Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2018

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 601 - 630 of 739

Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Complete Genome Sequence Of Moraxella Bovis Strain Epp-63 (300), An Etiologic Agent Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis, John Dustin Loy, Aaron M. Dickey, Michael L. Clawson Jan 2018

Complete Genome Sequence Of Moraxella Bovis Strain Epp-63 (300), An Etiologic Agent Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis, John Dustin Loy, Aaron M. Dickey, Michael L. Clawson

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

We report here the complete closed genome sequence of Moraxella bovis strain Epp-63 (300) (Epp63). This strain was isolated from an infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) case in 1963. Since then, Epp63 has been used extensively for IBK research. Consequently, the genome sequence of Epp63 should help elucidate IBK host-pathogen interactions.


Effects Of Lipid Activating Chemical Compounds On The Growth And Production Of Fatty Acids And Metabolites In Green Algae, David Nguyen, Nishikant Wase, Concetta Dirusso Jan 2018

Effects Of Lipid Activating Chemical Compounds On The Growth And Production Of Fatty Acids And Metabolites In Green Algae, David Nguyen, Nishikant Wase, Concetta Dirusso

UCARE: Research Products

This study examines the effects of small molecule lipid activating chemical compound, discovered from the high throughput screening (HTS) (2) methods of previous FATTT Lab studies on the growth and production of lipids and metabolites in microalgae. For this study, the effects of two lipid inducing chemical compounds from the HTS method were implemented with the microalgae strain Chlamydomonas reinhardtii CC-125. This experiment focused on scaling up to large amounts of culture, approximately 1L. These cultures were grown in specially designed large bioreactors that were able to accommodate for such large volume of algal culture. Algal cells were treated with …


Characterization Of Metabolic Network In T-Helper 2 Cells, Bailee Lichter Jan 2018

Characterization Of Metabolic Network In T-Helper 2 Cells, Bailee Lichter

UCARE: Research Products

T-helper 2 (Th2) cells function in the adaptive immune system to coordinate responses to large extracellular pathogens (Luckheerham, 2012). Th2 cells are one of the differentiated subtypes cells of CD4+ T cells. CD4+ T cells recognize foreign pathogens and differenitated in specialized subtypes to affectively destroy the pathogen (Luckheerham, 2012). Upon CD4+ T cell activation, the cells undergo metabolic reprogaming, resulting in a shift in metabolism (Almedia, 2016).

We have successfully created a Th2 metabolic network model. The Th2 metabolic network model contains 1151 genes, 2601 metabolites, and 4654 reactions.


Methionine Sulfoximine: A Novel Anti Inflammatory Agent, Tyler Peters Jan 2018

Methionine Sulfoximine: A Novel Anti Inflammatory Agent, Tyler Peters

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

METHIONINE SULFOXIMINE: A NOVEL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AGENT

by

TYLER J. PETERS

October 2018

Advisor: William Brusilow

Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The glutamine synthetase inhibitor methionine sulfoximine (MSO), shown previously to prevent death caused by an inflammatory liver response in mice, was tested on in vitro production of cytokines by mouse peritoneal macrophages triggered with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). MSO significantly reduced the production of Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNFα) at 4 and 6 hours after LPS-treatment. This reduction did not result from decreased transcription of IL-6 and TNFα genes, and therefore appeared to …


Initial Functional Characterization Of Bfo 2291 And Bfo 2294 From Tannerella Forsythia; Degraders Of Chondroitin Sulfate A, Rony Eshaque, Rony Eshaque Jan 2018

Initial Functional Characterization Of Bfo 2291 And Bfo 2294 From Tannerella Forsythia; Degraders Of Chondroitin Sulfate A, Rony Eshaque, Rony Eshaque

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Periodontitis is characterized by the inflammation of the periodontal tissues in response to bacterial action. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 study shows that periodontitis ranks 6thin the global prevalence of oral health conditions and affects 11% of the world population. It is initiated by the formation of biofilms containing different types of bacteria. These biofilms exist as dental plaque and contain three types of bacteria called Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonasgingivalis, and Treponema denticola. These three types of bacteria are strongly associated with periodontitis and they are termed as the Red complex. The main focus of the …


