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Screening Of Near-Ir Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (Sers) Dyes Using Quick Freezing-Induced Aunp Aggregates (Qfiaas)., Carleigh A. Cimmerer

Forensic Science Master's Projects

Near-IR (NIR) surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an emerging bioimaging technique that can be a safe alternative with a resolution better than current bioimaging techniques, such as MRI, CT, and PET. These can be hazardous with long-term exposure due to powerful magnetic fields or ionizing radiation. The success of NIR SERS bioimaging lies partially in the selection of highly sensitive NIR Raman reporters, which is essential to achieve highly resolved bioimaging of the body system. NIR Raman dyes must satisfy three important conditions: strong absorption in the NIR region, strong binding to the surfaces of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and excellent …

Compatible Blends Of N-Type Polymer Semiconductors: Impact On The Morphology And Mechanics Of Flexible Optoelectronics, Zachary C. Ahmad

Honors Theses

Conjugated polymers offer the potential for the development of robust, low-cost electronics, but achieving high mechanical deformability and high charge transport simultaneously in polymer semiconductors remains a significant challenge. In this work, blends of conjugated polymers were investigated to elucidate the influence of compatible conjugated blends on polymer morphology, mechanics, and electrical properties (using a partially conjugated polymer as the soft matrix and a fully conjugated polymer as the electrically active component). This work achieves a fundamental understanding of blend morphology for these similar components by establishing the framework for how they deform with strain. Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) …

Role Of E168d In M. Tuberculosis Igps Catalysis, Hedda Booter

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a bacterium that affects the lungs and causes tuberculosis, infecting over 10 million people worldwide each year. Owing to the organism’s evolving drug resistance, existing antibiotics no longer combat the disease. The need to discover new drug targets has never been greater. Previous findings suggest that the protein IGPS (indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase) in M. tuberculosis (MtIGPS) may be a target in the treatment of the disease. MtIGPS catalyzes the fourth step in the tryptophan biosynthetic process. The ability to create their own tryptophan is a major advantage that many bacteria have. The role of E168, in the …

Understanding Biogeochemical And Physical Controls On Methane Air-Sea Exchange Fluxes In The Pacific Ocean, Sarah Raney

Master's Theses

Methane and trace element samples were collected on GEOTRACES GP15 Pacific Meridional Transect (PMT) cruise conducted between the Aleutian Islands (57 °N) and Tahiti (20 °S) from September to November 2018. Uncertainty in methane air-sea exchange fluxes was determined using a propagation of errors approach. Fluxes ranged from -0.88 to 4.9 µmol CH₄ m^-2 d^-1. Average CH₄ flux along the Alaskan margin was 2.2 ± 2.9 µmol CH₄ m^-2 d^-1. Methane fluxes decreased moving southward and increased to their open ocean maximum around 20 °N before declining in equatorial waters. Near …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Synthetic Cannabinoid 5-Hydroxy-1h-Indazole-3-Carboxamide Metabolites, Nichole Ann Pianovich

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since the discovery of Δ⁹-THC, the pharmaceutical industry has continuously developed synthetic analogs intending to develop compounds that exhibit the bioactivity of natural cannabinoids but are devoid of its psychoactivity. Synthetic cannabinoids often exhibit potencies significantly greater than Δ⁹-THC, as do their metabolites. Phase I metabolism of synthetic cannabinoids bearing an indazole core predominantly proceeds through oxidative transformations to produce mono-hydroxylated variants of the parent compound. Recent studies have primarily focused on N-1/C-3 hydroxylated pentyl side chains and carboxamide linked groups. These compounds often retain affinity and potency for the CB₁ receptor …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Organometallic Complexes For Biological Imaging, Emily Stumbo

Honors Theses

Luminescent transition metal complexes are of interest for biological imaging applications due to their unique photophysical properties including large Stokes shift, long fluorescence lifetimes, and tunable emission. Altering ligand structure is a useful way to manipulate the charge transfer (CT) and mixed character states that give these complexes their photophysical properties. A series of organometallic complexes containing ligands with externally facing nitrogens has been prepared and synthesized. Complexes of the form Pt (II)(tbbpy)(C2-py), Re(CO)3(N^N), Ir(C^N)2(N^N), and Ir(C^N)2(N^O) have been studied for their potential application as biological imaging agents. The goal of this project is to compare the properties of these …

