Chemistry Commons^™

Veratrum Parviflorum Poisoning: Identification Of Steroidal Alkaloids In Patient Blood And Breast Milk, Jared T. Seale, Xinzhu Pu, Owen M. Mcdougal

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction

The Veratrum genus is composed of plants containing a diverse set of steroidal alkaloids. Veratrum plant material has been utilized for centuries as herbal medicines, however the alkaloids have such a low therapeutic index that they are not used in modern medicine. Here we report an incident of inadvertent ingestion of V. parviflorum by hikers in Georgia that allowed detection, and in several instances identification of alkaloids from the plant, and correlated their presence within patient blood and breast milk specimens.

Case history

Eight patients, three male and five female, presented in the spring of 2020 and 2021 with …

Symmetry Breaking Charge Transfer In Dna-Templated Perylene Dimer Aggregates, Katelyn M. Duncan, Donald L. Kellis, Jonathan S. Huff, Matthew S. Barclay, Jeunghoon Lee, Daniel B. Turner, Paul H. Davis, Bernard Yurke, William B. Knowlton, Ryan D. Pensack

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Molecular aggregates are of interest to a broad range of fields including light harvesting, organic optoelectronics, and nanoscale computing. In molecular aggregates, nonradiative decay pathways may emerge that were not present in the constituent molecules. Such nonradiative decay pathways may include singlet fission, excimer relaxation, and symmetry-breaking charge transfer. Singlet fission, sometimes referred to as excitation multiplication, is of great interest to the fields of energy conversion and quantum information. For example, endothermic singlet fission, which avoids energy loss, has been observed in covalently bound, linear perylene trimers and tetramers. In this work, the electronic structure and excited-state dynamics of …

Context And Content Of Teaching Conversations: Exploring How To Promote Sharing Of Innovative Teaching Knowledge Between Science Faculty, Brittnee Earl, Karl Mertens, Susan E. Shadle, John P. Ziker

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Change strategies may leverage interpersonal relationships and conversations to spread teaching innovations among science faculty. Knowledge sharing refers to the process by which individuals transfer information and thereby spread innovative ideas within an organization. We use knowledge sharing as a lens for identifying factors that encourage productive teaching-related conversations between individuals, characterizing the context and content of these discussions, and understanding how peer interactions may shape instructional practices. In this study, we interview 19 science faculty using innovative teaching practices about the teaching-focused conversations they have with diferent discussion partners.

Results: This qualitative study describes characteristics of the relationship …

Veratrum Parviflorum: An Underexplored Source For Bioactive Steroidal Alkaloids, Jared T. Seale, Owen M. Mcdougal

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Plants of the Veratrum genus have been used throughout history for their emetic properties, rheumatism, and for the treatment of high blood pressure. However, inadvertent consumption of these plants, which resemble wild ramps, induces life-threatening side effects attributable to an abundance of steroidal alkaloids. Several of the steroidal alkaloids from Veratrum spp. have been investigated for their ability to antagonize the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, a key pathway for embryonic development and cell proliferation. Uncontrolled activation of this pathway is linked to the development of various cancers; most notably, basal cell carcinoma and acute myeloid leukemia. Additional investigation of Veratrum …

Photocrosslinking Probes Proximity Of Thymine Modifiers Tethering Excitonically Coupled Dye Aggregates To Dna Holliday Junction, Shibani Basu, Keitel Cervantes-Salguero, Bernard Yurke, William B. Knowlton, Jeunghoon Lee, Olga A. Mass

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A DNA Holliday junction (HJ) has been used as a versatile scaffold to create a variety of covalently templated molecular dye aggregates exhibiting strong excitonic coupling. In these dye-DNA constructs, one way to attach dyes to DNA is to tether them via single long linkers to thymine modifiers incorporated in the core of the HJ. Here, using photoinduced [2 + 2] cycloaddition (photocrosslinking) between thymines, we investigated the relative positions of squaraine-labeled thymine modifiers in the core of the HJ, and whether the proximity of thymine modifiers correlated with the excitonic coupling strength in squaraine dimers. Photocrosslinking between squaraine-labeled thymine …

Fortilin Interacts With Tgf-Β1 And Prevents Tgf-Β Receptor Activation, Decha Pinkaew, Erik Martinez-Hackert, Wei Jia, Matthew D. King, Fei Miao, Nicole R. Enger, Runglawan Silakit, Kota Ramana, Shi-You Chen, Ken Fujise

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fortilin is a 172-amino acid multifunctional protein present in both intra- and extracellular spaces. Although fortilin binds and regulates various cellular proteins, the biological role of extracellular fortilin remains unknown. Here we report that fortilin specifically interacts with TGF-β1 and prevents it from activating the TGF-β1 signaling pathway. In a standard immunoprecipitation-western blot assay, fortilin co-immunoprecipitates TGF-β1 and its isoforms. The modified ELISA assay shows that TGF-β1 remains complexed with fortilin in human serum. Both bio-layer interferometry and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) reveal that fortilin directly bind TGF-β1. The SPR analysis also reveals that fortilin and the TGF-β receptor II …

Expression And Purification Of A Cleavable Recombinant Fortilin From Escherichia Coli For Structure Activity Studies, Maranda S. Cantrell, Jackson D. Wall, Xinzhu Pu, Matthew Turner, Luke Woodbury, Owen M. Mcdougal, Lisa R. Warner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complications related to atherosclerosis account for approximately 1 in 4 deaths in the United States and treatment has focused on lowering serum LDL-cholesterol levels with statins. However, approximately 50% of those diagnosed with atherosclerosis have blood cholesterol levels within normal parameters. Human fortilin is an anti-apoptotic protein and a factor in macrophage-mediated atherosclerosis and is hypothesized to protect inflammatory macrophages from apoptosis, leading to subsequent cardiac pathogenesis. Fortilin is unique because it provides a novel drug target for atherosclerosis that goes beyond lowering cholesterol and utilization of a solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, structure-based drug discovery approach requires milligram …