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Advancing Drug Discovery With Structural And Representation Learning Of Biological Systems, Mehdi Yazdani-Jahromi Jan 2025

Advancing Drug Discovery With Structural And Representation Learning Of Biological Systems, Mehdi Yazdani-Jahromi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The rapid emergence of global health crises, exemplified by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, underscores the profound limitations of conventional drug discovery methods, which are inherently protracted and resource-intensive. A robust, accelerated response framework demands the sophisticated deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) across the entire therapeutic pipeline. We propose a unified approach centered on \textbf{Structural and Representation Learning} to capture the intricate topological and chemical nuances of biological systems, thereby transforming complex molecular and genomic data into effective vector embeddings suitable for deep learning, enhancing predictive power, and crucially, interpretability. This dissertation details advancements across …

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Large Language Models And Networks: Edge Proposal, Synthetic Corpora, And Adaptive Node Generation, Nathan Gonzalez Jan 2025

Large Language Models And Networks: Edge Proposal, Synthetic Corpora, And Adaptive Node Generation, Nathan Gonzalez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have evolved from brittle rule-based engines through data-driven statistical models to today’s transformer architectures whose multi-head attention enables rich contextual reasoning. Against this backdrop, this dissertation unifies three complementary investigations that deepen our understanding of how large language models (LLMs) can reason over, generate, and strategically adapt language within networked settings. First, instruction-tuned LLMs are recast as latent-relationship detectors: by prompting models to hypothesize links between text-described entities, we recover edge sets that reconstruct social, thematic, and citation graphs with high precision, revealing how attention distributions encode topological cues. Recognizing the difficulty …

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Investigating Algal Toxin Occurrence And Water Quality Correlations In A Freshwater–Estuarine System, Sunday Sam Egon Jan 2025

Investigating Algal Toxin Occurrence And Water Quality Correlations In A Freshwater–Estuarine System, Sunday Sam Egon

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Cyanobacterial toxins, particularly microcystin-LR (MC-LR), present persistent risks in freshwater and estuarine environments, especially under flow-regulated system where hydrodynamics and biology interact complexly. This study investigates the occurrence of MC-LR across a lake–estuary water matrixes, sampling 13 sites from Lake Okeechobee through Caloosahatchee canal, river, and estuarine zones from March to September. Water quality parameters including conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a, and phycocyanin were measured in situ. The concentration of MC-LR, and nutrients (ammonium, orthophosphate, and nitrite concentrations) were measured in the laboratory. Multivariate correlation, principal component analysis, and multiple regression were employed to determine dominant drivers of toxin occurrence. …

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Exploring The Genetic Structure And Evolutionary History Of Marine Fish Populations Across Micronesia, Pavithiran Amirthalingam Jan 2025

Exploring The Genetic Structure And Evolutionary History Of Marine Fish Populations Across Micronesia, Pavithiran Amirthalingam

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Most marine species exist as metapopulations, composed of subpopulations inhabiting patchily distributed habitat. Connectivity among these subpopulations is primarily facilitated by larval dispersal via ocean currents. Understanding patterns of population connectivity is crucial for evaluating metapopulation dynamics and ensuring long-term population stability in managed species. Micronesia, a vast region in the North Pacific with hundreds of islands, is the northern extent for many tropical species and is thought to function as vital stepping-stones between the central and western Pacific. However, limited phylogeographic studies in the region have left significant knowledge gaps regarding metapopulation dynamics. Here I address this knowledge gap …

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Characterizing Muscle Control As An Emg Visual Matrix, Peter W. Makary Jan 2025

Characterizing Muscle Control As An Emg Visual Matrix, Peter W. Makary

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Evaluating electrical muscle activity patterns using surface electromyography (EMG) is a widely used technique to assess movement in research settings, but its use has not been translated to clinical settings. This study aims to investigate the potential of evaluating muscle activity control through a visual matrix display. EMG data from older and younger adults collected in a previous seated locomotor perturbation study was used to generate visual matrices representing their lower-limb ankle muscle activity. Visual matrices from each condition consist of 20x20 grids, where each axis represents activity from an individual muscle of muscle pairs, such as the tibialis anterior …

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Deepfake Detection And Defense: An Analysis Of Techniques And Robustness, Nigel Francis Jan 2025