Nucleic Acid Editing By Adenosine Deaminase Enzymes, Josey Rae Mckinley

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

RNA editing is crucial to the genetic diversity and structural complexity of organisms. ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) is an RNA editing enzyme that creates a mutation of adenosine to inosine. The human ADAR2 (hADAR2) enzyme is known to edit RNA; however, it contains minor sequence homology with the cytidine deaminase enzymes, APOBEC and AID, which are known to edit both DNA and RNA (11 & 12). The ability of hADAR2 to edit DNA was tested through transformation into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain BY4741. DNA editing was tested by determining if the transformed yeast became resistant to the …

Lipid Rafts, Exosomal Vesicles And Anti-Giardial Therapies, Brian Ivan Grajeda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Giardia lamblia, a protozoan parasite, is a major cause of waterborne infection, worldwide. While the trophozoite form of this parasite induces pathological symptoms in the gut, the cyst forms transmit the infection via contaminated water. Since Giardia is a non-invasive parasite, the actual mechanism by which it causes infection remains elusive. We have previously reported that Giardia assembles cholesterol and GM1 glycolipid-enriched lipid rafts (LRs) that participate in encystation and cyst production. To further delineate the role of LRs in pathogenesis, we isolated LRs from Giardia and subjected them to proteomic analysis. Various cellular proteins including the virulent proteins—e.g., giardins, …

Rational Design Of Composite Nanomaterials For Water Treatment Applications, Mariana Marcos-Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Water quantity and quality have been affected in communities all around the world due to population growth, pollution, changes in land use, and climate change. In order to cope with existing and anticipated water demands and shortages, the use of treated or reclaimed water is an ongoing alternative that has helped communities all over the world address this problem. The adaptation of nanotechnology to traditional water and wastewater treatment processes offers new opportunities in technological developments. Unique size-dependent properties such as: high surface to mass ratio, high reactivity, high sorption capacities, fast dissolution, superparamagnetism, among others, provide high-tech efficient materials …

Construction And Demonstration Of A 6–18 Ghz Microwave Three-Wave Mixing Experiment Using Multiple Synchronized Arbitrary Waveform Generators, Nicole T. Moon, Klaus Woelk, Garry S. Grubbs

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

This manuscript details the construction and demonstration of the first known microwave three-wave mixing (M3WM) experiment utilizing multiple arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs) completely operable in the 6–18 GHz frequency range for use in chirality determination and quantification. Many M3WM techniques, which involve two orthogonal, subsequent Rabi π/2 and π microwave pulses, suffer from flexibility in pulse types and timings as well as frequency due to most instruments only using one, one-channel AWG and the M3WM probability decreasing with an increasing quantum number, J. In this work, we presented an M3WM instrument that allows that flexibility by introducing multiple, synchronized AWGs …

Integration Of Genetic Isothermal Amplification On Low-Cost Hybrid Paper/Polymer Microfluidic Biochips For High Sensitivity Point-Of-Care Disease Diagnosis, Hamed Tavakoli

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Infectious diseases and cancer have been two main causes of global death and disability, leading to a significant impact on public health and economies globally. Early diagnosis of these diseases can improve prevention, treatment, and prognosis in clinical practice. However, current laboratory diagnostic approaches require expensive and bulky equipment, well-trained personnel, and time-consuming processes, which puts a great challenge to conventional methods to address, especially in resource-limited settings. Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip presents a unique opportunity for various biomedical applications due to multiple advantages such as low reagent consumption, integration, miniaturization, portability, and automation. Since different microfluidic platform substrates have their advantages …

Total Synthesis Of Mansouramycin A, Abigail M. Zepeda

Theses and Dissertations

In 2009 bioactive compounds from marine Streptomyces species was isolated which resulted in deriving four isoquinoline-quinone alkaloids known as Mansouramycins A-D. There have been reports that there are 36 non-small cancer cells against cytotoxicity in Mansouramycins A-C in lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer cells. Reports that have conducted total syntheses were all specific to a single compound only Mansouramycin A and D. However, in precedent methods, to obtain the derivatives with different substituents are limited when the substituents are on the fused-pyridine ring. Thus, a develop a systematic synthetic methods of isoquinoline-quinones, which are to be able …

