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University Manual 2015-2016, Uri Faculty Senate

University Manual Archive

No abstract provided.

Anti-Tumor Effects Of Second Generation Β-Hydroxylase Inhibitors On Cholangiocarcinoma Development And Progression, Chiung-Kuei Huang, Yoshifumi Iwagami, Arihiro Aihara, Waihong Chung, Suzanne De La Monte, John-Michael Thomas, Mark Olsen, Rolf Carlson, Tunan Yu, Xiaoqun Dong, Jack Wands

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) has a poor prognosis due to widespread intrahepatic spread. Aspartate β-hydroxylase (ASPH) is a transmembrane protein and catalyzes the hydroxylation of aspartyl and asparaginyl residues in calcium binding epidermal growth factor (cbEGF)-like domains of various proteins, including Notch receptors and ligands. ASPH is highly overexpressed (>95%) in human CCA tumors. We explored the molecular mechanisms by which ASPH mediated the CCA malignant phenotype and evaluated the potential of ASPH as a therapeutic target for CCA. The importance of expression and enzymatic activity of ASPH for CCA growth and progression was examined using shRNA “knockdown” and a mutant …

Lateral Gene Transfer In A Heavy Metal-Contaminated-Groundwater Microbial Community, Christopher L. Hemme, Stefan J. Green, Lavanya Rishishwar, Om Prakash, Angelica Pettenato, Romy Chakraborty, Adam M. Deutschbauer, Joy D. Van Nostrand, Liyou Wu, Zhili He, I. King Jordan, Terry C. Hazen, Adam P. Arkin, Joel E. Kostka, Jizhong Zhou

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Unraveling the drivers controlling the response and adaptation of biological communities to environmental change, especially anthropogenic activities, is a central but poorly understood issue in ecology and evolution. Comparative genomics studies suggest that lateral gene transfer (LGT) is a major force driving microbial genome evolution, but its role in the evolution of microbial communities remains elusive. To delineate the importance of LGT in mediating the response of a groundwater microbial community to heavy metal contamination, representative Rhodanobacter reference genomes were sequenced and compared to shotgun metagenome sequences. 16S rRNA gene-based amplicon sequence analysis indicated that Rhodanobacter populations were highly abundant …

Detection Of Inulin, A Prebiotic Polysaccharide, In Maple Syrup, Jiadong Sun, Hang Ma, Navindra P. Seeram, David C. Rowley

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Maple syrup is a widely consumed plant-derived natural sweetener produced by concentrating xylem sap collected from certain maple (Acer) species. During thermal evaporation of water, natural phytochemical components are concentrated in maple syrup. The polymeric components from maple syrup were isolated by ethanol precipitation, dialysis, and anion exchange chromatography and structurally characterized by glycosyl composition analysis, glycosyl linkage analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Among the maple syrup polysaccharides, one neutral polysaccharide was characterized as inulin with a broad molecular weight distribution, representing the first isolation of this prebiotic carbohydrate from a xylem sap. In addition, two acidic …

N-Acyl Dehydrotyrosines, Typrosinase Inhibitors From The Marine Bacteriu, Thalasssotalea Sp. Pp2-459, Robert W. Deering, Jianwei Chen, Jiadong Sun, Hang Ma, Javier Dubert, Juan L. Barja, Navindra P. Seeram, Hong Wang, David C. Rowley

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Thalassotalic acids A–C and thalassotalamides A and B are new N-acyl dehydrotyrosine derivatives produced by Thalassotalea sp. PP2-459, a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from a marine bivalve aquaculture facility. The structures were elucidated via a combination of spectroscopic analyses emphasizing two-dimensional NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometric data. Thalassotalic acid A (1) displays in vitro inhibition of the enzyme tyrosinase with an IC₅₀ value (130 μM) that compares favorably to the commercially used control compounds kojic acid (46 μM) and arbutin (100 μM). These are the first natural products reported from a bacterium belonging to the genus Thalassotalea …