Deepfake Detection And Defense: An Analysis Of Techniques And Robustness, Nigel Francis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The rise of deepfake media powered by the abrupt and rapid advances in generative AI, has introduced serious concerns and challenges in digital content verification. Although there is a wide range of detection strategies currently in use and being proposed, many remain limited in their ability to generalize across manipulation types, defend against adversarial attacks, or operate efficiently in real world scenarios. This paper presents a survey of deepfake detection and defense techniques, organized into ten technical categories: frequency-based, spatial-based, temporal-based, physiological-based, multimodal detection, adversarial attacks and defenses, forensic noise-based methods, watermarking and prevention strategies and dataset contributions. Drawing on …

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Down By The Tracks, Ova ‘Cross The Trussle: Exploring Systemic And Structural Barriers To Perinatal Healthcare Access For Black Women In Rural Alabama, Trinity C. Johnson Jan 2025

Down By The Tracks, Ova ‘Cross The Trussle: Exploring Systemic And Structural Barriers To Perinatal Healthcare Access For Black Women In Rural Alabama, Trinity C. Johnson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation uses semi-structured interviews (n=42), participant observation, archival research, and storytelling, it employs frameworks of structural violence, intersectionality, and reproductive justice to situate Black women’s maternal health within broader histories of racialized medical neglect and reproductive governance. The study explores two questions: (1) What obstacles do Black women in rural Alabama face in accessing perinatal healthcare? (2) How do they navigate these barriers, and what strategies do they employ? A mixed-methods approach—including ethnography, quantitative analysis, and GIS—guides this research, with storytelling serving as both a methodological intervention and a challenge to dominant anthropological narratives. Findings highlight three major themes: …

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Long Term Trends In The Reproductive Output And Phenology Of Three Marine Turtle Species, Jeena Prasertlum Jan 2025

Long Term Trends In The Reproductive Output And Phenology Of Three Marine Turtle Species, Jeena Prasertlum

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The UCF Marine Turtle Research Group (MTRG) has monitored sea turtle nesting along the Brevard County, Florida coastline for over 40 years, yielding one of the world's longest continuous sea turtle reproductive datasets. These data offer key demographic insights for conservation and species recovery assessments. Given climate change’s worsening effects, it is critical to analyze long-term trends in hatchling emergence success and phenology, which impact reproductive output, population growth, and hatchling dispersal. Here I compare the long-term reproductive output trends of loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles from …

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Rethinking Trust In The Refugee Resettlement Process: How Service Providers Can Enable Refugee Agency Through Diasporic Connections, Mahfoudha Sidelemine, Emily D. Campion Jan 2025

Rethinking Trust In The Refugee Resettlement Process: How Service Providers Can Enable Refugee Agency Through Diasporic Connections, Mahfoudha Sidelemine, Emily D. Campion

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Current guidance for refugee resettlement agency workers encourages the simultaneous pursuit of trust-building and administrative tasks (e.g., housing, transportation and employment). This dual goal is resource-intensive, and focusing on the former may come at a cost to the latter. The purpose of the current research is to challenge the importance of trust-building by resettlement agencies. Drawing from our qualitative data from in-depth interviews with resettled refugees (N = 20) and agency workers (N = 15), we adopt a grounded theory approach and find that the burden of responsibility for both caregiving and administrative responsibilities can overtax agency workers …

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Manifesting A Shift In The "Overton Window": The Threat Of Project 2025 On The Lgbtq+ Community In Higher Education, Athena M. King, Sara Sanatkar Jan 2025

Manifesting A Shift In The "Overton Window": The Threat Of Project 2025 On The Lgbtq+ Community In Higher Education, Athena M. King, Sara Sanatkar

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Since the first Trump administration, historically marginalized groups in the United States have been subjected to greater instances of bigotry and discrimination due to conservative influence on sociopolitical institutions. These actions suggest a shift in the "Overton Window," whereby policy preferences previously deemed "unacceptable" are given consideration in the mainstream, especially by conservative policy actors. "Project 2025" is a comprehensive plan to restructure the federal government according to conservative dictates in the second Trump administration. This article is an examination of how higher education may be impacted by this plan, especially as it relates to LGBTQ+ faculty, administration, staff, and …

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Dordt University 2025-26 Catalog, Dordt University. Registrar's Office Jan 2025

