Life Sciences Commons^™

Outcomes Of Therapy-Related Non-Core Binding Factor Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Venetoclax-Based Therapies, Jayastu Senapati, Jennifer Croden, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Koichi Takahashi, Naval G Daver, Tapan M Kadia, Gautam Borthakur, Nicholas James Short, Elias Jabbour, Fadi Haddad, Jennifer Marvin-Peek, Hussein A Abbas, Prithviraj Bose, Guilin Tang, Sanam Loghavi, Elizabeth J Shpall, Jeremy Ramdial, Uday R Popat, Richard E Champlin, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop M Kantarjian, Courtney D Dinardo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prognosis in therapy‐related acute myeloid leukemia (T‐AML) remains poor, but understanding outcomes with venetoclax (VEN)‐based therapy is relevant. We retrospectively analyzed 317 adult patients with newly diagnosed T‐AML focusing on lower intensity therapy (LIT) VEN‐containing regimens. Patients with an antecedent myeloid disorder before AML diagnosis were excluded. The median age was 69 years (range 21–92); 50% evaluated patients had a complex karyotype, and 40% evaluated patients had a TP53 mutation. Composite complete response rates were higher with LIT + VEN compared to LIT (58% vs. 40%, P = 0.003) but were similar in intensive chemotherapy (IC) + VEN versus IC …

Neurological Recovery After Ich Is Mediated By The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Bilirubin Interplay Through Improved Erythrophagocytosis, Xiurong Zhao, Shun-Ming Ting, Guanghua Sun, Jaroslaw Aronowski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hematoma clearance after ICH is a pro-hemostatic process aiming at repair/recovery and is achieved through microglia/macrophages (MMΦ)-mediated erythrophagocytosis. Upon the engulfment of masses of erythrocytes and toxic hemolysis products, hemoglobin and heme, phagocytes convert them to bilirubin (BrB). Bilirubin is essentially not soluble in water and when overproduced, it precipitates within the cell causing injury. Thus, keeping bilirubin soluble and at a low intracellular level is needed for proper function of MMΦ. Here, using cultured microglia (MG), we found that intracellular formation of BrB in microglia during erythrophagocytosis coincides with the activation of transcription factor AhR, and AhR target genes …

Investigation Of Teratogenic Concerns In The Coronavirus Disease Of 2019 Era, Kate Richardson, Emily C Daykin, Kathleen Shields, S Shahrukh Hashmi, Lorrie Harris-Sagaribay, Molly Daniels, Myla Ashfaq

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: MotherToBaby (MTB) is a teratogen information service that provides information about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding to the public and healthcare providers. During the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, MTB received an influx of queries regarding the teratogenicity of the virus and the vaccine. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency and type of exposures asked about prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic through March 2022 and to evaluate the demographics of individuals who made inquiries.

Methods: Data from MTB contacts (2018-2022) were accessed through a data-sharing agreement. The data were cleaned and …

Development And Implementation Of An Mri-Only Simulation, Planning, And Treatment Workflow For Prostate Radiotherapy Using Synthetic Ct On Mr-Linac, Reza Reiazi, Yao Ding, Sarath Vijayan, Jinzhong Yang, Ergys Subashi, Yao Zhao, Belinda M Lee, Hunter L Emory, Vi T Dinh, Greg L Swiedom, Jie Deng, Mu-Han Lin, Peter Balter, Rajat J Kudchadker, Elaine E Cha, Seungtaek Choi, Yusung Kim, Eun Young Han, Surendra Prajapati

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: We evaluated the feasibility of a magnetic resonance (MR)-only simulation, planning, and treatment (MROSPT) workflow for prostate cancer patients using synthetic computed tomography (sCT) generated from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. By validating sCT-based dose calculations, we aimed to streamline radiotherapy workflows, eliminate the need for CT simulation, and enable reliable clinical implementation of MR-based radiotherapy for MR-linac (MRL).

