Digital Commons Network^™

Proceedings Of The National Cancer Institute Workshop On Combining Immunotherapy With Radiotherapy: Challenges And Opportunities For Clinical Translation, Zachary S Morris, Sandra Demaria, Arta M Monjazeb, Silvia C Formenti, Ralph R Weichselbaum, James Welsh, Heiko Enderling, Jonathan D Schoenfeld, Joshua D Brody, Heather M Mcgee, Michele Mondini, Michael S Kent, Kristina H Young, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Sana D Karam, Willemijn S M E Theelen, Joe Y Chang, Mai Anh Huynh, Adi Daib, Sean Pitroda, Caroline Chung, Raphael Serre, Clemens Grassberger, Jie Deng, Quaovi H Sodji, Anthony T Nguyen, Ravi B Patel, Simone Krebs, Anusha Kalbasi, Caroline Kerr, Claire Vanpouille-Box, Logan Vick, Todd A Aguilera, Irene M Ong, Fernanda Herrera, Hari Menon, Deedee Smart, Jalal Ahmed, Robyn D Gartrell, Christina L Roland, Fatemeh Fekrmandi, Binita Chakraborty, Eric H Bent, Tracy J Berg, Alan Hutson, Samir Khleif, Andrew G Sikora, Lawrence Fong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiotherapy both promotes and antagonises tumour immune recognition. Some clinical studies show improved patient outcomes when immunotherapies are integrated with radiotherapy. Safe, greater than additive, clinical response to the combination is limited to a subset of patients, however, and how radiotherapy can best be combined with immunotherapies remains unclear. The National Cancer Institute-Immuno-Oncology Translational Network-Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer-American Association of Immunology Workshop on Combining Immunotherapy with Radiotherapy was convened to identify and prioritise opportunities and challenges for radiotherapy and immunotherapy combinations. Sessions examined the immune effects of radiation, barriers to anti-tumour immune response, previous clinical trial data, immunological and …

An Antibody-Toxin Conjugate Targeting Cd47 Linked To The Bacterial Toxin Listeriolysin O For Cancer Immunotherapy, Benjamin R Schrank, Yifan Wang, Annette Wu, Nhat Tran, Daeyong Lee, Jared Edwards, Kristin Huntoon, Shiyan Dong, Jonghoon Ha, Yifan Ma, Adam J Grippin, Seong Dong Jeong, Abin Antony, Mengyu Chang, Minjeong Kang, Thomas D Gallup, Albert C Koong, Jing Li, Kyuson Yun, Betty Y S Kim, Wen Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Antigen-presenting cells phagocytose tumor cells and subsequently cross-present tumor-derived antigens. However, these processes are impeded by phagocytosis checkpoints and inefficient cytosolic transport of antigenic peptides from phagolysosomes. Here, using a microbial-inspired strategy, we engineered an antibody-toxin conjugate (ATC) that targets the 'don't eat me' signal CD47 linked to the bacterial toxin listeriolysin O from the intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes via a cleavable linker (CD47-LLO). CD47-LLO promotes cancer cell phagocytosis by macrophages followed by LLO release and activation to form pores on phagolysosomal membranes that enhance antigen cross-presentation of tumor-derived peptides and activate cytosolic immune sensors. CD47-LLO treatment in vivo significantly …

Seq-Scope: Repurposing Illumina Sequencing Flow Cells For High-Resolution Spatial Transcriptomics, Yongsung Kim, Weiqiu Cheng, Chun-Seok Cho, Yongha Hwang, Yichen Si, Anna Park, Mitchell Schrank, Jer-En Hsu, Angelo Anacleto, Jingyue Xi, Myungjin Kim, Ellen Pedersen, Olivia I Koues, Thomas Wilson, Changhee Lee, Goo Jun, Hyun Min Kang, Jun Hee Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatial transcriptomics technologies aim to advance gene expression studies by profiling the entire transcriptome with intact spatial information from a single histological slide. However, the application of spatial transcriptomics is limited by low resolution, limited transcript coverage, complex procedures, poor scalability and high costs of initial setup and/or individual experiments. Seq-Scope repurposes the Illumina sequencing platform for high-resolution, high-content spatial transcriptome analysis, overcoming these limitations. It offers submicrometer resolution, high capture efficiency, rapid turnaround time and precise annotation of histopathology at a much lower cost than commercial alternatives. This protocol details the implementation of Seq-Scope with an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 …