Hands-On Stem: Chemistry, Physics, And Other Science Resources For K-12 Education, Lisa Ahlberg, G. Brendan Cross

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Image-Guided Intervention: Quantitative Characterization Of Reagents For Thermochemical Ablation, Emily A. Thompson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Thermochemical ablation (TCA) is a minimally invasive therapy under development for hepatocellular carcinoma, a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. TCA utilizes acid-base chemistry delivered simultaneously to induce local ablation when administered. When delivered via a mixing catheter placed directly into the tumor, acid (e.g., AcOH) and base (e.g., NaOH) react to completion at the catheter tip, producing the acetate salt, water, and releasing heat (Δ>50°C) in sufficient quantities to induce lethal osmotic and thermal stress in tumor cells. However, these two reagents are not distinguishable from tissues with noninvasive imaging modalities, which makes monitoring the delivery of TCA …

Synthesis And Molecular Processes Governing Self-Healing Polymeric Materials, Siyang Wang

All Dissertations

Self-healing polymers capable of recovering from physical damages are promising materials for advanced technologies. In these studies, we developed routes to achieve self-healable properties in acrylic-based copolymers that rely on non-covalent dipolar interactions present in essentially all polymeric materials. Using a combination of spectroscopic tools, thermo-mechanical analysis, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, these studies have shown that dipolar interactions lead to conformational changes of macromolecular segments which, in turn, result in self-healing without external intervention. This dissertation also describes the development of novel self-healable acrylic-based covalent adaptable networks (CANs) that combine reprocessing and self-healing properties. The utilization of dipolar interactions …

“Translation Of Hdac6 Pet Imaging Using [18f]Ekz-001 – Cgmp Production And Measurement Of Hdac6 Target Occupancy In Nhps” – A Review, Dania Rahal

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

The inhibition of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) has been reported to alleviate the effects of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. The brain-penetrant PET radioligand [¹⁸F]EKZ-001 has high affinity and selectivity towards HDAC6 and therefore suggests great promise in therapeutic treatment studies and development for neurodegenerative diseases. “Translation of HDAC6 PET imaging using [¹⁸F]EKZ-001 – cGMP production and measurement of HDAC6 target occupancy in NHPs” has achieved an effective, fully automated method of producing [¹⁸F]EKZ-001 in compliance with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) to support the translation of [¹⁸F]EKZ-001 PET for …

Investigation Of The Binding Domain Interfaces Of The C-Terminus Of The Albino3 Insertase And The 43kda Chloroplast Signal Recognition Particle Subunit Via Single Molecule Förster Resonance Energy Transfer, Amanda Tomanek

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fluorescent labeling is a technique used for visualizing functional groups contained in biomolecules by fluorescence imaging. This technique was used in this project to analyze post-translational targeting of light-harvesting chlorophyll-binding proteins (LHCP), which are the core complexes that harvest sunlight to drive photosynthetic electron transfer. This protein is synthesized in the cytosol and post-translationally targeted to the stroma of chloroplasts. CpSRP43 is a signal recognition particle (SRP) subunit unique to chloroplasts, which has been shown to interact with the stroma-soluble C-terminus of the thylakoid-bound Albino3 insertase (Alb3-Cterm). In the chloroplast stroma, targeting to thylakoids is performed via the cpSRP pathway …

The Design Of A Efficient Production And Purification Of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2, Mandeep Kaur

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

Chronic wounds pose a major problem in the United States with an estimate of twenty-five million dollars a year spent on associated treatments. Growth factors can be used as a potential treatment for chronic wounds since they promote cell proliferation and angiogenesis. This study employs one specific growth factor, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) so that it could potentially be used in future treatment. Wild-type FGF2 is thermally unstable, and it has a mean elimination time of 7.6 hours. This study attempted to improve upon its stability through a mutation on the heparin binding loop. The mutation performed was K134E. …

Extraction And Partial Purification Of An Antibiotic-Like Compound From The Soil Bacterium Rhodococcus Strain Kchxc3, Elizabeth Bond