Dordt University 2025-26 Catalog, Dordt University. Registrar's Office

Academic Catalogs

Academic Catalog for 2025-26

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Development Of Physics-Based Deterioration Models For Reinforced Soil Retaining Structures, Amr Morsy, Islam Ebo Jan 2025

Development Of Physics-Based Deterioration Models For Reinforced Soil Retaining Structures, Amr Morsy, Islam Ebo

Mineta Transportation Institute

Reinforced soil walls are key earth retention features in the transportation infrastructure. They are used to support and retain soil in a wide variety of crucial structures, such as highways, bridges, and railways, to ensure stability. They also provide solutions for constructing embankments and slopes in constrained spaces, allowing for efficient land use and improved infrastructure planning. This study used advanced numerical modeling to improve the understanding of the behavior and long-term performance of the aging reinforced soil walls from the 1970s for asset management purposes. An asset-scale model was created to simulate the effects of weather on these walls. …

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Meta-Narrative Review Of Cancer Of Unknown Primary Patient Outcomes In Response To Advanced Molecular Technique Driven Diagnostics And Treatment Modalities, David A. Figueroa, Ariana D. Harding, Vanessa Mendoza, Adam K. Walston, Mary I. Coolbaugh-Murphy, Denise M. Juroske, Brandon C. Greer Jan 2025

Meta-Narrative Review Of Cancer Of Unknown Primary Patient Outcomes In Response To Advanced Molecular Technique Driven Diagnostics And Treatment Modalities, David A. Figueroa, Ariana D. Harding, Vanessa Mendoza, Adam K. Walston, Mary I. Coolbaugh-Murphy, Denise M. Juroske, Brandon C. Greer

Research Methods Poster Session 2025

No abstract provided.

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Under New Management?: Sovereign Wealth Funds And Their Ownership Of U.S. Sports Teams, Benjamin K. Moyer Jan 2025

Under New Management?: Sovereign Wealth Funds And Their Ownership Of U.S. Sports Teams, Benjamin K. Moyer

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In October 2021, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (“SWF”) successfully purchased the English Premier League soccer team Newcastle United F.C. for $400 million. With this transaction, Saudi Arabia joined fellow Gulf countries, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, in owning a major European soccer team through one of its state’s SWF. States have long used their SWFs to invest in foreign markets, but recent trends have transformed these originally strictly financial vehicles into political tools. Since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, many states have used their SWFs not only to produce financial gains but also to generate soft power through political …

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Iere Annual Report 2025, Erin Largo-Wight, Heather Barnes Truelove, Kelly Rhoden, Nicole Lowe, Ruby Cox Jan 2025

Iere Annual Report 2025, Erin Largo-Wight, Heather Barnes Truelove, Kelly Rhoden, Nicole Lowe, Ruby Cox

Annual Reports

2025 Annual Report of the Institute for Environmental Research and Education

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Toxoplasma Gondii Infection – A Neglected Parasitic Infection And Overlooked Risk Of Cardiovascular Events, Patra Chisom Ezeamii, Nenrot Gopep, Jian Zhang Jan 2025

Toxoplasma Gondii Infection – A Neglected Parasitic Infection And Overlooked Risk Of Cardiovascular Events, Patra Chisom Ezeamii, Nenrot Gopep, Jian Zhang

Eagles Talking About the Public’s Health

No abstract provided.

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Air Pollution Exposure During Pregnancy And Its Association With Postpartum Depression: A Crucial Public Health Concern Demanding Immediate Attention, Jacob O. Gakpo, Padde Musa, Atin Adhikari Jan 2025

Air Pollution Exposure During Pregnancy And Its Association With Postpartum Depression: A Crucial Public Health Concern Demanding Immediate Attention, Jacob O. Gakpo, Padde Musa, Atin Adhikari

Eagles Talking About the Public’s Health

No abstract provided.

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Beyond The Latch: Supporting Maternal Health During Breastfeeding, Emmanuela Nwaonumah, Amenah Qotineh, Hadeer Hegazy, Logan Cowan, Joanne Chopak-Foss Jan 2025

Beyond The Latch: Supporting Maternal Health During Breastfeeding, Emmanuela Nwaonumah, Amenah Qotineh, Hadeer Hegazy, Logan Cowan, Joanne Chopak-Foss

Eagles Talking About the Public’s Health

No abstract provided.