Relationships Between Factors Influencing Biofilm Formation And Pathogen Retention In Complex Rhizosphere Microbial Communities, Aaron Coristine Jan 2018

Relationships Between Factors Influencing Biofilm Formation And Pathogen Retention In Complex Rhizosphere Microbial Communities, Aaron Coristine

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Riparian wetlands are unique habitats facilitating all forms of life. The riverbanks of these environments provide ideal conditions for bacteria, plants, and higher organisms. Of particular interest to this research was the variation in microbial community structure at high, intermediate and poor water quality impacted areas. Assessing the capabilities of plants to retain microbial pathogens was identified. Root systems and corresponding soil are ideal locations for bacterial deposition, resulting in attachment at these areas. Biofilm production in these regions is important for long-term establishment, leading to persistence and potential naturalization. Opportunistic pathogens originating from mammalian fecal matter are introduced into …


Bioinformatic Interrogation Of Phosphonate Tailoring Pathways, Monica Papinski Jan 2018

Bioinformatic Interrogation Of Phosphonate Tailoring Pathways, Monica Papinski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Phosphonates represent an underexploited class of natural products despite their tremendous potential for use in medicine and agriculture. Even less characterized are phosphonate-containing macromolecules such as cell wall lipids and glycans, distinguished by a P-C bond known to provide stability towards hydrolysis. Despite some progress made in revealing cell wall phosphonate tailoring (Pnt) pathways, several barriers impede the discovery and characterization of novel phosphonate biosynthetic pathways. Specifically, a large diversity of gene composition and arrangement is evident surrounding key genes established to participate in phosphonate tailoring pathways, which are identified alongside the presence of the ppm gene encoding the P-C …


การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์บนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิวและต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับตรวจวัดการเจริญของจุลชีพก่อโรค, ปัณณวิชญ์ ถิรบวรกิจพิธาน Jan 2018

การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์บนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิวและต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับตรวจวัดการเจริญของจุลชีพก่อโรค, ปัณณวิชญ์ ถิรบวรกิจพิธาน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์นี้เป็นการนำเสนองานวิจัย การพัฒนาวิธีการใหม่เพื่อควบคุมและเฝ้าระวังโรคติดเชื้อ โดยประกอบด้วยเนื้อหาสำคัญสองส่วน ได้แก่ (i) การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์ที่เพาะเลี้ยงบนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิว เพื่อใช้ประโยชน์ในการศึกษากลไกการบุกรุกของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรคในระบบทางเดินอาหาร และ (ii) การพัฒนาต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์แบบไร้สายเพื่อการตรวจติดตามการเจริญของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรค โดยในส่วนแรก เซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์ HT-29 จำนวน 200,000 เซลล์ ถูกเพาะเลี้ยงในบริเวณชอบน้ำของกระดาษกรอง Whatman No.1 โดยกระดาษถูกดัดแปรพื้นผิวด้วยสารแมทริกซ์นอกเซลล์ (Extracellular matrix: ECM) ชนิดต่าง ๆ ได้แก่ Matrigel, Collagen-1 และ Laminin พื้นที่เพาะเลี้ยงเซลล์มีขนาด 12.56 ตารางมิลลิเมตร ภายใต้สภาวะที่เหมาะสม เซลล์ HT-29 ที่ถูกเพาะเลี้ยงบนกระดาษ มีชีวิตรอดได้ถึง 28 วัน และแสดงลักษณะของเซลล์ที่เจริญเต็มที่ โดยมีการแสดงออกของวิลไล (villi) ที่ผิวเซลล์ด้านบน (apical) และมีการแสดงออกของโปรตีน ZO-1 ซึ่งแสดงถึงเซลล์มีการสร้างไทต์จังก์ชันเกิดขึ้น จากการใช้สารเชื่อมพันธะสำหรับเชื่อมพันธะ ECM แต่ละชนิด พบว่าเมื่อใช้สารเจนิพินในการเชื่อมพันธะ เซลล์มีชีวิตรอดทั้งหมด (100 -112.8%) ในขณะที่มีเพียง 1.1 - 67.3 % ของเซลล์รอดชีวิต หากใช้สารกลูตารัลดีไฮด์ในการเชื่อมพันธะ แต่การใช้สารเชื่อมพันธะทั้งสองชนิด ทำให้เซลล์ไม่สามารถแบ่งตัวมีรูปร่างแบบสามมิติได้ เมื่อสังเกตด้วย SEM เซลล์มีลักษณะแบน การดัดแปรพื้นผิวกระดาษด้วยสาร ECM ชนิด Matrigel ส่งผลให้เซลล์มีชีวิตรอดมากที่สุดและสาร ECM ชนิด Laminin ทำให้เซลล์เกิดการแปรสภาพ (cell differentiation) ได้ดีที่สุด งานวิจัยส่วนที่ 2 เป็นการพัฒนาไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับติดตามการเจริญของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรค ได้แก่ เชื้อ Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus gordonii และ Candida albicans พบว่าเชื้อดังกล่าวสามารถสร้างไบโอฟิล์มบนผิวของขั้วไฟฟ้าคาร์บอนอสัณฐาน (glassy carbon electrode) และสามารถให้ค่าศักย์ไฟฟ้าที่เป็นลบได้ …