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rhodococcus bacteria have many secondary metabolic pathways that may produce novel natural products. The bacterium Rhodococcus strain KCHXC3 was isolated from a soil sample collected near Kingsport, Tennessee and was found to produce an inhibitory compound active against a broad array of bacterial species, including the Gram negative pathogen Shigella sonnei. The aim of this research is to extract and purify the compound for future structure elucidation. A mixture of compounds from 3 month old agar plates inoculated with strain KCHXC3 was extracted using ethyl acetate. The crude extract was then partially purified utilizing a Sephadex LH-20 column, followed …

Stability, Electronic Structure, And Nonlinear Optical Properties In Clusters And Materials: A Synergistic Experimental-Computational Analysis, Maksim Kulichenko

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The main objective of Chemistry as a science is an understanding of how and why certain atoms are bonded together and what effects these bonds cause. Modern computational chemistry offers a wide range of tools that greatly assist the exploration of vast chemical space replacing expensive trial-and-error experimental approaches. Computational chemistry may serve to characterize newly synthesized compounds and provide atomic scale insights inaccessible to experimentalists’ vision. Moreover, predictive power of computational chemistry may be used as a guidance for future experiments and for the rational design of new compounds with desired properties.

This dissertation demonstrates the capabilities of joint …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Aged Waterlogged Bones: Protocol Optimization, Bailey Hoplight

Chemistry

Current methods used for determining the age buried bones for forensic purposes are heavily affected by environmental conditions, can be susceptible to scientific bias and the interpretation can vary from investigator to investigator. Raman Spectroscopy can potentially be used as an automatic method to analyze the composition of bone eliminating the human factor. To test this hypothesis, we will use Raman spectroscopy to potentially identify the burial time of bones. The change in the chemical composition of the pig bones was probed using a Raman spectrometer with a 785nm excitation wavelength. Other parameters of the Raman instrument were optimized to …

Control Of Irradiation Wavelength And Quantum Yield Of Photocleavable Cages, Jingxuan Ma

Theses and Dissertations

An important component of biological research is the precise regulation of biomolecules in their physiological environment. Recent advances in neuroscience, have made it possible to regulate the activity of neurotransmitters using photocleavable protecting groups (PPGs), which are also known as cages. This enables the use of light as a trigger to activate selected neurons via photo release of agonists with precise control of timing as well as synaptic site, popularly referred to as spatiotemporal control. In recent years, a variety of PPGs have been developed and applied to biomolecular cages. PPGs can be classified according to their absorption wavelengths (from …

Introduction Of Human Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor (Fgf1) Variant With Increased Stability And Bioactivity, Azadeh Tavousi Tabatabaei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 (FGF-1) involves in a broad spectrum of biological processes, including cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, migration, angiogenesis, wound healing, and embryonic development. hFGF1 non-selectively binds to cell surface hFGF receptor isoforms to elicit these cell-signaling processes. Since hFGF1 plays a significant role in tissue repair activity, that is a prime candidate for novel wound healing therapeutics. However, hFGF1 has been found to unfold near physiological temperature due to a strong electrostatic repulsion created by a dense cluster of positively charged amino acids near the c-terminus. The problem not only leads to proteolytic degradation of the …

Implications Of Metal Coordination In Damage And Recognition Of Nucleic Acids And Lipid Bilayers, Ana Dreab

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Metal ions have a myriad of biological functions from structural stability to enzymatic (de)activation and metabolic electron transfer. Redox-active metals also mediate the formation of reactive oxygen species which may either cause oxidative damage or protect cellular components. Computational modeling is used here to investigate the role of (1) metal-ion binding to antimicrobial peptides, (2) metal-ion removal and disulfide formation on zinc finger (ZF) proteins, and (3) coordination of thiones/selones for the prevention of metal-mediated redox damage.