Methods: We developed a comprehensive workflow encompassing the entire process from initial consultation to treatment delivery. After developing the workflow, a retrospective dosimetric validation study was performed on nine men with prostate cancer. They underwent CT and MRI simulations, and …

Benzothiazole Sulfones As A Tool For Peptide Modification And Cleavage, Phoebe R. Rubiio, Gavin A. Clausen, Zachary D. Ruighaver, Abigail F. Dalton, John P. Blobe, Amanda L. Moore, Christopher R. Shugrue

Chemistry Faculty Publications

We report the development of a new benzothiazole sulfone (BTS) tool for peptide modification and cleavage. Benzothiazole sulfones are electrophiles that rapidly react with thiols in nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) reactions. Alkyne-containing BTS compounds were incorporated onto azidolysine-containing peptides through copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloadditions (CuAACs). BTS-containing peptides were found to react rapidly with two equivalents of thiol nucleophiles at room temperature in 30 min or less. BTS-containing peptides were conjugated to a variety of different compounds, including small molecules, fluorophores, and peptides. Alternatively, a BTS-based cleavable linker could also be synthesized with small molecule cargo, such as biotin, and …

Study Of Nano-Bio Interactions In Biological Fluids: Modelling And Simulations., Beatrice Cipriani

Doctoral

Nanoparticles have attracted significant interest due to their tunable properties and unique physicochemical characteristics, offering promising applications in drug delivery, biosensing, and diagnostics. Their use in medicine has the potential to reshape current paradigms by enabling more efficient, precise, and patient-centric approaches. Although advances in nanomaterial synthesis have rapidly expanded the library of available nanodevices, our understanding of the mechanisms that govern their behaviour at biological interfaces remains limited. Nanoparticles are similar in size to biomolecules found in biological environments, leading to complex, competitive interactions that affect their functional performance, biological fate, and acquired bioidentity. Unlike traditional small molecules, which …

Protein Allostery Probed By Ligands Across Sites, Virgil A. Woods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Allostery is a pervasive regulatory principle throughout biology, yet the structural pathways by which distal inputs alter active‑site chemistry within protein structures remain incompletely defined and exploited. This dissertation uses protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) as a tractable model to map those pathways with complementary experimental and computational tools. I integrate high‑resolution hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), room-temperature crystallography, NMR, steady-state kinetics, crystallographic pseudo-ensembles, and machine-learning-guided ligand discovery. The working premise is that regulation reflects redistribution within a conformational ensemble rather than a binary switch. That orthogonal perturbations by small molecules, mutations, and protein partners can be used to both …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Habit Recording Tool To Improve Mental Health Of University (Auc) Students, Noran Nounou

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: According to previous research, the mental health of university students has become an alarming public health concern worldwide. Most of the mental disorders begin among young adults, attributed to the transition to university and increased financial and societal pressure. Despite the important effect of daily habits on mental health, there still remain research gaps in Egypt in exploring their effect among university students and exploring the potential opportunities to support their well-being. Objectives: To assess depression rates among AUC students and to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed habit recording board, Make an Impact (MAI) to improve depression …

Cleavage And Polyadenylation Specificity Factor Subunit 5 Regulates Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Expansion And Hypoxic Response, Scott D Collum, Lisha Zhu, Tingting W Mills, Rene Girard, Jamie Tran, Tinne C J Mertens, Cory Wilson, Nancy Wareing, Erik E Suarez, Howard J Huang, Rahat Hussain, Bindu Akkanti, Wenjin J Zheng, Hari K Yalamanchili, Bela Patel, Eric J Wagner, Sandeep Agarwal, Harry Karmouty-Quintana

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a fatal condition that affects individuals with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a multiorgan fibrotic disease with limited treatment options. A central feature of PH is vascular remodeling, defined by the narrowing of the arteriole lumen due to cell proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition. Herein, we identify a central mechanism that can regulate multiple transcripts important for vascular remodeling. The highlight of our study is the demonstration that reduced pulmonary artery smooth muscle (PASMC) Nudt21, which codes for the RNA binding protein Cleavage and Polyadenylation Specificity Factor Subunit 5 (CPSF5) The, known to regulate alternative polyadenylation, results …