Proteasome Augmentation Mitigates Age-Related Cognitive Decline In Mice, Danitra Parker, Kanisa Davidson, Pawel A Osmulski, Maria Gaczynska, Andrew M Pickering

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The aging brain experiences a significant decline in proteasome function. The proteasome is critical for many key neuronal functions including neuronal plasticity, and memory formation/retention. Treatment with proteasome inhibitors impairs these processes. Our study reveals a marked reduction in 20S and 26S proteasome activities in aged mice brains, including in the hippocampus, this is driven by reduced functionality of aged proteasome. The decline in proteasome activity is matched by a decline in 20S proteasome assembly. In contrast, 26S proteasome assembly was found to increase with age, though 26S proteasome activity was still found to decline. Our data suggests that age-related …

Qsp Modeling Shows Pathological Synergism Between Insulin Resistance And Amyloid-Beta Exposure In Upregulating Vcam1 Expression At The Bbb Endothelium, Zengtao Wang, Vaishnavi Veerareddy, Xiaojiao Tang, Kevin J Thompson, Sunil Krishnan, Krishna R Kalari, Karunya K Kandimalla

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), characterized by insulin resistance, is closely associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cerebrovascular dysfunction is manifested in both T2DM and AD, and is often considered as a pathological link between the two diseases. Insulin signaling regulates critical functions of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and endothelial insulin resistance could lead to BBB dysfunction, aggravating AD pathology. However, insulin signaling is intrinsically dynamic and involves interactions among numerous molecular mediators. Hence, a mechanistic systems biology model is needed to understand how insulin regulates BBB physiology and the consequences of its impairment in T2DM and AD. In this study, …

A Predictive Chromatin Architecture Nexus Regulates Transcription And Dna Damage Repair, Audesh Bhat, Sonali Bhan, Aindrila Kabiraj, Raj K Pandita, Keneth S Ramos, Sandhik Nandi, Shreya Sopori, Parthas S Sarkar, Arti Dhar, Shruti Pandita, Rakesh Kumar, Chandrima Das, John A Tainer, Tej K Pandita

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genomes are blueprints of life essential for an organism's survival, propagation, and evolutionary adaptation. Eukaryotic genomes comprise of DNA, core histones, and several other nonhistone proteins, packaged into chromatin in the tiny confines of nucleus. Chromatin structural organization restricts transcription factors to access DNA, permitting binding only after specific chromatin remodeling events. The fundamental processes in living cells, including transcription, replication, repair, and recombination, are thus regulated by chromatin structure through ATP-dependent remodeling, histone variant incorporation, and various covalent histone modifications including phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination. These modifications, particularly involving histone variant H2AX, furthermore play crucial roles in DNA damage …

Monte Carlo Modeling Of An Experimental Benchtop L-Shell X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging/Ct System Adopting Two Silicone Drift Detectors, Neerajan Nepal, Amrit Kaphle, Sandun Jayarathna, Sang Hyun Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

L-shell x-ray fluorescence (XRF) photons induced from gold nanoparticles (GNPs) after being irradiated by an x-ray beam allow for highly sensitive XRF imaging/computed tomography (XFCT) of biological samples containing GNPs at low concentrations on the order of parts-per-million (ppm). The primary goal of this Monte Carlo (MC) study was to investigate the feasibility of upgrading an existing experimental benchtop XRF/XFCT imaging setup adopting a single silicon drift detector (SDD), developed based on the aforementioned concept (often known as L-shell XFCT), by deploying another SDD within the same setup. Specifically, an MC model of the original single SDD L-shell XFCT setup, …

An Inducible Foxl2-Dependent Mouse Model Of Ovarian Adult Type Granulosa Cell Tumor, Jian Li, Thomas Welte, Katherine Calzoncinth, Veena K Vuttaradhi, Allison L Brodsky, Kwong-Kwok Wong, Manu M Sebastian, Barrett Lawson, Charles V Kingsley, R Tyler Hillman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Adult-type granulosa cell tumors (AGCTs) are rare ovarian sex cord/stromal tumors with near-universal hotspot mutations in FOXL2 (c.C402G; p.Cys134Trp). Progress in the treatment of relapsed AGCT has been hindered by the lack of high-fidelity FOXL2-based mouse models. To address this critical unmet need, we created and validated a genetically engineered inducible mouse model of the human FOXL2 mutation that recapitulates the key features of the human disease.