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Mossy Nests In The Delaware Museum Of Nature And Science: Uncovering Trends In Moss Use In Nest Construction, Ashley C. Kempken, Tom Pizzolato Jan 2025

Mossy Nests In The Delaware Museum Of Nature And Science: Uncovering Trends In Moss Use In Nest Construction, Ashley C. Kempken, Tom Pizzolato

Delaware Ornithologist

No abstract provided.

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Foraging Substrates Of Insect-Eating Birds In The Delaware Piedmont During The Fall, Ian Stewart, Jim White Jan 2025

Foraging Substrates Of Insect-Eating Birds In The Delaware Piedmont During The Fall, Ian Stewart, Jim White

Delaware Ornithologist

No abstract provided.

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Chondrogenic And Chondroprotective Response Of Composite Collagen I/Ii-Hyaluronic Acid Scaffolds Within An Inflammatory Osteoarthritic Environment, Carly M. Battistoni, Javier Munoz Briones, Douglas K. Brubaker, Alyssa Panitch, Julie C. Liu Jan 2025

Chondrogenic And Chondroprotective Response Of Composite Collagen I/Ii-Hyaluronic Acid Scaffolds Within An Inflammatory Osteoarthritic Environment, Carly M. Battistoni, Javier Munoz Briones, Douglas K. Brubaker, Alyssa Panitch, Julie C. Liu

School of Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Inflammation plays a key role in cartilage damage that occurs in osteoarthritis (OA). However, in vitro assessments of tissue-engineered constructs for cartilage regeneration generally do not consider their performance in the presence of inflammation. In this work, the chondrogenic differentiation potential of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) was evaluated in the presence of both chondrogenic factors and inflammatory cytokines, and cartilage formation, degradative response, and inflammatory response were characterized. The addition of cytokines reduced cartilage production, increased cell proliferation, and resulted in an increase in inflammatory markers. Incorporation of hyaluronic acid (HA) had little impact on both collagen fibril microstructure and …

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Free Energy Approaches To Understanding The Mechanism Of Membrane-Active Peptides, Hannah R. Scott Jan 2025

Free Energy Approaches To Understanding The Mechanism Of Membrane-Active Peptides, Hannah R. Scott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the world today. Current methods of treatment fail to distinguish the difference between cancer cells and cells of healthy tissue, leading to off-target effects, often with terminal outcomes. A potential solution to this challenge is to target the cancer cells’ microenvironment. One universal characteristic across all cancer cells is the acidic extracellular environment. The pH-Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP) is a membrane-active peptide with acid-sensitive function, undergoing folding and insertion into a transmembrane alpha-helix. pHLIP is a promising candidate to be used to deliver anti-cancer agents exclusively to cancer cells. Although the mechanism …

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Designing Into The Woods: An In-Depth Analysis, Jackson Berhow Jan 2025

Designing Into The Woods: An In-Depth Analysis, Jackson Berhow

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis is intended to provide insight into the costume design process for West Virginia University’s production of Into the Woods. This thesis will document the entire process, starting with a close reading of the musical exploring its symbols, themes, and characters with some theory crafting thrown in for good measure. This will be followed by the early stages of the show’s production, as well as a full explanation of the development of each character’s design throughout the show’s conceptual evolution. The show’s production process will also be explored, highlighting notable instances and how this impacted the costume design.

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A Post Apocalyptic Romp: Designing Costumes For Phoebe In Winter, Emmalee Berger Jan 2025

A Post Apocalyptic Romp: Designing Costumes For Phoebe In Winter, Emmalee Berger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis will document the process of costume designing for Phoebe in Winter by Jen Silverman. It will examine the process from first read of the script through initial and final design meetings and to execution and production of the design. This will report on challenges specific to this production, such as nudity and violence on an academic stage, and the subsequent solutions. Phoebe in Winter was produced by West Virginia University School of Theatre and Dance in October of 2024. The design process began in February of the same year.