Piscidins, natural-occurring antimicrobial peptides, efficiently kill bacteria by targeting their membranes. Their efficacy is enhanced in vitro by metal-binding and the presence of …

Analysis Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls In Electric Transformer Oil Using Gas Chromatography With Electron Capture Detector., Vivek Mann

Theses (2016-Present)

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) are a group of synthetic chemicals which are environmentally insistent that were once used as coolants and lubricants in paints, heat transfer fluids, transformers, capacitors, caulking materials and other electrical materials owning to their property of good insulators. PCBs are persistent organic pollutants since they are persistent, resistant to biodegradation, bioaccumulate and have shown to cause a variety of deleterious effects on human health and the environment. Due to this the manufacturing of PCBs was banned in the United States in 1977. Although, production of PCBs has reportedly stopped, the potential or actual release of PCBs into …

Multi Elemental Analysis Of Cannabis Oil Based Products Using Icpms And Microwave Assisted Digestion., Kevin Trevon Marchbanks-Owens

Theses (2016-Present)

Due to the presence of CBD-(cannabidiol), bioavailable elements as well as industry versatility and relatively low levels of toxicity to the environment. CBD oils have driven the overall demand for Cannabis based plant products in the commercial and medical sector. However, dependent upon the environmental circumstances upon which these plants are grown can leave them susceptible to toxic heavy metal exposure. In fact, the natural metabolism of Cannabis plants makes them a hyperaccumulator of trace metals. This creates a severe health risk for CBD product consumers especially for more vulnerable populations with pre-existing conditions. Furthermore, the risk of heavy metal …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Silver Thione Complexes, Audrey V. Lawrence

Honors Theses

Coordination polymers are repeating units of a coordination complex that have applications as catalysts, conductors, and magnets. In this work, silver (I) was the metal of choice because it behaves similarly to copper (I), which has been studied much more extensively and thione ligands were chosen due to their potential for forming coordination polymers. These coordination complexes with silver were synthesized by combining silver nitrate with thioacetamide, N,N'-diphenylthiourea, and 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole. These complexes were characterized via IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystallography. Silver thioacetamide was determined to form a coordination complex through the sulfur to form a trigonal crystal lattice …

Target Of Glut4 Regulating Protein Tug-Ubl1 To Treat Insulin Resistant Type Two Diabetes, Megan Kohout

Chemistry Student Work

Type two diabetes mellitus is a highly prevalent disease for which the mechanism of insulin signaling to initiate glucose uptake in cleaving TUG-UBL1 by the protease Usp25m is currently not well understood. As increased insulin resistance can lead to the development of type one insulin deficient diabetes, the knowledge of this pathway may uncover underlying causes of insulin resistance. This research aims to understand the effect and stoichiometry of Usp25m binding to TUG-UBL1 in relationship to the cleavage of TUG-UBL1 initiating translocation of GLUT4 glucose transporter. The action of protease effector PIST will be investigated to understand the importance of …

Bis(Tryptophan) Amphiphiles: Design, Synthesis And Efficacy As Antimicrobial Agents, Michael Mckeever

Dissertations

Amphiphiles play important roles in nature. These molecules contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions, leading to some astonishing properties. The lipid bilayer of the cell membrane is a fascinating organization of amphiphilic phospholipids. Natural and synthetic amphiphiles, such as antimicrobial peptides, interact with the cell membrane. Such interactions can impact transport of molecules across the cell membrane, disrupting cell functions. In this work, a library of tryptophan-containing amphiphiles was synthesized and their antimicrobial properties were explored.

First, a library of bis(tryptophan) amphiphiles was synthesized. Preparation included a coupling reaction of a diamine with tryptophan residues, via their carboxy-termini, at …

Design, Synthesis, And Analysis Of Paired Coiled-Coil Peptidic Molecular Building Blocks Used For Linearly Controlled Self-Assembly Of Α-Helical Coiled-Coil Heterodimer Peptide Pairs, Jason Distefano

Chemistry Theses

Molecular building blocks are fundamental to biological synthesis and processes and have been utilized in advanced materials, drugs and drug delivery systems, and biotechnology. Proteins have been used as molecular building blocks for the construction of complex, well-ordered structures. Coiled-coil protein domains are essential subunits used for the oligomerization of protein complexes, gene expression, and structural elements of biological materials. The synthesis and assembly of proteins utilizing coiled-coil motifs are of great scientific interest due to their potential applications in disease treatment, biomechanical motors, nanoscale delivery systems, etc. However, assembling protein complexes with specific morphology is still challenging because …