Methods: Gene targeting in embryonic stem cells was used to introduce a Cre-inducible Foxl2C130W allele (mouse equivalent of the human oncogenic mutation) into the endogenous mouse Foxl2 locus. Animals with the Foxl2C130W-FLEx …

Resolving Tissue Complexity By Multimodal Spatial Omics Modeling With Miso, Kyle Coleman, Amelia Schroeder, Melanie Loth, Daiwei Zhang, Jeong Hwan Park, Ji-Youn Sung, Niklas Blank, Alexis J Cowan, Xuyu Qian, Jianfeng Chen, Jiahui Jiang, Hanying Yan, Laith Z Samarah, Jean R Clemenceau, Inyeop Jang, Minji Kim, Isabel Barnfather, Joshua D Rabinowitz, Yanxiang Deng, Edward B Lee, Alexander Lazar, Jianjun Gao, Emma E Furth, Tae Hyun Hwang, Linghua Wang, Christoph A Thaiss, Jian Hu, Mingyao Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatial molecular profiling has provided biomedical researchers valuable opportunities to better understand the relationship between cellular localization and tissue function. Effectively modeling multi-modal spatial omics data is crucial for understanding tissue complexity and underlying biology. Furthermore, improvements in spatial resolution have led to the advent of technologies that can generate spatial molecular data with sub-cellular resolution, requiring the development of computationally efficient methods that can handle the resulting large-scale datasets. MISO (MultI-modal Spatial Omics) is a versatile algorithm for feature extraction and clustering, capable of integrating multiple modalities from diverse spatial omics experiments with high spatial resolution. Its effectiveness is …

Diet-Enhanced Lrg1 Expression Promotes Insulin Hypersecretion And Er Stress In Pancreatic Beta Cells, Desirae D Morales, Jiyoon Ryu, Cong Wei, Jason T Hadley, Maia R Smith, Juli Bai, Juan C Lopez-Alvarenga, Srinivas Mummidi, Ravindranath Duggirala, Jane L Lynch, Feng Liu, Lily Q Dong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aims/hypothesis: Upregulation of serum leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) has been implicated in diet-induced obesity and metabolic disorders. However, its specific hormonal actions remain unclear. This study aimed to determine whether diet-enhanced serum LRG1 levels promote hyperinsulinaemia by directly stimulating insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells.

Methods: Human serum samples were obtained from individuals (both male and female) undergoing plastic surgery. Male C57BL/6 wild-type and Lrg1 whole-body knockout (Lrg1KO) mice were fed a 45% high-fat diet, with serum samples collected every 2 weeks to monitor LRG1 and insulin levels throughout diet-induced obesity. MIN6 beta cells were used to investigate the effects …

Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Treasurer’S Report, December 31, 2024, Jan Johnson

Nebraska Bird Review

No abstract provided.

Microbial Communities Associated With Endangered West Texas Springsnails And Their Potential Roles In Conservation, Russell L. Minton, Kathryn E. Perez

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Desert springs are one of the most threatened ecosystems globally. Those in Southwestern North America support high numbers of threatened and endemic species. Human activities present the greatest threats to springs and the organisms they support. Freshwater snails in the genera Pyrgulopsis and Tryonia are two groups of such organisms, representing diverse and threatened groups of springsnails in the Southwestern United States. Desert springs also harbour unique microbial diversity that faces similar threats from water usage and freshwater habitat degradation. Understanding springsnails and the bacteria they host represent potential exemplars for interdisciplinary conservation efforts. We studied the bacterial communities associated …

Biochar-Derived Photocatalysts For Pharmaceutical Waste Removal, A Sustainable Approach To Water Purification, Maryam Zahid, Zia Ul Haq Khan, Jingyu Sun, Nawshad Muhammad, Sana Sabahat, Noor Samad Shah, Jibran Iqbal

