tattletales: multiplex fluorescent protein biosensors by spatial localization with TALE-FPs, Cas9-FPs, ZF-FPs, LacI-FPs, TetR-FPs, etc.

T-Bow: Rainbow T-cells and Tumor cells (and ES cells, iPS cells, other cells and organisms). You can think of this as "Brainbow meets TALENs/Cas9/ZFNs/other DNA sequence specific binding proteins".

If not familiar with Brainbow, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainbow

If not familiar with TALENs, Cas9, etc, see

http://www.addgene.org/genome_engineering/

Big idea: localizing fluorescent proteins - and/or Nano-Lanterns (Take Nagai) - to tandem repeat arrays - is a great way to improve signal to noise ratio compared to the usual …

Developent Of A Phospholipid Encapsulation Process For Quantum Dots To Be Used In Biologic Applications, Logan Grimes

Master's Theses

The American Cancer Society predicts that 1,665,540 people will be diagnosed with cancer, and 585,720 people will die from cancer in 2014. One of the most common types of cancer in the United States is skin cancer. Melanoma alone is predicted to account for 10,000 of the cancer related deaths in 2014. As a highly mobile and aggressive form of cancer, melanoma is difficult to fight once it has metastasized through the body. Early detection in such varieties of cancer is critical in improving survival rates in afflicted patients. Present methods of detection rely on visual examination of suspicious regions …

Biokimia Dan Teknologi Farmasi: Desain Obat Dan Vaksin Dengan Pendekatan Biomedis Molekular, Usman Sumo Friend Tambunan Usft, Arli A. Parikesit Aap

Arli A Parikesit

No abstract provided.

Modeled Impacts Of Cover Crops And Vegetative Barriers On Corn Stover Availability And Soil Quality, Ian J. Bonner, David J. Muth Jr., Joshua B. Koch, Douglas L. Karlen

David J. Muth

Environmentally benign, economically viable, and socially acceptable agronomic strategies are needed to launch a sustainable lignocellulosic biofuel industry. Our objective was to demonstrate a landscape planning process that can ensure adequate supplies of corn (Zea mays L.) stover feedstock while protecting and improving soil quality. The Landscape Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) was used to develop land use strategies that were then scaled up for five U.S. Corn Belt states (Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota) to illustrate the impact that could be achieved. Our results show an annual sustainable stover supply of 194 million Mg without exceeding soil erosion T …

Is Biofuel A Feasible Long-Term Chief Energy Source? A Global Perspective, Rajee Olaganathan, Aston Lee, Debra Tong, Mameegate Zheng Jun Cheston, Zack Ho Xuan Yi

Publications

This scientific paper examines the feasibility of officiating biofuels as the future chief energy source of the world. It weighs the pros and cons of the four different generations of biofuels that have been discovered over time, explaining how the raw materials used in each generation determines each individual level of long-term sustainability. It then further analyses both general advantages and disadvantages, comprising of economic, social, health and environmental impacts; giving the reader an unbiased perspective. Few case studies have also been reviewed to better understand the implications of drawing energy from biofuels, as well as the current state of …

Modeled Impacts Of Cover Crops And Vegetative Barriers On Corn Stover Availability And Soil Quality, Ian J. Bonner, David J. Muth Jr., Joshua B. Koch, Douglas L. Karlen

Douglas L Karlen

Identification Of The Transcriptional Co-Repressor Complex And Its Functions In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Barsha Shrestha

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Trait Selection And Welfare Of Genetically Engineered Animals In Agriculture, Michael Greger

Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

The release of the Final Guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration on the commercialization of genetically engineered animals has sparked renewed discussion over the ethical, consumer, and regulatory implications of transgenesis in animal agriculture. Animal welfare critiques have focused on unexpected phenotypic effects in animals used in transgenic research, rather than on the health and welfare implications of the intended productivity enhancement. Unless breeding goals are redefined to reflect social concerns, the occurrence and magnitude of undesirable side effects may increase and consumer confidence in the nascent technology may be undermined.

Water Water Everywhere: Analyzing Long Island's Water Issues And Finding Solutions For A Sustainable Future, Anthony T. Becker

2014 Student Theses

Over three million people call Long Island their home. With access to beautiful landscapes, world-renowned beaches, and proximity to New York City, it is no wonder that so many proudly call this geographic stretch of glacial till their home. However, throughout the years our actions do not necessarily reflect this affection we have to our home. Years of sprawl and human infestation across the island have resulted in widespread environmental degradation. Specifically, the water we drink and the beaches we enjoy have become endangered. I plan on studying the urban ecology of how intensified population growth led to the eutrophication …

Differential Expression Of Cyclin G2, Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 2c And Peripheral Myelin Protein 22 Genes During Adipogenesis..Pdf, Jibin Zhang, Yeunsu Suh, Young Min Choi, Jinsoo Ahn, Michael E. Davis, Kichoon Lee

Jibin Zhang

How To Lie With (Fda) Statistics, Fred D. Ledley

Natural & Applied Sciences Faculty Publications

The FDA approved 27 new drugs in 2013. Is this a downward trend? Is it an upward trend? Does it suggest that the pharmaceutical industry is failing, or that genomics is finally paying dividends? We revisit Darrell Huff’s 1954 classic How to Lie with Statistics for insights into these pressing questions.