Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Molecular Biogeochemistry Of A Poor Fen, Zhimin Song

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Variations in climate may rapidly change the carbon balance of peatlands and increase greenhouse gas emissions through accelerated decomposition of peat and dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this study, porewater samples were collected monthly from May to October in 2017 to study the effects of plant functional groups (PFGs) on DOM, dissolved inorganic and organic nitrogen through the season in a poor fen with replicate plots dominated by different PFGs in Nestoria, Michigan, USA (46.34˚N 88.16˚W). The composition of the peat porewater showed strong statistical significance with plot type and season.The observed PFG and season impact on the composition of …

Targeting Metastatic Breast Cancer With Statin Drugs And Coq10, Jacob Thrasher

Honors Theses

Statin drugs are commonly prescribed to lower cholesterol levels in patients, but recently statins have been under investigation as a potential anti-cancer drug. Statins are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and subsequently inhibit the mevalonate pathway and cholesterol synthesis. Since cholesterol trafficking is vital in the growth and metastasis of cancer, statin drugs are being studied to explore their effects on cancer cells. CoQ10, one of the products from the mevalonate pathway, also has shown some potential anti-cancer properties, but its use to combat cancer is controversial. While some studies have shown that CoQ10 supplements can be synergistic with other cancer treatment …

Cm-Dii And Mcf-7 Breast Cancer Cell Responses To Chemotherapeutic Agents, Ashten M.C. Anderson

Honors Theses

CM-DiI is a lipophilic, red fluorescent dye used for staining and tracking the migration of cells. CM-DiI makes it possible to visualize cells in histological regions and can therefore be very useful for the tracking of cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in vivo. The ability to track and quantitate cancer cell proliferation in vivo is essential for cancer drug discovery. If CM-DiI labeled cancer cells respond to chemotherapy agents similar to unlabeled cancer cells, it facilitates screening of potential anti-cancer compounds using CM-DiI labeled cells in a xenotransplanted, transgenic zebrafish model (Danio rerio). To investigate whether CM-DiI labeling would affect …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators, Mary Paige Thrash

Honors Theses

Cannabinoid (CB) receptors are validated drug targets in the endocannabinoid signaling system associated with a number of human pathologies, and the development of novel and selective small molecule CB ligands is warranted. A lead molecule HL-010, a member of the 4H-thieno[3,2-b]pyrrole-5-carboxamide class of compounds, was previously identified through CB homology modeling and virtual screening protocols as a potential high affinity ligand for cannabinoid receptors. Validation of the in silico data was realized with the evaluation of both CB1 and CB2 receptor binding and functional activity assessment: HL-010 was found to be a potent (~10 nM) and selective CB2 receptor agonist …

Cardiolipin Profiling In Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells, Meghan Houston Mcneely

Honors Theses

Six human breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, LM, BoM, T47D, MCF7, and MCF7-BoM) were treated with three differentially targeted phospholipase inhibitors (bromoenol lactone, tricyclodecan-9-yl-xanthogenate, and halopemide) as well as various dietary oils (canola oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, and soybean oil). Cell viability assays were performed to examine the effects of each inhibitor and oil in varying concentrations on the proliferation of each breast cancer cell line. The goal was to detect changes in cardiolipin concentration within each cell line after exposure to a series of various phospholipase inhibitors and oils. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was …

Neurotoxicity Of Asimina Triloba, Myriam Sanders

Honors Theses

Neurodegenerative diseases are thought to be brought on by genetic and environmental factors including exposure to compounds and extracts found in plants. Many substances extracted from plants have been shown to induce cell death in neurons. This experiment tests different plant compounds to determine if they induce death in neurons in cell culture. In particular, we focused on extracts and compound from the Asimina Triloba plant- a plant that had anecdotally been connected with Parkinson's Disease-like effects. Cultured neurons were treated with increasing concentrations of the compounds and extracts. Twenty-four hours after treatment, viability was assessed. Results show that while …

O-Glcnac Post Translational Modification Of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (Hif) Proteins, Hailey Elisabeth Grisham

Honors Theses

O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) post-translational modification (O- GlcNAcylation), plays a vital role in many metabolic pathways, including those of numerous diseases. New research methods and basic functional roles of O-GlcNAc post- translational modification on metabolism, human health, and cancer are quickly developing, but a vast amount of research remains on the specificity of this pathway towards specific proteins. In this study, T47D breast cancer cells were used as an in vitro model to investigate the effects of O-GlcNAc modification on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) proteins.

