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Full-Text Articles in Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

Identification And Molecular Analysis Of Dna In Exosomes, Jena Tavormina Dec 2019

Identification And Molecular Analysis Of Dna In Exosomes, Jena Tavormina

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Exosomes are heterogeneous nanoparticles 50-150nm in diameter. Exosomes contain many functional cargo components, such as protein, DNA, and RNA. While protein and RNA exosome content has been extensively studied, very little work has been done to characterize exosomal DNA. Here, we demonstrate that exosomal DNA is heterogeneous and its packaging into exosomes is dependent on the cell of origin. Furthermore, through a rigorous assessment of various isolation methods, we identify Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) as the best method for the isolation of exosomal DNA for downstream applications. Additionally, we evaluate the methylation status of exosomal DNA and demonstrate that exosomal …


Multimodality Somatostatin Analog For Fluorescence-Guided Surgery In Cancer, Servando Hernandez Vargas May 2019

Multimodality Somatostatin Analog For Fluorescence-Guided Surgery In Cancer, Servando Hernandez Vargas

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Cancer surgery remains the primary curative treatment for most solid cancers and has major therapeutic implications for patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Anatomical and functional imaging technologies are widely used during the pre- and postoperative stages, but intraoperative disease recognition relies on direct visual inspection and the hands of surgeons. The limited number of clinical tools for real-time intraoperative visual feedback restricts the ability to remove the complete cancer source and is partially responsible for the high rate of disease recurrence in patients. Intraoperative imaging with fluorescent contrast agents has the potential to improve the ability of surgeons to detect …