Rhizoleucinoside, A Rhamnolipid–Amino Alcohol Hybrid From The Rhizobial Symbiont Bradyrhizobium Sp. Btai1, Jianwei Chen, Jiandong Sun, Robert W. Deering, Navindra P. Seeram, Hong Wang, David C. Rowley

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Rhizoleucinoside (1), a unique rhamnolipid–amino alcohol hybrid, was isolated from the rhizobial symbiont bacterium Bradyrhizobium sp. BTAi1. Compound 1 features a rare rhamnolipid core attached to an unprecedented leucinol moiety. Its structure and absolute configuration were determined by spectroscopic analysis, tandem mass spectrometry, chemical degradation, and application of the Marfey’s method. Compound 1 possesses moderate cytotoxicity to BV-2 murine microglia and highly aggressive proliferating immortalized (HAPI) rat microglia cells.

Urinformed Spring 2016, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Review Of Wilkinson, Matt. Restless Creatures: The Story Of Life In Ten Movements, Judith B. Barnett

Technical Services Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Urinformed December 2016, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Summer 2016, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Comparative Use Of A Caribbean Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem And Association With Fish Spawning Aggregations By Three Species Of Shark, Alexandria E. Pickard, Jeremy J. Vaudo, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Richard S. Nemeth, Jeremiah B. Blondeau, Elizabeth A. Kadison, Mahmood S. Shivji

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding of species interactions within mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; ~ 30–150 m) lags well behind that for shallow coral reefs. MCEs are often sites of fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) for a variety of species, including many groupers. Such reproductive fish aggregations represent temporal concentrations of potential prey that may be drivers of habitat use by predatory species, including sharks. We investigated movements of three species of sharks within a MCE and in relation to FSAs located on the shelf edge south of St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Movements of 17 tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), seven lemon (Negaprion …

Advancing Crop Transformation In The Era Of Genome Editing, Fredy Altpeter, Nathan M. Springer, Laura E. Bartley, Ann E. Blechl, Thomas P. Brutnell, Vitaly Citovsky, Liza J. Conrad, Stanton B. Gelvin, David P. Jackson, Albert P. Kausch, Peggy G. Lemaux, June I. Medford, Martha L. Orozco-Cárdenas, David M. Tricoli, Joyce Van Eck, Daniel F. Voytas, Virginia Walbot, Kan Wang, Zhanyuan J. Zhang, C. Neal Stewart Jr.

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Plant transformation has enabled fundamental insights into plant biology and revolutionized commercial agriculture. Unfortunately, for most crops, transformation and regeneration remain arduous even after more than 30 years of technological advances. Genome editing provides novel opportunities to enhance crop productivity but relies on genetic transformation and plant regeneration, which are bottlenecks in the process. Here, we review the state of plant transformation and point to innovations needed to enable genome editing in crops. Plant tissue culture methods need optimization and simplification for efficiency and minimization of time in culture. Currently, specialized facilities exist for crop transformation. Single-cell and robotic techniques …

Comparative Structural And Computational Analysis Supports Eighteen Cellulose Synthases In The Plant Cellulose Synthesis Complex, B. Tracey Nixon, Katayoun Mansouri, Abhishek Singh, Juan Du, Jonathan K. Davis, Jung-Goo Lee, Erin Slabaugh, Venu Gopal Vandavasi, Hugh O'Neill, Eric M. Roberts, Alison W. Roberts, Yaroslava G. Yingling, Candace H. Haigler

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A six-lobed membrane spanning cellulose synthesis complex (CSC) containing multiple cellulose synthase (CESA) glycosyltransferases mediates cellulose microfibril formation. The number of CESAs in the CSC has been debated for decades in light of changing estimates of the diameter of the smallest microfibril formed from the β-1,4 glucan chains synthesized by one CSC. We obtained more direct evidence through generating improved transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and image averages of the rosette-type CSC, revealing the frequent triangularity and average cross-sectional area in the plasma membrane of its individual lobes. Trimeric oligomers of two alternative CESA computational models corresponded well with individual …

Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Genetic Variation And Plasticity In Latitudinal Clines For Traits Related To Herbivory, Ganesh P. Bharrarai, Laura A. Meyerson, Jack Anderson, David Cummings, Warwick J. Allen, James T. Cronin