Avicin Is A Potent Sphingomyelinase Inhibitor That Blocks K-Ras Plasma Membrane Interaction And Its Oncogenic Activity, Christian M. Garrido Jan 2018

Avicin Is A Potent Sphingomyelinase Inhibitor That Blocks K-Ras Plasma Membrane Interaction And Its Oncogenic Activity, Christian M. Garrido

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Ras proteins are small GTPases that regulate cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. There are three main isoforms: H-, N-, and K-Ras in mammalian cells, and they cycle between an active GTP- and inactive GDP-bound states. Constitutively active Ras mutations are found in ~15% of all human cancers. Of those, oncogenic K-Ras is found in ~98% of pancreatic, ~52% colorectal, and ~32% of lung cancers. In nearly 30 years since its discovery, there are no anti-K-Ras drugs currently available for clinical use. Since K-Ras must be localized to the plasma membrane (PM) for its full biological activity, targeting K-Ras PM interaction …


A Novel Method To Analyze Dna Breaks And Repair In Human Cells, Caitlin Elizabeth Goodman Jan 2018

A Novel Method To Analyze Dna Breaks And Repair In Human Cells, Caitlin Elizabeth Goodman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Microsatellites repeat sequences are prone to forming non-canonical DNA structures and mutations. These areas of the genome can undergo expansions and contractions and are responsible for a variety of inherited neurological and neuromuscular disorders. Hairpin structures formed by trinucleotide repeats can lead to replication fork stalling, and fork collapse causing DNA double strand breaks. Various mechanisms are involved in processing microsatellites including mismatch repair, base excision repair, and crossover junction endonuclease cleavage. These processes, which are supposed to protect the genome, could also be the culprits which are causing mutations. In order to test and study this hypothesis, the use …


Targeting The Cellular Redox Environment: A Novel Approach For The Treatment Of Hematopoietic Neoplasms, Dustin W. Carroll Jan 2018

Targeting The Cellular Redox Environment: A Novel Approach For The Treatment Of Hematopoietic Neoplasms, Dustin W. Carroll

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that function to maintain the hematopoietic compartment through self-renewal and differentiation capacities, as well as their downstream progeny, are susceptible to transformation resulting in the generation of the leukemic stem cell (LSC). Chief in the factors that control HSC regulation and protection of the HSC compartment is the cellular redox environment. Deregulation of the Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cell (HSPC) redox environment results in loss of HSPC function and exhaustion. The characteristic developments of HSPC exhaustion via exposure to redox stress closely mirror phenotypic traits of hematopoietic malignancies, presenting the HSPC/LSC redox environment as a potential therapeutic target. …