Life-Extending Interventions Do Not Necessarily Result In Compression Of Morbidity: A Case Example Offering A Robust Statistical Approach, Deependra K Thapa, Wasiuddin Najam, Erik S Parker, Xi Rita Wang, Daniel L Smith, Ufuk Beyaztas, James F Nelson, Steven N Austad, Gary A Churchill, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Despite extensive research on life-extending interventions, rigorous statistical techniques to determine their impact on compression of morbidity (CoM) are rarely used. We present a case example of an analytical method for examining the effect of life-extending dietary interventions on CoM by comparing the rates of decline in vitality and survival toward the end of life. Using data from previous experimental studies in mice, we calculated the average rate of vitality decline by fitting exponential decay models to individual vitality trajectories and compared this rate with the rate of survival decline estimated from Cox proportional hazards model. The results showed that, …

Enteral And Intravenous Supplementation Of Arginine And Citrulline Fail To Prevent Necrotizing Enterocolitis In Preterm Neonatal Pigs, Caitlin Vonderohe, Julia Garcia Mancebo, Valeria Melendez Hebib, Barbara Stoll, Inka Didelija, Sarah Elefson, Mahmoud Mohammad, Brooklynn Earls, Greg Guthrie, Doug Burrin

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common gastrointestinal emergency in preterm infants with a morality rate that approaches 50%. Arginine has been widely studied in the field of clinical nutrition as a supplement for patients experiencing critical illness because it can be metabolized into nitric oxide, an important agent for supporting immunity and microcirculation. Citrulline has received less attention but can be metabolized into arginine and has a much longer plasma half-life than arginine. We used the highly translational preterm pig model to determine the effect of intravenous and enteral supplementation of arginine and citrulline on NEC incidence in …

Circulating Metabolites, Genetics And Lifestyle Factors In Relation To Future Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes, Jun Li, Jie Hu, Huan Yun, Zhendong Mei, Xingyan Wang, Kai Luo, Marta Guasch-Ferré, Xikun Han, Buu Truong, Jordi Merino, Chengyong Jia, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Casey M Rebholz, Eun Hye Moon, Taryn Alkis, Guning Liu, Jie Yao, Xiyuan Zhang, Bianca C Porneala, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Thomas J Wang, Josée Dupuis, Elizabeth Selvin, Xiuqing Guo, Shilpa N Bhupathiraju, Jennifer A Brody, Yongmei Liu, Alexis C Wood, Kari E North, Su Yon Jung, Ching-Ti Liu, Nona Sotoodehnia, Simin Liu, Lesley F Tinker, A Heather Eliassen, Joann E Manson, Jose C Florez, Robert E Gerszten, Clary B Clish, Liming Liang, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Katherine L Tucker, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Miguel Angel Martínez-González, Kathryn M Rexrode, James B Meigs, Eric Boerwinkle, Robert C Kaplan, Frank B Hu, Bing Yu, Qibin Qi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The human metabolome reflects complex metabolic states affected by genetic and environmental factors. However, metabolites associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk and their determinants remain insufficiently characterized. Here we integrated blood metabolomic, genomic and lifestyle data from up to 23,634 initially T2D-free participants from ten cohorts. Of 469 metabolites examined, 235 were associated with incident T2D during up to 26 years of follow-up, including 67 associations not previously reported across bile acid, lipid, carnitine, urea cycle and arginine/proline, glycine and histidine pathways. Further genetic analyses linked these metabolites to signaling pathways and clinical traits central to T2D pathophysiology, including …

Bet Inhibitor-Based Combinations Targeting Novel Dependencies In Mecom-Rearranged (R) Aml, Christine E Birdwell, Warren Fiskus, Christopher P Mill, Tapan M Kadia, Naval Daver, Courtney D Dinardo, Koji Sasaki, John A Davis, Kaberi Das, Hanxi Hou, Antrix Jain, Anna Malovannaya, Lauren B Flores, Rasoul Pourebrahim, Selina Yuan, Xiaoping Su, Michele Ceribelli, Kapil N Bhalla

