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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Survival Of B. Horneckiae Spores Under Ground-Simulated, Sneha Tharayil, Parag Vaishampayan Aug 2012

Survival Of B. Horneckiae Spores Under Ground-Simulated, Sneha Tharayil, Parag Vaishampayan

STAR Program Research Presentations

Increasing efforts to find and study habitable conditions and the possibility of life on extraterrestrial cosmic bodies have also deepened the need for planetary protection advancements to prevent possibilities of forward and backward contamination. Despite stringent precautions to ensure spacecraft cleanliness, a number of spore-forming bacteria, including the biofilm forming strain, Bacillus horneckiae have been isolated from spacecraft associated surfaces. B. horneckiae spores have demonstrated unusually high resistance to rigorous sterilization procedures, and extreme conditions, including intense UV radiation. This exceptionally high tolerance of extreme conditions demonstrated by spore-forming bacteria highlighted the need to assess the viability of these microbes …


The Us27 Protein Of Human Cytomegalovirus Enhances Signaling By Human Chemokine Receptor Cxcr4, Kathleen Arnolds, Juliet V. Spencer Apr 2012

The Us27 Protein Of Human Cytomegalovirus Enhances Signaling By Human Chemokine Receptor Cxcr4, Kathleen Arnolds, Juliet V. Spencer

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a prevalent pathogen that causes little disease except in immune-compromised hosts. HCMV establishes life-long latency by manipulating host immune responses. We have found that the US27 protein profoundly alters the activity of host chemokine receptor CXCR4. Cells expressing US27 and CXCR4 exhibited greater migration and calcium signaling than cells expressing CXCR4 alone. The mechanism for this enhanced signaling appears to be increased expression of CXCR4, and we are continuing to investigate how US27 causes up-regulation of CXCR4. This work is expected to clarify the role of US27 in immune evasion and provide insights into treatment strategies.