All Works

In the past few years, the utilization of pharmaceutical compounds has considerably increased to treat human and animal diseases. The pharmaceutical waste, processed or unprocessed, is being released into water systems. This contamination leads to the death of millions of people across the globe annually. Tailored treatment procedures are effectively employed to remove these compounds. However, many of these techniques suffer from high-cost apparatus, generation of secondary pollutants, and sludge etc. Conversely, adsorption combined with photocatalysis is an alternative, economical and efficient method for water remediation. This review delves deeper into the synthesis protocols of biochar derived photocatalysts and investigates …

Insulin Clearance At Randomisation And In Response To Treatment In Youth With Type 2 Diabetes: A Secondary Analysis Of The Today Randomised Clinical Trial, Kristen J Nadeau, Silva A Arslanian, Fida Bacha, Sonia Caprio, Lily C Chao, Ryan Farrell, Kara S Hughan, Maria Rayas, Melinda Tung, Kaitlyn Cross, Laure El Ghormli

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Aims/hypothesis: Insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia are core features leading to beta cell failure in youth-onset type 2 diabetes. Insulin clearance (IC) is also a key regulator of insulin concentrations, but few data exist on IC in youth-onset type 2 diabetes. In a secondary analysis of our Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth (TODAY) randomised clinical trial, we investigated potential sex-, race-, ethnicity- and treatment-related differences in IC in youth-onset type 2 diabetes and aimed to identify metabolic phenotypes associated with IC at baseline and in response to metformin, metformin plus a lifestyle intervention, and metformin …

Widespread Detection Of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides In Australian Native Marsupial Carnivores, Michael T. Lohr, Cheryl Anne Lohr, Judy Dunlop, Melissa Snape, Stephanie Pulsford, Evan Webb, Robert A. Davis

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) have been detected in non-target wildlife species worldwide but information on exposure in Australian mammals is extremely limited. To address this, we analysed liver tissue from the five largest sized species of native Australian carnivorous and scavenging mammals for all SGARs currently used in Australia. A total of 52 individual animals from five dasyurid species were tested for exposure to ARs with 26 individuals (50 %) testing positive. Eleven individuals (21 %) tested positive for more than one AR compound, and two individuals tested positive for three types of AR. This study is the first to document …

Predation Of The Scorpion Hottentotta Saulcyi (Scorpiones: Buthidae) By The Long-Eared Hedgehog (Hemiechinus Auritus) (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae) In Şırnak Province, Türkiye, Rıdvan Kurt, Ersen A. Yağmur, Tarkan Yorulmaz

Euscorpius

In this study, we report the predation of Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) by the insectivorous mammal Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin, 1770) in Şırnak Province, southeastern Türkiye. During a nighttime field trip, we observed a long-eared hedgehog biting a H. saulcyi individual on its prosoma. This observation confirms that long-eared hedgehogs feed on and prey upon scorpions.

Steering Conservation Biocontrol At The Frontlines: A Fuzzy Logic Approach Unleashing Potentials Of Climate-Smart Intercropping As A Component Within The Integrated Management Of Fall Armyworm In Africa, Komi Mensah Agboka, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Emily Kimathi, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, John Odindi, Onisimo Mutanga, Saliou Niassy

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This study introduces a computational index that employs fuzzy sets theory to identify potential deployment sites for push-pull as a component in the integrated management of Fall Armyworm (FAW) in Africa. The index, validated through known push-pull testing sites and informed by insights from field data and practical observations, is primarily based on companion plants (Desmodium intortum and Brachiaria brizantha), livestock, and maize as covariates. The study developed a set of rules linking each selected covariate to the output as membership functions, which are later combined using an algebraic operator. It identifies extensive maize farms across Africa potentially suitable for …

Muscle-Specific Errγ Activation Mitigates Muscle Atrophy After Acl Injury, Aiping Lu, Katie J Sikes, Ping Guo, Matthieu Huard, Shelbi Green, Kelly Santangelo, Jacob Singer, Ashley Groesbeck, Scott Tashman, Vihang A Narkar, Johnny Huard