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

The juxtaposition of plant‐species invasions with latitudinal gradients in herbivore pressure is an important yet mostly unexplored issue in invasion biology. Latitudinal clines in defense and palatability to herbivores are expected to exist in native plant species but the evolution of these clines may lag behind for invasive plant species resulting in non‐parallel latitudinal clines that may impact invasion success. Our study focused on a native and European invasive lineages of the common reed Phragmites australis in North America. Using native and invasive genotypes of P. australis collected across a 17° latitudinal range, we performed experiments in replicate northern and …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Ecosystem Services Of The Wami River And Estuary, Catherine G. Mcnally, Arthur J. Gold, Richard B. Pollnac, Halima R. Kiwango

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Management of riverine and coastal ecosystems warrants enhanced understanding of how different stakeholders perceive and depend upon different kinds of ecosystem services. Employing a mixed methods approach, this study compares and contrasts the use and perceptions of upstream residents, downstream residents, tourism officials, and conservation organizations regarding the value of 30 ecosystem services provided by the Wami River and its estuary in Tanzania, and investigates their perceptions of the main threats to this system. Our findings reveal that all of the stakeholder groups place a high value on the provision of domestic water, habitat for wild plants and animals, tourism, …

Why Rhetoric Matters For Ecology, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Bridie Mcgreavy

Professional and Public Writing Faculty Publications

Increasingly, scientists and funding agencies such as the US National Science Foundation are recognizing the need for better science communication and more effective broader impacts activities. Compelled to make research more relevant to public stakeholders and policy makers, researchers look for ways to gain the necessary skillset to move their science from the field and laboratory into public forums. We suggest that the ancient discipline of rhetoric provides a useful – and underutilized – path forward. Building from the fundamental connections between ecology and rhetoric and drawing from practical examples at the intersection of these two fields, we demonstrate how …

Aboard Gso: A Newsletter For Alumni And Friends Of The University Of Rhode Island’S Graduate School Of Oceanography For Fall 2016, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

The Fall 2016 (Special Issue) issue of Aboard GSO: A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, a periodical about GSO events, faculty research and essays by alumni.

Graduate School Of Oceanography Annual Report For Fy2016, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

Annual report for the Graduate School Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island for the 2016 fiscal year.

Includes research projects by faculty and students, biographies of new faculty, events on the Bay campus and program development and list of donors

Ph-Sensitive Phlip® Coated Niosomes, Mohan C. Pereira, Monica Pianella, Da Wei, Anna Moshnikova, Carlotta Marianecci, Maria Carafa, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana Reshetnyak

Physics Faculty Publications

Nanomedicine is becoming very popular over conventional methods due to the ability to tune physico-chemical properties of nanovectors, which are used for encapsulation of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. However, the success of nanomedicine primarily relies on how specifically and efficiently nanocarriers can target pathological sites to minimize undesirable side effects and enhance therapeutic efficacy. Here, we introduce a novel class of targeted nano drug delivery system, which can be used as an effective nano-theranostic for cancer. We formulated pH-sensitive niosomes (80–90 nm in diameter) using non-ionic surfactants Span20 (43–45 mol%), cholesterol (50 mol%) and 5 mol% of pH (Low) Insertion …

Novel Ph-Sensitive Cyclic Peptides, Dhammika Weerakkody, Anna Moshnikova, Naglaa Salem El-Sayed, Ramona-Cosmina Adochite, Gregory Slaybaugh, Jovana Golijanin, Rakesh K. Tiwari, Oleg A. Andreev, Keykavous Parang, Yana Reshetnyak

Physics Faculty Publications

A series of cyclic peptides containing a number of tryptophan (W) and glutamic acid (E) residues were synthesized and evaluated as pH-sensitive agents for targeting of acidic tissue and pH-dependent cytoplasmic delivery of molecules. Biophysical studies revealed the molecular mechanism of peptides action and localization within the lipid bilayer of the membrane at high and low pHs. The symmetric, c[(WE)₄WC], and asymmetric, c[E₄W₅C], cyclic peptides translocated amanitin, a polar cargo molecule of similar size, across the lipid bilayer and induced cell death in a pH- and concentration-dependent manner. Fluorescently-labelled peptides were evaluated for targeting …