Influence Of Dietary Ractopamine And Supranutritional Supplementation Of Vitamin E On Proteome Profile Of Postmortem Beef Longissimus Lumborum Muscle, Hyun Mok Kim Jan 2018

Influence Of Dietary Ractopamine And Supranutritional Supplementation Of Vitamin E On Proteome Profile Of Postmortem Beef Longissimus Lumborum Muscle, Hyun Mok Kim

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

The effects of dietary ingredients on the proteome profile of postmortem beef longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle were evaluated. In the first experiment, the influence of dietary ractopamine on the whole-muscle proteome of beef LL was examined. Five proteins were differentially abundant between ractopamine-fed (RAC) and non-ractopamine fed (CON) groups. The differentially abundant proteins were over-abundant in RAC and were related to muscle structure development (F-actin-capping protein subunit beta-2 and PDZ and LIM domain protein-3), chaperone (heat shock protein beta-1), oxygen transportation (myoglobin), and glycolysis (L-lactate dehydrogenase A chain). These findings indicated that ractopamine influences the abundance of proteins associated with …


Size-Dependent Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Drug Nanocarriers Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Feng Ding, Preeyaporn Songkiatisak, Pavan Kumar Cherukuri, Tao Huang, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu Jan 2018

Size-Dependent Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Drug Nanocarriers Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Feng Ding, Preeyaporn Songkiatisak, Pavan Kumar Cherukuri, Tao Huang, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Multidrug membrane transporters (efflux pumps) are responsible for multidrug resistance (MDR) and the low efficacy of therapeutic drugs. Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) possess a high surface-area-to-volume ratio and size-dependent plasmonic optical properties, enabling them to serve both as imaging probes to study sized-dependent MDR and as potential drug carriers to circumvent MDR and enhance therapeutic efficacy. To this end, in this study, we synthesized three different sizes of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), 2.4 ± 0.7, 13.0 ± 3.1, and 92.6 ± 4.4 nm, functionalized their surface with a monolayer of 11-amino-1-undecanethiol (AUT), and covalently conjugated them with antibiotics (ofloxacin, Oflx) …


Algae Biofuel Triacylglyceride Transesterification Optimization, Erik Ferenczy Jan 2018

Algae Biofuel Triacylglyceride Transesterification Optimization, Erik Ferenczy

Senior Honors Theses

Algae biofuels may hold the key to solving the problem of fossil fuel consumption by being comparable in content, renewable, and carbon-neutral. Many biofuel researchers and corporations have undertaken to increase the production rate or capacity of triacylglycerides (TAG), the fat precursor to biodiesel fuel produced by algae, in algae cultures and published articles documenting their findings. This research is devoted to evaluating the effect of water that may be present in samples on the conversion efficiency of TAG into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), commonly referred to as biodiesel. Therefore, that efficiency was studied to find the water content …


Studies On E2 Conjugation Enzyme Partners Of Mulan E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, Rebekah J. Fitzpatrick Jan 2018

Studies On E2 Conjugation Enzyme Partners Of Mulan E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, Rebekah J. Fitzpatrick

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Mulan is an E3 ubiquitin ligase embedded in the outer mitochondria membrane. Mulan’s participation in the ubiquitination process is conducted through its cytosol exposed RING finger domain, and its ability to modulate protein ubiquitination makes it a key player in mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis. Mulan is known to be involved in mitochondrial fission, fusion, mitochondrial stress, apoptosis, and Parkin-independent mitophagy. Dysregulation of Mulan in mice has been shown to correlate with human neurodegenerative disorders and heart disease. Accumulation of Mulan is predicted to be responsible for the motor neuron degeneration 2 (mnd2) phenotype in mutant mice through the deregulation of …


Split Deoxyribozyme Probe For Efficient Detection Of Highly Structured Rna Targets, Sheila Raquel Solarez Jan 2018

