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Full-Text Articles in Physical Chemistry

Exonuclease Digestion Assay For Streamlining Aptamer Characterization, Engineering, And Sensor Development, Juan Canoura Jun 2022

Exonuclease Digestion Assay For Streamlining Aptamer Characterization, Engineering, And Sensor Development, Juan Canoura

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aptamers are DNA or RNA oligonucleotide-based bioreceptors isolated in vitro through the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment. Given the ease with which a selection can be customized, aptamers can be evolved to function in nearly any chemical environment, making them tailormade for their final application. However, the post-SELEX characterization of the 100-1000’s aptamer candidates remains a significant bottleneck as there are no suitable techniques for high-throughput characterization of each candidate’s affinity/specificity. Moreover, the final aptamer must be engineered to possess signal reporting functionality; this is often done via trail-and-error truncation to yield a structure-switching aptamer. This dissertation describes …


Conformational Dynamics And Stability Associated With Magnesium Or Calcium Binding To Dream In The Regulation Of Interactions Between Dream And Dna Or Presenilins, Khoa Ngoc Pham Jun 2016

Conformational Dynamics And Stability Associated With Magnesium Or Calcium Binding To Dream In The Regulation Of Interactions Between Dream And Dna Or Presenilins, Khoa Ngoc Pham

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM) is involved in various interactions with targets both inside and outside of the nucleus. In the cytoplasm, DREAM interacts with the C-terminal fragments of presenilins to facilitate the production of β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. In the nucleus, Ca2+ free DREAM directly binds to specific downstream regulatory elements of prodynorphin/c-fos gene to repress the gene transcription in pain modulation. These interactions are regulated by Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ association at the EF-hands in DREAM. Therefore, understanding the conformational dynamics and stability associated with Ca2+ and/or Mg2+ binding to DREAM …