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

MECOM rearrangement in AML involves either inv(3)(q21;q26.2) or t(3;3)(q21;q26.2), where the dislocated GATA2 enhancer drives overexpression of the transcriptional regulator EVI1, causes concomitant GATA2 repression, and promotes AML progression, aggressive phenotype and therapy refractoriness. Treatment with BET protein inhibitor (BETi) induces in vitro and in vivo efficacy in MECOM-r AML cells. Utilizing an unbiased, high-throughput drug screen, focused on mechanistically-annotated drugs, we identified BRD4, PIK3CA, mTOR, BCL-xL and XIAP as dependencies in the MECOM-r AML cells. Monotherapy with mivebresib (BETi), dactolisib (PI3K/mTORi) and LCL161 (IAPi) dose-dependently induced greater lethality in PD MECOM-r versus non-MECOM-r AML cells. RNA-Seq and/or mass spectrometry …

Vulnerability Of Marine Megafauna To Global At-Sea Anthropogenic Threats, Michelle Vancompernolle, Juliet Morris, Hannah J. Calich, Jorge P. Rodríguez, Sarah A. Marley, Jessica R. Pearce, Briana Abrahms, Katya Abrantes, André S. Afonso, Alex Aguilar, Andrews Agyekumhene, Tomonari Akamatsu, Susanne Åkesson, Nyimale G. Alawa, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, R. C. Anderson, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Javier A. Arata, Gonzalo Araujo, Martin C. Arostegui, Haritz Arrizabalaga

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Marine megafauna species are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats. To evaluate the risk of such threats, species’ vulnerability to each threat must first be determined. We build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species by assessing the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at-sea threats. The threats we considered included individual fishing gear types, climate-change-related subthreats not previously assessed, and threats associated with coastal impacts and maritime disturbances. Our ratings resulted in 70 species having high vulnerability (v > 0.778 …

Animal Taxa Threatened By Adverse Fire Regimes In Western Australia: A Synthesis And Outlook, Tim S. Doherty, Mark G. Allen, Karlene Bain, Stephen J. Beatty, Allan H. Burbidge, Renee A. Catullo, Sarah Comer, Ben Corey, Saul J. Cowen, Robert A. Davis, Martin A. Dziminski, J. Anthony Friend, Bruce Greatwich, Mark S. Harvey, Hannah Killian, Michael W. Klunzinger, Damian C. Lettoof, Nicola J. Mitchell, Melinda Moir, Harry A. Moore, David L. Morgan, Ian J. Radford, Michael G. Rix, Tom Vigilante, Adrian F. Wayne, Corey Whisson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Adverse fire regimes threaten biodiversity, potentially leading to population declines and increased extinction risk. Understanding how varying fire regimes affect threatened species is essential for effective ecosystem management, including in Western Australia where diverse ecosystems are exposed to wildfires, Indigenous burning, and prescribed fire. We compiled and synthesised data on the threat of adverse fire regimes to threatened animal taxa in Western Australia. Using a threat classification scheme, we ranked adverse fire regimes as having either no, low, medium, high, or unknown impact on each taxon. A total of 212 taxa were reviewed, 153 (72%) of which are considered fire-threatened: …

Getting Edgy: Implications Of Fragmented Seagrass Meadows For Fish Assemblages, Simone Strydom, Kathy Murray, Molly Moustaka, Glenn Hyndes, Shaun Wilson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Context: Seagrasses are key marine habitats that are increasingly degraded globally due to anthropogenic disturbances and climate change, compromising the ecosystem services they provide. While seagrass loss is often patchy, the ecological consequences of meadow fragmentation on marine fauna remains unclear. Objectives: This study (1) quantified decadal change in seagrass habitat and fragmentation of the globally important meadows of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area following the 2011 marine heatwave (MHW); and (2) assessed how meadow structure and fragmentation influence fish assemblages. Methods: We integrated in situ seagrass data with seascape metrics derived from habitat maps generated from satellite imagery …