Split Deoxyribozyme Probe For Efficient Detection Of Highly Structured Rna Targets, Sheila Raquel Solarez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are known for their role as adaptors during translation of the genetic information and as regulators for gene expression; uncharged tRNAs regulate global gene expression in response to changes in amino acid pools in the cell. Aminoacylated tRNAs play a role in non-ribosomal peptide bond formation, post-translational protein labeling, modification of phospholipids in the cell membrane, and antibiotic biosynthesis. [1] tRNAs have a highly stable structure that can present a challenge for their detection using conventional techniques. [2] To enable signal amplification and lower detection limits, a split probe - split deoxyribozyme (sDz or BiDz) probe, which …


Discovery Of Novel Muraymycin Antibiotics And Insight Into The Biosynthetic Pathway, Zheng Cui Jan 2018

Discovery Of Novel Muraymycin Antibiotics And Insight Into The Biosynthetic Pathway, Zheng Cui

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

New antibiotics with novel targets or mechanisms of action are needed to counter the steady emergence of bacterial pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics used in the clinic. MraY, a promising novel target for antibiotic development, initiates the lipid cycle for the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan cell wall, which is essential for the survival of most, if-not-all, bacteria. MraY is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer and attachment of phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide to a lipid carrier, undecaprenylphosphate. Muraymycins are recently discovered lipopeptidyl nucleoside antibiotics that exhibit remarkable antibiotic activity against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria by inhibiting MraY. We conducted a thorough …


Antibiotic Effects Of Dimethyl Sulfoxide And Synthetic Polyphenols On E. Coli Cells, Camila Cardenas Jan 2018

Antibiotic Effects Of Dimethyl Sulfoxide And Synthetic Polyphenols On E. Coli Cells, Camila Cardenas

Theses and Dissertations

There is increasing interest in polyphenols due to their potential medicinal and antibiotic applications. Naturally occurring polyphenols, such as curcumin, have garnered tremendous attention. However, synthetic polyphenols commonly used in biochemistry experiments have not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide on the cellular uptake of synthetic polyphenols. Three synthetic polyphenols (Phenol Red, Congo Red, and Bromophenol Blue) were tested for their antibiotic properties and compared to the antibiotic activity of curcumin. Our results show that phenol red does not interact with the bacterial membrane even in the presence of 30% …


Determination Of The Sivmac Vif-Human Apobec3b Interaction, Oumar Sanogo Jan 2018

Determination Of The Sivmac Vif-Human Apobec3b Interaction, Oumar Sanogo

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The APOBEC3 family of enzymes are DNA cytosine deaminases, some of which restrict replication of HIV-­‐1. This viral restriction is caused by deamination of cytosines to uracils in the viral cDNA, resulting in lethal mutation. HIV-­‐1 counteracts this deamination by producing the protein Vif, which targets the restricting APOBEC3 enzymes for proteosomal degradation. Previous studies have demonstrated that HIV-­‐1 Vif mediates degradation of APOBEC3D (A3D), APOBEC3F (A3F), APOBEC3G (A3G), and APOBEC3H (A3H). Other lentiviruses may also encode a Vif protein, however not all Vif proteins can degrade the same APOBEC3 proteins. For example, SIVmac (simian immunodeficiency virus that infects rhesus …


Manipulation Of Genes Involved In Secondary Cell Wall Development During Wood Formation In Poplar, Kavitha Satish Kumar Jan 2018

Manipulation Of Genes Involved In Secondary Cell Wall Development During Wood Formation In Poplar, Kavitha Satish Kumar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Lignins are second most abundant components of vascular plant cell walls. They provide plants with structural rigidity and are polymers of monolignols. Lignin polymerization is catalyzed by peroxidases and/or laccases. These enzymes are suggested to share functional overlap and mechanism by which they coordinate this process is not clearly understood. There are about 100 peroxidases and 50 laccase genes known in poplar genome out of which some stem differentiating xylem-specific (SDX) enzymes were selected for our study. The main objective was to genetically manipulate genes expressed in the SDX region in the cell wall to see the effects on lignin …


Rates And Patterns Of Evolution In A Duplicated Genome In The Family Catostomidae, Megann Michelle Schmidt Jan 2018

Rates And Patterns Of Evolution In A Duplicated Genome In The Family Catostomidae, Megann Michelle Schmidt