Applications Of Cellular Components In Engineered Environments, Xiao Hu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Manipulation of cellular components in synthetic environment has attracted interest for applications ranging from sensors to nanelectronics and from catalysis to biomedical devices. In such applications, biological-based processes such as specific recognition and self-assembly direct the formation of hierarchical structures, all at minimum energetic costs, with high efficiency and reliability.

Among such cellular machines, microtubules and kinesins have attracted special interest. Inside the cells, microtubules are giving structural integrity while serving as regular and uniform tracks for transport of vesicles or organelles. Kinesin uses a microtubule track in vivo to progress to specific locations with processive and coordinated steps, all …

Development Of Entubulation Strategies For Treating Central Nervous System Injuries, Ivy Brosch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

According to the McKnight Brain Institute, at least 10,000 people annually in the USA suffer from a central nervous system (CNS) injury. These injuries can cause serve disabilities including paralysis. Due to the complexity of the spinal cord, it is common that potential CNS treatments are first applied to an optic nerve crush (ONC) model in rats. Two proposed treatments were employed; one where nerve growth factor (NGF) was immobilized to a chitosan substrate to stimulate axonal regeneration, and the other using pentadecafluorooctanoyl chloride modified methacrylamide chitosan (MAC(Ali15)F) hydrogel to enhance local oxygenation. The two different treatments were formed into …

The Impact Of Gallium Content On Degradation, Bioactivity, And Antibacterial Potency Of Zinc Borate Bioactive Glass, Alireza Rahimnejad Yazdi, Lawrence Torkan, Wendy Stone, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Zinc borate glasses with increasing gallium content (0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 Wt % Ga) were synthesized and their degradation, bioactivity in simulated body fluid (SBF), and antibacterial properties were investigated. ICP measurements showed that increased gallium content in the glass resulted in increased gallium ion release and decreased release of other ions. Degradability declined with the addition of gallium, indicating the formation of more symmetric BO₃ units with three bridging oxygens and asymmetric BO₃ units with two bridging oxygens in the glass network as the gallium content in the series increased. The formation of amorphous Ca-P …

The Active Phase Of Gold Catalyst For Propylene Epoxidation, Manchhiben Patel

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Sweat Sensor Modelling, Katie Brumbaugh

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There are no in-situ electrolyte sodium sensors available in the marketplace, however there is a demand and use for them. An in-situ sodium sensor can be used to monitor bodily functioning in many applications like medical patient monitoring and athlete monitoring during workouts. Patients with cystic fibrosis attempt to monitor salt content in sweat to maintain homoeostatic body function, this sweat sensor would change the way those patients took care of themselves [1]. Sweat sensor samples were made using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and nylon 6. The MWNTs were functionalized on the nylon using cyclo-oligomeric calixarene [3]. In functionalizing the …

Polyhexamethylene Biguanide Release By Chitosan-Heparin Nanoparticles, Jacob Ress

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Chitosan and heparin were used to synthesize nanoparticles using polyelectrolyte complexation. The optimal mixing ratio was determined to be 1:4 by studying the particle characteristics of zeta potential and dynamic light scattering of the ratios 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 and 1:6 (chitosan: heparin). The particles were loaded with the antibiotic polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and the release was measured over 335 hours using the dialysis membrane incubation method and detected via ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. Around 80% of the encapsulated PHMB was released over the measured period. The goal of this part of the study was to determine the drug release behavior …

Molded Features In Pdms For Fabricating Bacterial Cellulose For Various Geometries, Mitchell Habegger

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of producing features on bacterial cellulose (BC) is to facilitate the elongation and alignment for cells, in this case Normal Human Dermal Fibroblast (NHDF) cells. The elongated cells have applications in wound healing, tissue engineering, disease diagnostics, and many other fields. Experiments were run to test the effectiveness of transferring features to BC sheets from features induced by fracturing on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and those duplicated from molds with existing features. The features were duplicated to BC sheets by either air drying or Guided Assembly-Based Biolithography (GAB). The research results showed that fracture inducing on PDMS produced very small …