A Typology Of Australian Terrestrial Bird Communities, Martine Maron, Karlina Indraswari, Jonathan Mills-Anderson, Courtney B. Melton, Hugh Possingham, James Radford, April E. Reside, Andrew Bennett, Allan Burbidge, Michael Clarke, Rohan H. Clarke, Robert Davis, Teresa Eyre, Amanda Freeman, Michelle Gibson, Birgita Hansen, Jacinta Humphrey, Nigel Jackett, Bryony Palmer, Alex Kutt, Nicholas P. Leseberg, Richard Loyn, Alex Maisey, Golo Maurer, Helen Mayfield, Paul Mcdonald

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: Holistic measurement of the response of fauna communities to interventions requires suitable community condition metrics. However, the development of such metrics is hindered by the absence of broad-scale typologies at suitable spatial and ecological resolutions. We aimed to derive a preliminary typology of terrestrial bird communities for Australia, based on bird co-occurrence data, and describe and map the likely distribution of each community type across the continent. Location: Mainland Australia, continental islands. Time Period: 1973–2022. Major Taxa Studied: Aves. Methods: We used fine-scale co-occurrence data from standard 2-ha surveys in BirdLife Australia's citizen-science database. After filtering to reduce bias, …

Humanity Is Evolving Its Consciousness: The Role Of Archetypal Energies As Guides During An Unfolding Weeding Out And Alignment Process, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Humanity is evolving its consciousness at individual and collective levels.  Given these seemingly tumultuous times, as of this writing (January 2026), to make such a statement may sound like a strange thing to say.  However, I suggest that if you are alive today and if you are reading these words, these are the very times for which you were born—to assist Humanity as it evolves its consciousness with your unique gifts, whatever they may be.  That is, this period of our individual and collective human being-ness may be characterized as an unfolding period of weeding out and alignment with the …

Global Dose Prescription Variances Exemplified Through Oropharynx Cancer: When Is 70 Gray 70 Gray?, Christian Rønn Hansen, Tony Tadic, Manju Sharma, Gareth Price, Jens Petersen, Mohamed A Naser, Ying Xiao, Nataliya Kovalchuk, Pernille Lassen, Jens Overgaard, Lachlan Mcdowell, Prabhakar Ramachandran, Jun Won Kim, Clifton David Fuller, David J Thomson, Jørgen Johansen, Jeppe Friborg, Sue S Yom, Andrew Hope

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose/objectives: Radiation therapy treatment planning hinges on a critical factor: the prescribed dose. Surprisingly, there is no consistent, standardized global approach to evaluating the dosimetry of this prescription across different centers treating head and neck cancer (HNC). This study aimed to quantify global dose variations for identical prescriptions across international centers treating oropharyngeal cancer, to establish the foundation for future outcome-based studies and improve consistency of interpretation worldwide.

Materials and methods: The study included patients with oropharyngeal cancer who were consecutively treated from 2017 onward with intensity-modulated radiation therapy or volumetric modulated arc therapy at 8 globally recognized radiation therapy …

Targeting The Cd47/Calreticulin Axis In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Ha Grafted Chitosan Nanoparticles Loaded With Doxorubicin And Polygodial, Hadir M. Emara

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer. Although progress in cancer treatment has led to better results for different types of breast cancer, TNBC remains particularly challenging due to persistent resistance to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This resistance ultimately renders chemotherapy less effective and is frequently associated with substantial side effects. Immunosurveillance significantly impacts the onset of cancer, the rise of resistance to therapies, and the likelihood of tumor recurrence. In this immunomodulatory process, Cluster of Differentiation 47 (CD47) and Calreticulin (CALR) are two key regulators. CD47 expression is strongly linked to anti-phagocytic …

