Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Peptide Functionalized Surfactant Msns, Sonia Barrett

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria has become a rising problem since the first antibiotic was created, further aggravated by the improper overuse to treat common infections, because of this pharmaceutical companies must keep making new and stronger antibiotics. Surfactants are plentiful and effective killers of many surface bacteria and are also varied in their structure, all have a hydrophilic head and long hydrophobic carbon chain. These long hydrophobic carbon chains can pierce through the lipid bilayers that make up bacteria cell membranes and cause cytoplasmic leakage and lysis of the cell wall, leading to cell death. One proposed surfactant is synthesized …

Heme Expression From Caulobacter Crescentus In E. Coli, Gloriana Tokgozoglu

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

The focus of my research is to create a clone of a Heme transporter from Caulobacter crescentus and transformed into E. coli OKN359 and fluorescently label it so that it can detect Heme in the environment. This sensor will be combined with others in a fluorescence assay to analyze pathogenic bacteria and identify drugs that are the most effective in inhibiting their iron transport. To do so, I used Gibson cloning and made a hybrid gene, pITS27, that contains a small initial portion of an E.coli gene fepA followed by the full Caulobacter crescentus gene hutA. The initial portion of …

Peptide Conjugation Of Branched Amphiphilic Peptide Capsules, Baltazar Claro-Martinez

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

In recent years, nanocarrier cellular therapy has been a rapidly growing area for research in the treatment of malignant and infectious diseases – most notably cancer. Conventional cancer treatment has consisted of highly toxic, highly insoluble, untargeted delivery of drugs that kill both cancerous and healthy cells. Research in the Tomich lab consists of the synthesis of Branched Amphiphilic Peptide Capsules (BAPCs), which are self-assembling peptide nanospheres composed of one or both of these branched peptide sequences: h5 and h9. These peptides possess similar molecular characteristics of phosphoglycerides but are synthesized chemically within the lab. Previous publications by the Tomich …

Comparison Of Immunohistochemistry Methods For Visualization Of Middle Eastern Respiratory Viral Antigen, Elena Carlos

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), caused by MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Although there have been less than 2,400 cases reported, the case fatality rate is 35%. Dromedary camels are the known host animal for the virus. However, they are difficult to manage experimental animals. In a recent study, alpacas proved to be a suitable experimental animal to further characterize MERS-CoV infection. Our work is part of a wider project focused on studying the efficacy of MERS-CoV antigen and RNA labeling in infected alpaca tissues, when these tissues are preserved in novel modular alcohol fixatives …

Therapeutic Peptide Sequences And Gatekeepers Loaded With Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, Dursitu Hassen

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

The research community is developing and looking into new ways of effectively delivering anti-cancer treatment. According to National Cancer Institute over 1.5 million new cases of cancer are predicted in the United States, just alone in 2018. The major hurdles that have been identified by scientists are finding mechanisms that assist in decreasing the side effects of cancer treatment and to increase the effectiveness of the drug. In our lab, a highly toxic peptide sequence, SA-K₆L₉-AS is encapsulated in MSNs (mesoporous silica nanoparticles) and capped with a gatekeeper. The function of a gatekeeper is preventing the …

Design Of Sensors For In-Vivo Detection Of Cancer Related Enzymes, Laura Soto

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Cancer continues to be among the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2018, there were approximately 9.6 million cancer deaths, just in the United States alone, there were 1.7 million new cancer cases and 600,000 deaths. That is why, there is an urgent need for better ways to battle cancer. Therefore, the goal of this project is to create a nanobiosensor which would have T₁ and T₂ based imaging capabilities to measure cancer enzymatic activity. The diagnostic tool would be useful to differentiate between benign and malignant tumors in-vivo and to quantify the effect of cancer treatments, such …

Developing A Technique Using Peptide And Dye Synthesis For Cancer Research, Vanessa Hernandez

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Developing a Technique Using Peptide and Dye Synthesis for Cancer Research

Vanessa Hernandez, Obdulia Covarrubias Zambrano, Stefan H. Bossmann

Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Kansas State University

Cancer occurs when a mutated single cell continues to divide uncontrollably, developing into one of the 200 different cancer types. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 1.8 million new cases occurring this year. Current cancer detection and treatment techniques are costly and not optimal, due to the lack of cancer specificity as well as early detection achieved in some cancer types. This …