Metabolic Engineering Of Serratia Marcescens, Qiang Yan

Theses and Dissertations

The potential value of the chitin biomass (e.g. food waste) is recently considered being ignored by landfill. Chitin can be a potential cheap carbon source for converting into value-added chemicals by microorganisms. Serratia marcescens is a chitinolytic bacterium that harbors endogenous chitinase systems. With goals of characterzing S. marcescens chitinolytic capabilities and applying S. marcescens to chemical production from chitin, my dissertation main content includes five chapters: 1) Chapter 1 highlights background information of chitin source, S. marcescens and potential metabolic engineering targets using chitin as a substrate; 2) Chapter 2 demonstrates that ChiR is a key regulator in regulating …

Understanding Carbohydrate Recognition Mechanisms In Non-Catalytic Proteins Through Molecular Simulations, Abhishek A. Kognole

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Non-catalytic protein-carbohydrate interactions are an essential element of various biological events. This dissertation presents the work on understanding carbohydrate recognition mechanisms and their physical significance in two groups of non-catalytic proteins, also called lectins, which play key roles in major applications such as cellulosic biofuel production and drug delivery pathways. A computational approach using molecular modeling, molecular dynamic simulations and free energy calculations was used to study molecular-level protein-carbohydrate and protein-protein interactions. Various microorganisms like bacteria and fungi secret multi-modular enzymes to deconstruct cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars. The carbohydrate binding modules (CBM) are non-catalytic domains of such enzymes that …

Application Of Process Systems Engineering Tools And Methods To Fermentation-Based Biorefineries, Kwabena Darkwah

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass via the fermentation platform are sustainable energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Process Systems Engineering (PSE) uses computer-based tools and methods to design, simulate and optimize processes. Application of PSE tools to the design of economic biorefinery processes requires the development of simulation approaches that can be integrated with existing, mature PSE tools used to optimize traditional refineries, such as Aspen Plus. Current unit operation models lack the ability to describe unsteady state fermentation processes, link unsteady state fermentation with in situ separations, and optimize these processes for competing factors (e.g., yield and productivity). This work …

The Development Of Microfluidic Devices For The Production Of Safe And Effective Non-Viral Gene Delivery Vectors, Jason Matthew Absher

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Including inherited genetic diseases, like lipoprotein lipase deficiency, and acquired diseases, such as cancer and HIV, gene therapy has the potential to treat or cure afflicted people by driving an affected cell to produce a therapeutic protein. Using primarily viral vectors, gene therapies are involved in a number of ongoing clinical trials and have already been approved by multiple international regulatory drug administrations for several diseases. However, viral vectors suffer from serious disadvantages including poor transduction of many cell types, immunogenicity, direct tissue toxicity and lack of targetability. Non-viral polymeric gene delivery vectors (polyplexes) provide an alternative solution but are …

Effects Of Predation On The Biochemical Constituents Of The Bleached Soft Coral Sinularia Polydactyla, Carley Elizabeth Cole

Honors Theses

Climate change can indirectly affect the level of predation on soft corals. As sea temperatures rise, more and more bleaching events are occurring, which can affect the production of chemical defenses and the concentrations of the biochemical constituents that make up the soft corals. These changes may make the soft corals more attractive to predators. This phenomenon is suggested by the environmental stress theory (EST), which states that under stressful conditions, more of an organism's energy is allocated to survival rather than to other factors, such as reproduction or predator deterrence. To test the effect of predation on already bleached …

Technique For The Synthesis Of Difluorinated Organic Molecules Using Magnesium Bases, Cassidy S. Baldwin

Honors Theses

The presence of fluorine in organic molecules can confer biological advantages which are often exploited in drug development. For example, fluorine has been shown to limit drug metabolism and enhance drug distribution. However, the development of fluorinated pharmaceutics poses synthetic challenges. These challenges are especially pronounced when developing molecules with a difluoromethyl group. One difluoromethyl functional group of particular interest is the α,α-difluoro-β-amino carbonyl group, which has been seen in potential drug leads. The previous methods of accessing this group are inefficient and complex. The goal of this project was to develop a new technique to access this group by …