Mechanical Characterization And Modeling Of Rat Myocardia Under The Influence Of Epirubicin, Abdallah Mahmoud Alkhaiyat

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains a predominant health challenge that is responsible for a significant portion of global morbidity and mortality. Epirubicin (EPI), a chemotherapeutic anti-cancer drug, has shown remarkable efficacy in combating various malignancies. However, it is known to have undesirable side effects on the heart, collectively referred to as cardiotoxicity. This research investigates the adverse effects of chemotherapy on cardiac contractility through an in vitro examination of the mechanics of healthy and infarcted animal heart tissues. Electrically stimulated slices of rat ventricular tissue were tested using an isometric force measurement tissue bath. The tissue slices were subjected to uniaxial stretching, allowing …

An Impact Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Utilizing Informal Health Communication Interventions To Spread Health Recommendations And Change Public Perception, Lina Mohamed Ezzat Ahmed Abdel Mawgoud

Theses and Dissertations

Brain health is an increasingly urgent but critically under-addressed public health priority in Egypt and the wider MENA region. Despite its centrality to aging, productivity, and overall quality of life, public understanding of brain health remains limited, and stigma continues to shape responses to dementia and cognitive decline. This study evaluates the effectiveness of informal, culturally adapted health communication as a tool to shift perception, increase awareness, and promote behavior change among non-medically trained adults in Egypt.

Grounded in global evidence on cognitive reserve, neuroplasticity, and the life-course approach to brain health, the intervention translated expert-informed brain health recommendations into …

Economic Impacts Of Abolishing Vertical Integration In The Us Pork Industry, Konstantinos Giannakas

Department of Agricultural Economics: Presentations, Working Papers, and Gray Literature

This paper develops a multi-market framework of analysis of vertical relationships in pork production and game theoretic models of heterogeneous firms to examine the economic, market and welfare impacts of abolishing vertical integration in the US pork sector. Different scenarios on the causes of vertical integration and the potential states of nature that can emerge after the removal of this vertical market arrangement are considered within this framework. Analytical results are consistent across the different scenarios and forms of strategic interactions between pork producers and indicate that the abolishment of vertical integration in the US pork sector will hurt pork …

Fighting The Black Snake: The Dapl And The Case For Indigenous Environmental Stewardship, Kenny Moll

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis analyzes the current scope of environmental injustice on Native lands in the U.S. Specifically it examines The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and its impacts on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota. Western colonialism and capitalism have dominated North American ecosystems since their forcible introduction hundreds of years ago, causing the commodification of natural resources and leading to injustices such as that of the “Black Snake.” However, the story of The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s resistance will be analyzed through the framework of Indigenous philosophy and environmental justice. Chapter 1 analyzes the implementation of the DAPL and …

A Simple And Affordable Protocol To Assess Censer Seed Dispersal: First Confirmation Of The Mechanism In The Genus Solanum, Abigail J. Motter, Christopher T. Martine, Melody P. Sain

Faculty Journal Articles

The censer seed dispersal mechanism, whereby mature fruits are retained on plants and seeds dispersed by mechanical shaking, is among the most specialized wind-aided seed dispersal strategies employed by the flowering plants. An efficient, affordable, and easily repeatable protocol for determining whether a species uses this unusual mechanism of seed dispersal is lacking. Our focal species, Solanum tudununggae, is one of just two Solanum species (in a fleshy-fruited genus of ca. 1200 species) hypothesized to use this dispersal mechanism as a means to move seeds farther from parent plants than would gravity alone.