Establishment Of 3-D Human Colorectal Cancer Spheroids, India Barnett

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Three-Dimensional (3D) cell culture plays an important role in cancer biology by providing a life-like microenvironment as a model for drug discovery and treatment. Hydrogels, like many other 3D scaffolds, demonstrate a unique property as matrices for 3D cell culture. The goal of this project is to establish a 3D cell culture for colorectal cancer and apply this 3D model to drug testing. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States with an early detection rate of 39%. Previously, 2D cell culture of human colorectal cancer cells, SW480, was used to determine the efficacy of …

Blockade Of B2 –Gpi Decreases Hypoxic Tissue Damage, Jaymond Kelly

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Blockade of B2 –GPI decreases hypoxic tissue damage

Jaymond D Kelly, Noel Nieto, Anneliese Spence, Dr. Sherry D Fleming

Division of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer that develops in melanocytes, which are skin cells that control pigmentation. Growing melanoma tumors become hypoxic due to outgrowing their blood vessels and lacking oxygen. In other models of hypoxia, the immune system plays a role, in particularly C3 & IgM. C3 complement activation is a part of complement cascade that begins inflammation. It is central to complement activation when the antibody, IgM is present. …

Assessment Of The Potential Use Of Recombinant Baculovirus-Expressed Lassa Virus Nucleoprotein As A Serodiagnostic Antigen, Sahiba Grover

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Lassa virus is an arenavirus causing a disseminated systemic primary viral infection. This virus causes Lassa fever which is a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic in West Africa and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people each year. There is a possibility for the Lassa virus to be introduced into the US and used as a biological weapon with the potential to harm a large-scale population. Because of increasing international travel, a sizeable burden from the disease, and its potential use for biological warfare, it is necessary to develop sensitive diagnostic assays to accurately detect virus infections and mitigate …

The Effectiveness Of A Multi-Disciplinary Fitness And Wellness Program For Increasing Readiness And Resiliency In Army Soldiers, Emanuel Serrano, Phill Vardiman, Lauren Pacinelli

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

INTRODUCTION: Structured exercise intervention has been shown to improve overall fitness performance and decrease injury rates in military soldiers. A recent operation order tasked the Holistic Health and Fitness Initiative committee at Fort Riley, Kansas to decrease the number of Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), Body Composition Test failures, and reduce the number of Musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries. To address these concerns a multi-phase, multidisciplinary fitness program [Fit Nation (FN)]was developed. Phase 1 (P1) of FN focused on introduction to exercise and incorporated high-intensity, low-impact aerobic and anaerobic training. Phase 2 (P2) of FN focused on functional resistive strength development. …

Determining The Role Of Cdr20291_0493 Sporulation Initiation In Clostridium Difficile, Carolina Bueno

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Our lab focuses on the gene regulatory networks of Clostridium difficilesporulation and toxins virulence factors. Spores are the major reason of the disease transmission; this is why it is important to understand how this spores are formed so drugs can be targeted to formation. Our objective is to identify the gene regulatory networks that control sporulation. The candidate target gene we are studying is CDR20291_0493 in C. difficileR20291 strain. We want to understand the role of this gene in sporulation initiation of C.difficile. We first created a mutant of CDR20291_0493 mutant R20291Dto look for sporulation phenotype and …

Production And Purification Of Aromatase For Co-Crystallization, Bryant Avila

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Aromatase (CYP19) is an enzyme that converts androgens into estrogens. It is a drug target to treat hormone-dependent breast cancer, yet current therapeutics often result in patient health deterioration due to unwanted side effects. We want to recombinantly express high yields of stable aromatase to co-crystallize with our new, potent inhibitors. These crystals will be used to produce a 3-D structure to visualize the protein-inhibitor complex. We hope that the structure will help us understand the interactions that are essential for drug potency. We currently produce 1 mg/mL of protein. We hope to increase the stability with mutants A419S, G156A, …

Training Seminar Is Effective At Improving Assessor Confidence Using The Standardized Assessment Of Tackling Technique, Brandon Sand

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Presenter Name: Brandon Sand

Major: Athletic Training (FNDH),

Research Mentor: Scott Dietrich, EdD, LAT, ATC

Context: Head and neck injuries are prevalent in youth and scholastic football, proactively measuring and correcting tackling behavior is necessary.

Objective: This study measures the effectiveness of a training protocol for teaching participants how to use the Standardized Assessment of Tackling Technique (SATT) rubric effectively.

Design: A repeated measures (dependent) t-test compared assessor confidence levels before and after a novel training protocol, using an online survey. Our hypothesis was that pre and post survey means will be significantly different from zero demonstrating higher levels …