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury adversely affects skeletal muscle, leading to muscle atrophy and weakness, significantly impacting clinical outcomes. This study aimed to determine if estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERRγ) overexpression in skeletal muscle could mitigate muscle atrophy after ACL injury. An animal model with selective overexpression of ERRγ in skeletal muscle (ERR-gamma transgenic mice, TG) and WT control mice were used for this study. All the mice received a mechanical ACL rupture and were euthanized at 4- and 8-week post-injury. Muscle histology, atrophy, and function were evaluated and compared between the TG and WT mice. Muscle-specific ERRγ activation in TG …

Current Challenges And Preliminary Morphological Reassessment Of The Genus Chaerilus Simon, 1877 In China (Scorpiones: Chaerilidae), Victoria Tang

Euscorpius

The genus Chaerilus Simon, 1877 in China is preliminarily revised on a morphological basis, derived from the available literature and newly examined specimens. The robustness of several commonly applied species-level diagnostic criteria are evaluated. Ten species are provisionally recognized for China, including one new morphospecies, Chaerilus herta sp. n., described from 9 females, 40 males, and 2 juvenile females collected in Mêdog County. The current study only reveals and resolves several most elementary issues in the taxonomy of Chinese Chaerilus. Further molecular investigations are warranted until topotypes of certain species become available.

Unveiling Role Of Oncogenic Signalling Pathways In Complicating Breast Cancer, Acharya Balkrishna, Sagar Kumar, Rohan Malik, Kuldeep Singh Mehra, Hariom Chaturvedi, Okeshwar Okeshwar, Rashmi Mittal

BioMedicine

Heterogeneous nature of breast cancer has significantly affected the overall survival, disease free survival and progression free survival amongst the diseased individuals. Metastasis of cancerous cells to distant sites including bone, lungs, liver, lymph node and others have further exhilarated the adverse effects. However, ER, PR and HER-2 are responsible for normal physiological development of women but in altered conditions they may act as initiator or progressor and so far 5 subtypes of disease have been identified. Alteration of pro-survival, pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic pathways including JAK/STAT, MAPK,

PI3K/AkT/mTOR, NF-κB, BCL2 and several others have induced oncogenic events including epithelial-mesenchymal transition, …

Evaluating The Health Performance Of Mass Housing Projects In Egypt Lighting Design Of Dar Masr Project, New Damietta, Hala Mohamed Raslan, Huda El-Baz M.

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The Egyptian government has recently established many governmental mass housing projects to meet the housing needs nationwide. These projects are characterized by their unified repetitive design that rarely consider geographic, climatic and social variations from one site to another. The study objectives are to examine the health performance of mass housing projects; “Dar Misr” as an example. Dar Misr consists of 150,000 units distributed over 15 different cities, and is fully finished with unified electrical installations and preinstalled luminaires. The study examines the health performance of the project’s lighting design, both natural and electrical light, using the “WELLV2 rating system …

Leveraging Arginine Catabolism To Treat Metabolic Complications, Yiming Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Fasting and caloric restriction are effective to treat patients with pre-diabetes or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), previously known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but intensive lifestyle changes are difficult for many to implement and sustain. Therefore, by identifying and studying fasting-mediated signals, we hope to elicit and convey the therapeutic effects of fasting against MASLD without actual physiological fasting. We discovered a key pathway in the liver through unbiased transcriptomic screening in fasted mice, a novel glucose fasting-activated effector: the amino acid hydrolase, arginase 2 (ARG2). Our previously published data demonstrates that forced hepatocyte-specific Arg2 overexpression is …

Be Aware Of Basis Volatility When Using Price Risk Management For Calves And Feeder Cattle, Jay Parsons, Aaron Berger

Cornhusker Economics

Understanding basis volatility and the impact it has on the actual price received for calves or feeder cattle in relation to the CME Feeder Cattle Futures is important when considering price risk management opportunities. Currently, cattle markets are in a time frame where volatility appears to be like market conditions experienced in 2014 and 2015. These conditions should prompt producers to think through how basis volatility could impact the expected price they will receive for their calves or feeder cattle.

