Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Identification And The Significance Of Selective Proteins In Bile And Plasma Of Normal And Health-Compromised Chickens, Balamurugan Packialakshmi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the last 50 years, animal breeding programs in commercial poultry have made significant progress in the bodyweight gain of broilers but led to several metabolic and skeletal disorders. Lameness associated with proximal femur known as femoral head separation (FHS) or femoral head necrosis (FHN) is one of the major metabolic disorders in poultry industry. In order to select for healthy chickens, markers that can distinguish between healthy and affected birds are required. Biomarkers from blood represent an ideal and rich source of markers which can be obtained using minimally invasive methods. The biomarkers were explored in an experimental model …

Analysis Of Tyrosine And Its Halogenated Forms And Tripeptide –Metal Ion Clusters Using Mass Spectrometry, Bharathi Gannamani

All Capstone Projects

Chapter 1:

The aim of this research project was to measure the differences in proton affinities of tyrosine and its halogenated forms, 3-chlorotyrosine and 3-iodotyrosine. Tandem mass spectrometry was used here to measure the proton affinities. These amino acids were formed as protonated dimers with amino acids of known proton affinity and were introduced into the instrument through electrospray ionization (ESI). Based on the intensities of the protonated amino acids appeared in the mass spectrum when the dimer was isolated and fragmented, the proton affinities of the sample amino acids were calculated.

Chapter 2:

The research project was on mass …

Mass Spectrometric Characterization And Imaging Of Nanoparticles In Biological Samples, Bo Yan

Doctoral Dissertations

Nanoparticles (NPs) are being investigated widely for use in biomedical applications such as imaging, drug delivery, and cancer therapy due to their small size and readily tunable properties. The ability to accurately characterize NPs and monitor their spatial distributions is highly desirable for effective use of NPs and evaluation of their potential adverse environmental, health, and safety effects. In this dissertation, a simple, fast, and sensitive method based on laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) to characterize and track NPs in biological systems has been developed. This method is especially well suited for characterizing core-shell structured NPs, such as quantum dots …

Structural Studies Of Bile Salt Aggregation By Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy And Mass Spectrometry, Nicholas Doyle

Master’s Theses

Bile salts are biomolecules that are produced in the liver and are responsible for a range of functions in the process of digestion, primarily the emulsification of dietary fat and fat-soluble vitamins. Despite their importance in biological chemistry, the structure and dynamics of bile salt aggregation are not well understood. The efforts described herein attempt to enhance the understanding of cholate aggregation numbers (AN), critical micelle concentration (CMC), micellar structure(s), and interactions with a binaphthyl probe molecule. Cholate is the most common bile salt in mammals and is, therefore, a decent model for describing bile salt aggregation. CMC determination is …

Quantitative Mass Spectrometric Investigations Of Protein Biomarkers: Serum Thymidine Kinase 1 And Human Osteopontin, Morse Faria

Theses and Dissertations

Mass spectrometry is being increasingly used in biomarker research mainly due to its ability to achieve high selectivity coupled with high sensitivity. This dissertation focuses on quantitative mass spectrometric investigations of two protein biomarkers i.e. serum thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) and human osteopontin (OPN).

First part of this research was focused on developing a liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for measuring the activity of TK1 in serum by monitoring the conversion of a TK1 specific exogenous substrate, 3’-deoxy-3’-fluorothymidine (FLT), to its mono-phosphorylated form 3’-deoxy-3’-fluorothymidine monophosphate (FLT-MP). A method to quantify FLT-MP on LC-MS/MS was developed and …

Application Of Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction Thermal Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry For The Study Of Water Accommodated Fractions Of Fossil Fuels And Biodiesel, Ricardo Mccreary

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Even though measures are taken to decrease accidental release of crude oil and refined fuels into the aquatic environment, continued demand of such fuels--particularly in the transportation sector--pose a continued threat to the aquatic environment throughout their handling, processing, and consumption. Even though measures can be taken to remove the visible layers of fuel in water, it has been shown that constituents of these fuels--that partition into water--can have adverse health effects on the aquatic organisms at low concentrations that are not necessarily predictable through the study of the actual fuel's original composition. Consequently, this renders the need for an …