Probe For The Measurement Of Cell Surface Ph In Vivo And Ex Vivo, Michael Anderson, Anna Moshnikova, Donald M. Engelman, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Oleg A. Andreev

Physics Faculty Publications

We have developed a way to measure cell surface pH by positioning a pH-sensitive fluorescent dye, seminaphtharhodafluor (SNARF), conjugated to the pH low insertion peptide (pHLIP). It has been observed that many diseased tissues are acidic and that tumors are especially so. A combination of effects acidifies tumor cell interiors, and cells pump out lactic acid and protons to maintain intracellular pH, acidifying the extracellular space. Overexpression of carbonic anhydrases on cell surfaces further contributes to acidification. Thus, the pH near tumor cell surfaces is expected to be low and to increase with distance from the membrane, so bulk pH …

Pet Imaging Of Extracellular Ph In Tumors With 64Cu- And 18F-Labeled Phlip Peptides: A Structure–Activity Optimization Study, Dustin Wayne Demoin, Linden C. Wyatt, Kimberly J. Edwards, Dalya Abdel-Atti, Mirkka Sarparanta, Jacob Pourat, Valerie A. Longo, Sean D. Carlin, Donald M. Engelman, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Nerissa Viola-Villegas, Jason S. Lewis

Physics Faculty Publications

pH (low) insertion peptides (pHLIP peptides) target acidic extracellular environments in vivo due to pH-dependent cellular membrane insertion. Two variants (Var3 and Var7) and wild-type (WT) pHLIP peptides have shown promise for in vivo imaging of breast cancer. Two positron emitting radionuclides (⁶⁴Cu and ¹⁸F) were used to label the NOTA- and NO2A-derivatized Var3, Var7, and WT peptides for in vivo biodistribution studies in 4T1 orthotopic tumor-bearing BALB/c mice. All of the constructs were radiolabeled with ⁶⁴Cu or [¹⁸F]-AlF in good yield. The in vivo biodistribution of the 12 constructs in 4T1 orthotopic allografted …

Mirna-378 Reverses Chemoresistance To Cisplatin In Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells By Targeting Secreted Clusterin, Xuesong Chen, Ying Jiang, Zheping Huang, Dandan Li, Xiaodi Chen, Mengru Cao, Qingwei Meng, Hui Pang, Lichun Sun, Yanbin Zhao, Li Cai

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Cisplatin resistance is a major obstacle in the treatment of NSCLC, and its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. The objectives of the study were to determine the role of miR-378 in the sensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma cells to cisplatin (cDDP) and its working mechanism. With TargetScan and luciferase assay, miR-378 was found to directly target sCLU. miR-378 and sCLU were regulated in A549/cDDP and Anip973/cDDP cells to investigate the effect of miR-378 on the sensitivity and apoptotic effects of cDDP. The effect of miR-378 upregulation on tumor growth was analyzed in a nude mouse xenograft model. The correlation between …

“Strong Women Make Strong Nations”: Women, Literature, And Sovereignty In Paula Gunn Allen And Virginia Woolf, Kristin Czarnecki

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This essay places Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas alongside Paula Gunn Allen’s The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Reading these landmark texts together helps establish a transnational dialogue essential to twenty-first-century literary and feminist studies. A Room of One’s Own and The Sacred Hoop resonate with each other in striving to recuperate women’s history and literature, long denied or suppressed by patriarchal tenets and texts. A fruitful dialogic also emerges between Three Guineas and The Sacred Hoop, both of which argue for the eradication of patriarchy in favor of female-centric social …

Bivariate Autoregressive State-Space Modeling Of Psychophysiological Time Series Data, Daniel M. Smith, Mohammadreza Abtahi, Amir Mohammad Amiri, Kunal Mankodiya

Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) are often used as physiological measures of psychological arousal in various neuropsychology experiments. In this exploratory study, we analyze HR and EDA data collected from four participants, each with a history of suicidal tendencies, during a cognitive task known as the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). A central aim of this investigation is to guide future research by assessing heterogeneity in the population of individuals with suicidal tendencies. Using a state-space modeling approach to time series analysis, we evaluate the effect of an exogenous input, i.e., the stimulus presentation rate which was …

Development Of Three-Dimensional Lung Multicellular Spheroids In Air- And Liquid-Interface Culture For The Evaluation Of Anticancer Therapeutics, Samantha A. Meenach, Alexandran N. Tsoras, Ronald C. Mcgarry, Heidi M. Mansour, J. Zach Hilt, Kimberly W. Anderson

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Three-dimensional (3D) lung multicellular spheroids (MCS) in liquid-covered culture (LCC) and air-interface culture (AIC) conditions have both been developed for the evaluation of aerosol anticancer therapeutics in solution and aerosols, respectively. The MCS were formed by seeding lung cancer cells on top of collagen where they formed spheroids due to the prevalence of cell-to-cell interactions. LCC MCS were exposed to paclitaxel (PTX) in media whereas AIC MCS were exposed to dry powder PEGylated phospholipid aerosol microparticles containing paclitaxel. The difference in viability for 2D versus 3D culture for both LCC and AIC was evaluated along with the effects of the …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanocomposite Microparticles (Ncmp) For The Treatment Of Cystic Fibrosis-Related Infections, Zimeng Wang, Samantha A. Meenach

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Purpose:

Pulmonary antibiotic delivery is recommended as maintenance therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients who experience chronic infections. However, abnormally thick and sticky mucus present in the respiratory tract of CF patients impairs mucus penetration and limits the efficacy of inhaled antibiotics. To overcome the obstacles of pulmonary antibiotic delivery, we have developed nanocomposite microparticles (nCmP) for the inhalation application of antibiotics in the form of dry powder aerosols.

Methods:

Azithromycin-loaded and rapamycin-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (NP) were prepared via nanoprecipitation and nCmP were prepared by spray drying and the physicochemical characteristics were evaluated.

Results:

The nanoparticles were …

Onsite Wastewarer Treatment Systems In A Changing Climate: Technology Robustness And Mechanisms, Jennifer Anne Cooper

Open Access Dissertations

Nearly 25% of U.S. households rely on onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS), or septic systems, to renovate wastewater before it is recharged to groundwater. These systems rely on soil processes as the final step in contaminant removal. Reliance on soil microbial, physical and chemical processes, which are sensitive to environmental perturbations (e.g. changes in pH, temperature, moisture, O₂, presence of toxins), may result in variable wastewater treatment and release of contaminants to groundwater.

The extent of treatment in the soil treatment area (STA; also known as drainfield or leachfield) depends on the volume of unsaturated soil the wastewater …

Oxidative State Of Songbirds During Migration And Best Practices To Communicate The Science, Megan M. Skrip

Open Access Dissertations

Managing oxidative stress is an important physiological function for all aerobic organisms, particularly during periods of prolonged high metabolic activity, such as long-distance migration. However, no previous study has investigated the oxidative status of songbirds at different stages of migration, whether that oxidative status depends on the condition of the birds, how birds use their condition in concert with access to free water to make stopover decisions, or the effects of oxidative challenges like flight on subsequent reproduction. Additionally, scientists undertaking such research are commonly expected to disseminate their results as a Broader Impact of their studies - typically to …

A Study Of The Regulatory And Environmental Factors Affecting Trimethylamine Oxide Accumulation In Marine Organisms, Abigail Brittany Bockus

Open Access Dissertations

Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) was first described in marine organisms as an osmolyte, involved in the balance of water and solutes. After its discovery, it was found to be part of a subset of osmotic constituents termed counteracting solutes. These solutes exhibit stabilizing properties and can preserve protein functionality against biological and environmental perturbations. TMAO acts as a universal stabilizer, protecting macromolecular structure and function in response to numerous stressors, including urea destabilization, hydrostatic pressure, temperature and salinity. The studies presented in this dissertation address the regulatory and environmental factors affecting TMAO accumulation.

Both exogenous and endogenous sources are involved in …