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Inactivation Kinetics Of Escherichia Coli And Listeria Monocytogenes In Edible Insects, Precious Aduloju Jan 2025

Inactivation Kinetics Of Escherichia Coli And Listeria Monocytogenes In Edible Insects, Precious Aduloju

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Edible insects are emerging as sustainable and nutritious alternatives to conventional protein sources. However, concerns about food safety, particularly the presence of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes, remain a barrier to consumer acceptance and industrial use. This study evaluated the effectiveness of thermal processing in inactivating E. coli, L. monocytogenes, and their non-pathogenic surrogates (E. coli JM109 and Listeria innocua) in both fresh and dehydrated forms of Tenebrio molitor (mealworm) and Acheta domesticus (cricket). It also evaluated the influence of insect species, moisture content, and temperature on microbial inactivation. A microbial challenge …

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Mechanisms Of Neurovascular Dysfunction In Chronic Ischemic Stroke: Insights From Sex And Aging, Briana L. Clary Jan 2025

Mechanisms Of Neurovascular Dysfunction In Chronic Ischemic Stroke: Insights From Sex And Aging, Briana L. Clary

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ischemic stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability world-wide. These disabilities can include both cognitive impairment and sensorimotor deficits. Due to the prevalence of post-stroke functional deficits, it is imperative to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop new treatments. These cognitive deficits are a result of damage to the neurovascular unit (NVU), a term used to describe the relationship between the cerebral vasculature and other cell types within the brain. Cognitive impairment as a result of damage to the NVU is referred to as vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), and it is estimated that between 25-30% …

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Mathematical Contributions To The Study Of Chemotaxis And Cell Signaling, Hajr Zam Jan 2025

Mathematical Contributions To The Study Of Chemotaxis And Cell Signaling, Hajr Zam

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation presents results from two mathematical projects concerned with the biology of cells. Chapter 1 provides biological background and places the two mathematical problems in the context of cell signaling. The larger project, with Prof. H. Hattori on a chemotaxis model is presented in Chapters 3 and 4. Work with Prof. \'{A}. Hal\'{a}sz on a chemical reaction network system with linear multimers and two types of labels is presented in Chapter 2. The chemotaxis system describes the one-dimensional dynamics of a species of cells with two chemical species, a chemo-attractant and chemo-repellent. The goal is to analyze the behavior …

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“The Culture - I Wish It Were Less Intense And More Joyful And Full Of Life”: A Youth Participatory Action Study On Teen Mental Health And Wellness, Marna Wolak Jan 2025

“The Culture - I Wish It Were Less Intense And More Joyful And Full Of Life”: A Youth Participatory Action Study On Teen Mental Health And Wellness, Marna Wolak

Doctoral Dissertations

Studies indicate that a grave mental health crisis is disproportionately impacting female-identified youth. While school districts have made attempts to address this problem, those most impacted - young people - have frequently found their voices overlooked by adults seeking solutions. Therefore, this Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study, grounded in humanizing and liberatory pedagogy, examines how high school-aged students in an urban school district understand and define their experiences with mental health challenges and suggest strategies and interventions for improved wellness. Two sets of research questions guide this study: 1) Primary questions: What are youth perspectives about how their mental …

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Impact Of High School Racial Composition On Intercultural Competence Of Undergraduate Students, Ryuto Hashimoto Jan 2025

Impact Of High School Racial Composition On Intercultural Competence Of Undergraduate Students, Ryuto Hashimoto

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Since the US population continues to become more diverse, it is important to foster students' intercultural competence (ICC) so that they can work collaboratively with people from different backgrounds. The existing studies have examined the impact of socialization at school on youths' development in their attitudes and behaviors in the context of classroom. However, we know little about whether or not the organizational and individual characteristics have an impact on students' ICC development. This study explored the impact of high school racial composition and individual factors such as gender on the ICC of undergraduate students. The study used the course …

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Characterization Of Actin Capping Protein Beta Isoform Specific Dynamics In Metastatic Cells, Etinosa Osamudiamen Jan 2025

Characterization Of Actin Capping Protein Beta Isoform Specific Dynamics In Metastatic Cells, Etinosa Osamudiamen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

To gain insight into the mechanism of cancer progression, we examined the isoform-specific roles of actin capping protein (CPβ1 and CPβ2) related to actin cytoskeletal dynamics and metastatic progression in human uterine epithelial cells (HeLa). We employed qPCR to determine the relative expression levels of CPβ1 and CPβ2 in actively growing HeLa cells. Our findings confirmed that CPβ1 and CPβ2 are differentially expressed, with CPβ2 being the predominant isoform, two-fold higher, consistent with its expression in other non-muscle tissues. To extend our expression studies, the localization and spatial distribution of the isoforms were visualized via immunolocalization studies using isoform-specific monoclonal …

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