Kernel Density Estimate (Kde) Surfaces Of Wintering Tidal Marsh Birds Along The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Carlos Ramirez-Reyes, Kristine O. Evans, Mark S. Woodrey, Rachel V. Anderson, Jared Feura, Landon R. Jones, Raymond B. Iglay

Research Data

This dataset accompanies the article Spatial patterns of habitat use of wintering tidal marsh birds along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and includes kernel density estimate (KDE) raster layers describing spatial patterns of bird abundance and community richness derived from winter bird surveys. The study examined landscape features associated with the occurrence and spatial distribution of eight tidal marsh bird species during the non-breeding season along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Using field observations collected along fixed transects, the analysis evaluated differences between occupied and unoccupied transects, associations between bird occurrence and landscape-level predictors at ecologically relevant spatial scales, and species co-occurrence …

Supercharging-Enhanced Ndia-Ms Enables Global Profiling Of Drug-Induced Proteome Solubility Shifts, Yun Xiong, Huimin Zhang, Lin Tan, Bo Wei, John N Weinstein, Philip L Lorenzi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mass spectrometry (MS) is indispensable for high-throughput quantitation of protein expression. But protein function is regulated by factors beyond abundance alone. Here, we evaluate two supercharging reagents, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and m-nitrobenzyl alcohol (mNBA), in narrow-window data-independent acquisition (nDIA)-MS. DMSO markedly enhances MS signal and protein identification, whereas mNBA primarily increases peptide identifications. Optimizating nDIA-MS with 3% DMSO boosts signal intensity by up to 56%, enabling identification of ~9,600 proteins from 1 µg HeLa digest in 15 min. Using this methodology, we quantify solubility and abundance changes in 8,694 proteins across three cell lines following short-term treatment with the proteasome …

High-Throughput Proteomic Profiling To Evaluate Differentiation Syndrome With Menin Inhibition, Miriam B Garcia, Bofei Wang, Irtiza Sheikh, Georgina El Hajjar, David Mccall, Cesar Nunez, Amber Gibson, Philip L Lorenzi, Ghayas C Issa, Branko Cuglievan, Hussein A Abbas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

High-throughput proteomic profiling provides a comprehensive analysis of systemic cancer effects and tumor microenvironment interactions. Characterizing soluble proteins driving inflammation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) offers insight into inflammatory diseases like differentiation syndrome (DS) related to AML therapies like menin inhibitors. We present our application of NUcleic acid-Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay (NULISA), a novel technology leveraging next-generation sequencing (NGS) for high-throughput, ultra-sensitive characterization of secreted inflammatory proteins in plasma or serum. Here we report its use to identify dynamic soluble protein changes during treatment and at the time of suspected DS in pediatric AML patients treated with the menin inhibitor revumenib …

The Innovative Food Choice Map As A Bottom-Up Mixed-Methods Approach To Studying Food Choice Motivations, Uyen Thuy Xuan Phan, Edgar Chambers Iv

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

This study presents the innovative Food Choice Map (iFCM) as a methodological innovation for investigating food choice motivations using an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach. One hundred in-depth interviews were conducted with adults living in the United States, during which participants constructed individualized visual maps of their typical weekly diet. These maps documented specific foods and beverages, eating occasions, frequencies of consumption, and self-articulated motivations for each choice. Using a bottom-up framework grounded in real consumption events, qualitative data were inductively coded into fifteen motivation constructs, which were subsequently analyzed using Correspondence Analysis to demonstrate how motivational patterns can be …

New Inhibitors Of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase For The Treatment Of Melanoma, Amardeep Awasthi, Anika Patel, Huiying Li, Koon Mook Kang, Christine D. Hardy, Anas Ansari, Raghad Nowar, Hasan Alhaddad, Md. Emtiaz Hasan, Sun Yang, Thomas L. Poulos, Richard B. Silverman

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

In 2024, an estimated 100,640 new cases of invasive melanoma were diagnosed in the U.S., with 9290 deaths. Our previous studies revealed that neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) derived nitric oxide plays a critical role in melanoma progression, making nNOS inhibition a promising strategy. High structural similarity among NOS isoforms requires careful design of nNOS inhibitors to avoid off-target effects. Our previous lead, HH044, demonstrated potent antimelanoma activity but exhibited only moderate nNOS selectivity. Here, we utilized a structure-based approach to design nNOS inhibitors that promote interactions with human nNOS-specific residue His342. Compound 9 exhibited inhibition of both human ( …