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The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

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2018

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Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Mass Spectrometry Image Creator (Msic): Ion Mobility / Mass Spectrometry Imaging Workflow In Python, Stephen Creger, Julia Laskin, Daniela Mesa Sanchez Aug 2018

Mass Spectrometry Image Creator (Msic): Ion Mobility / Mass Spectrometry Imaging Workflow In Python, Stephen Creger, Julia Laskin, Daniela Mesa Sanchez

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful characterization technique that enables identification of compounds in complex mixtures. Acquiring mass spectra in a spatially-resolved manner (i.e. over a grid), allows the data to be used to generate images that show the spatial distribution and relative intensities of every compound in a sample. These images can be used to monitor and identify biomarkers, explore the metabolism of compounds within tissues, and much more. However, the limitations of mass spectrometry can result in ambiguous compound identifications. Another characterization tool, ion mobility spectrometry (IM) can be integrated into existing MS routines to address this problem; …


Cost-Effective Paper-Based Diagnostic Using Split Proteins To Detect Yeast Infections, Zachary R. Berglund, Kevin V. Solomon, Mohit S. Verma, Moiz Rasheed, Zachary Hartley, Kevin Fitzgerald, Kok Zhi Lee, Janice Chan, Julianne Dejoie, Makayla Schacht, Alex Zavala Aug 2018

Cost-Effective Paper-Based Diagnostic Using Split Proteins To Detect Yeast Infections, Zachary R. Berglund, Kevin V. Solomon, Mohit S. Verma, Moiz Rasheed, Zachary Hartley, Kevin Fitzgerald, Kok Zhi Lee, Janice Chan, Julianne Dejoie, Makayla Schacht, Alex Zavala

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The common yeast infection, vulvovaginal candidiasis, affects three out of four women throughout their lifetime and can be spread to their child in the form of oral candidiasis (thrush). This disease is caused by the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, which is also a major cause of systemic candidiasis, a rarer but deadly disease with up to a 49% lethality rate. Current widely-used diagnostic methods include cell cultures, pH tests, and antibody detection, to assist effective treatment. Despite availability of various diagnostic methods, there is no inexpensive, rapid, and accurate way to detect C. albicans infection. This project aims to …


Polyrotaxane Variants And Their Effects On The Cholesterol Efflux In Patients Suffering From Niemann Pick Type C, Sydney Smith, Zach Struzik, David Thompson Aug 2018

Polyrotaxane Variants And Their Effects On The Cholesterol Efflux In Patients Suffering From Niemann Pick Type C, Sydney Smith, Zach Struzik, David Thompson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Niemann Pick type C disease (NPC) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder characterized by a progressive accumulation of cholesterol in the late endosomal/lysosomes compartment leading to cellular dysfunction and organ failure. Symptoms include ataxia, dysarthria, cognitive dysfunction, and seizures. Although average life expectancy is below 20, there are no FDA approved treatment available making it a serious unmet medical need. Clinical trials with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) has shown promise in cholesterol normalization within NPC cells. However, HP-beta-CD treatment has been shown to cause ototoxicity in NPC patients at high dosages. Supramolecular complexes known as polyrotaxanes have been synthesized in hopes of …


Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Function Of Microglia Using Small Molecules To Combat Neurodegeneration, Gabrielle C. Williams, Priya Prakash, Gaurav Chopra Aug 2018

Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Function Of Microglia Using Small Molecules To Combat Neurodegeneration, Gabrielle C. Williams, Priya Prakash, Gaurav Chopra

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells that are responsible for maintaining homeostasis in healthy conditions. During injury or infection, resting microglia get activated and produce pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1b, IL-1a, IL-6, etc. along with reactive oxygen species like nitric oxide (NO) to combat neuroinflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inflammation is characterized by the activation of resident-immune cells in the brain called microglia that respond to the eat-me signals released by the toxic amyloid beta peptides as well as the dying neurons in the microenvironment. Recent studies have shown that activated microglia induce neuronal death by secreting …


Tissue Clearing As A Mechanism To Identify Changes In Fibronectin Structure During Breast Cancer Metastasis, Maryam Nuru, Kelsey Hopkins, Luis Solorio Aug 2018

Tissue Clearing As A Mechanism To Identify Changes In Fibronectin Structure During Breast Cancer Metastasis, Maryam Nuru, Kelsey Hopkins, Luis Solorio

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

With metastasis accounting for approximately 90% of breast cancer deaths and an alarming number of over 300,000 new breast cancer cases to be diagnosed by the end of 2018, there is growing need to understand the process of breast cancer. Changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tumor microenvironment play an essential role in this deadly tumor progression. Specifically, the glycoprotein fibronectin (FN), has been identified to be up-regulated in patients with worse clinical outcomes. During tumor progression fibronectin undergoes conformational changes that aid in metastatic dissemination. In order to analyze the dynamic changes in FN expression and evaluate …


Targeting Neuropeptides To Bone Fractures For Accelerated Healing, Nicholas A. Young, Jeffery J. Nielsen, Philip S. Low Aug 2018

Targeting Neuropeptides To Bone Fractures For Accelerated Healing, Nicholas A. Young, Jeffery J. Nielsen, Philip S. Low

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In patients over the age of 65 especially, bone fractures represent a significant disease burden. Non-invasive drug therapies are not available for bone fractures which represents a problem for this population. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP), two neuromodulator peptides in the glucagon superfamily, have demonstrated positive regulation of osteoblast proliferation and activity. Using acidic oligopeptides, we have developed ligands that target to and accumulate at fracture sites. These targeting ligands can be synthesized in sequence with bone anabolic peptides to minimize off target effects and increase potency at the fracture site to create safer and …