Flow Dynamics Of Agricultural Waste Nanofibers: Shear, Temperature, And Oscillatory Insights, Bilge N. Altay, Burak Aksoy, James Atkinson, Christopher Lewis, Carlos Diaz-Acosta, Raymond Francis

Articles

The rheology and fiber size of corn stover (CS) and cleaned cotton gin trash (CGT) cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were studied including behaviors at both moderate and extremely high shear rates, to simulate industrial processes ranging from mixing and pumping to high-speed coating, printing, and extrusion. Particle size analyzer showed that 99% of CS fibers measured around 226 nm, while 85% of CGT fibers were approximately 143 nm. Both CS and CGT CNFs formed gel-like suspensions, and shear flow tests revealed that all samples exhibited shear-thinning behavior, allowing easy flow under shear forces. Gels with higher solid content (1%) demonstrated extended …

Changing Fire Regimes In The Great Basin Usa, Eva K. Strand, Kori Blankenship, Corey Gucker, Mark Brunson, Eugénie Montblanc

Aspen Bibliography

Wildfire is a natural disturbance in landscapes of the Western United States, but the effects and extents of fire are changing. Differences between historical and contemporary fire regimes can help identify reasons for observed changes in landscape composition. People living and working in the Great Basin, USA, are observing altered fire conditions, but spatial information about the degree and direction of change and departure from historical fire regimes is lacking. This study estimates how fire regimes have changed in the major Great Basin vegetation types over the past 60 years with comparisons to historical (pre-1900) fire regimes. We explore potential …

Variation In Thermal Tolerance Plasticity And The Costs Of Heat Exposure In The Estuarine Sea Hare, Phyllaplysia Taylori, Richelle L. Tanner, Rauri C. K. Bowie, Cynthia Y. Wang-Claypool, Jonathan H. Stillman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Climate change is increasing average temperatures and the frequency and intensity of thermal extremes in coastal marine environments. Organisms in coastal marine habitats are accustomed to environmental fluctuations and possess physiological plasticity that may be advantageous in response to increased occurrence of extremes. To examine whether such plasticity is locally adapted to environmental conditions, we investigated the relationship between genetic diversity and thermal tolerance plasticity in 11 populations of the direct-developing intertidal sea hare, Phyllaplysia taylori, on the western coast of the United States. Using whole-organism metrics of muscle function and metabolic rate and a ddRADseq genomic approach, we …

Let’S Be Cool About It: Anticipating Proper, Whole-Human Cryopreservation And The Necessary Oversight For Adequate Consumer Protection, Peter Lyon

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Microbial Source Tracking Protocols For Differentiation Of Fecal Bacteria From Cow, Deer, And Horse, Nika Shams, Michael Beach

Symposium of Student Scholars

Microbial source tracking (MST) attempts to identify specific animal sources of fecal contamination in the environment. While traditional fecal coliform enumeration can give a general measure of contamination, the specificity imparted by modern MST provides a more informative assessment of contaminants and their likelihood to affect human health outcomes.

We have been developing an MST system that detects DNA biomarkers from the gram-negative bacterial genus Bacteroides and the family Lachnospiraceae. They are strict anaerobes found in large quantities in the intestines of animals. Unlike E. coli or Enterococci, host-specific strains of Bacteroides and Lachnospiraceae exist. To this end, we …

Transcription Factor Binding And Discovery Of Novel Gene In The Opportunistic Human Pathogen, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Alaina Westee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a gram-negative, ubiquitously-found bacterium that primarily causes nosocomial, or hospital-borne, infections within immunocompromised patients. Therefore, it has been deemed a critical priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), generating a need for research on its fundamental biology. The Van Dyke laboratory focuses on proteins called transcription factors, which promote or repress gene expression to regulate an organism’s functioning. We are specifically studying the cadmium-responsive transcription factor, CadR, due to the importance of metals in virulence and the lack of information on PA’s response to metal fluctuations. We intend …

Survey Of Mosquito Larval Habitats At The Ksu Field Station, Rose Sofia, Eli Lovvorn, Aspen Hartman, Andrew Haddow

Symposium of Student Scholars

The greater Atlanta metropolitan area hosts numerous mosquito species that are nuisance biters and can transmit arthropod-borne diseases to humans. We surveyed the Kennesaw State University (KSU) Field Station – an incredibly biodiverse location – where student, staff, and faculty-led groups engage in outdoor research and teaching activities. The KSU Field Station located in Cobb County, GA is a heavily trafficked 25-acre property that may attract various mosquito species capable of transmitting pathogens to humans and animals alike. On August 27th, 2024, our team investigated the KSU Field Station to quantify and record potential water-holding containers that serve as mosquito …