Honors Program Theses

Whole genome duplication (WGD) is a process in which the entire genome of an organism is duplicated, making redundant genes which are subject to unique evolutionary forces. Various modes of selection create different genetic fates such as retention of ancestral function, development of new function, or loss of function. Because of these differing fates, WGD is hypothesized to be a major driving force behind diversification. In this project, DNA sequences from fish species in the family Catostomidae were examined to observe patterns of evolution following a known WGD. Gene trees were generated for 179 loci to determine the amount of …


Prebiotic Potential Of Aerosols, Emma Rae Shipley Jan 2018

Prebiotic Potential Of Aerosols, Emma Rae Shipley

Honors Program Theses

A triple quadrupole gas chromatograpy mass spectrometer (GC/MS/QQQ) was used to determine prebiotic molecules of interest in plasma and photochemical aerosols. Glycolic acid was further studied using isotopically doped gases. Plasma and photochemical aerosol analogs were shown to have nucleobases and a few amino acids. Each type of aerosol was also the source of glycolic acid, a precursor to glycine. Using 18O doped CO, it was determined that contamination was not a source of oxygen in the samples. Using different combinations of 13C doped gases in 1:1 combinations of CO and CH4, it was determined that …


New Insights Into The "Manna From Heaven" Hypothesis, Clare Laubenthal Jan 2018

New Insights Into The "Manna From Heaven" Hypothesis, Clare Laubenthal

Honors Program Theses

Titan’s atmosphere is unique in that its atmospheric chemistry is thought to be similar to that of the Earth’s atmosphere during the Archean Era, when bacterial life dominated the Earth1. Tholins form as a result of the radiation of organic gases by ultraviolet light. These molecules are considered alike to the prebiotic hazes that formed in the atmosphere of Earth during the Archean Era and which allowed for the eventual development of microbial life2 . This study investigated whether Earth soil bacteria can grow, using laboratory created tholin analogs, or aerosols, as a nutrient source. This study …


Altering Oligomerization Of Epha2 Via Mutations In The Intracellular Domain, Ryan W. Lingerak Jan 2018

Altering Oligomerization Of Epha2 Via Mutations In The Intracellular Domain, Ryan W. Lingerak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are activated by membrane-bound ligands called ephrins. Eph RTKs are divided into two subclasses, each activated by a specific classes of the ligand ephrin. The overexpression of Eph receptors is correlated to cancer cell metastasis in several different types of cancers. Studies with the EphA2 extracellular domain (ECD) and ephrinA1 ligand have shown that upon binding of ephrin to the receptor, EphA2 undergoes increased oligomerization and activation. This indicates that oligomerization is intimately connected to kinase activity. High resolution crystal structures of the EphA2 ECD have revealed some details of these ligand bound oligomers, as …


Surface And Structural Modification Of Carbon Electrodes For Electroanalysis And Electrochemical Conversion, Yan Zhang Jan 2018

Surface And Structural Modification Of Carbon Electrodes For Electroanalysis And Electrochemical Conversion, Yan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Electrocatalysis is key to both sensitive electrochemical sensing and efficient electrochemical energy conversion. Despite high catalytic activity, traditional metal catalysts have poor stability, low selectivity, and high cost. Metal-free, carbon-based materials are emerging as alternatives to metal-based catalysts because of their attractive features including natural abundance, environmental friendliness, high electrical conductivity, and large surface area. Altering surface functionalities and heteroatom doping are effective ways to promote catalytic performance of carbon-based catalysts. The first chapter of this dissertation focuses on developing electrode modification methods for electrochemical sensing of biomolecules. After electrochemical pretreatment, glassy carbon demonstrates impressive figures-of-merit in detecting small, redox-active …


Parrots And Palms: Analyzing Data To Determine Best Management Strategies And Sustainable Harvest Levels, James P. Gibbs, J. Michelle Cawthorn, Adriana Bravo, Ana L. Porzecanski Jan 2018

Parrots And Palms: Analyzing Data To Determine Best Management Strategies And Sustainable Harvest Levels, James P. Gibbs, J. Michelle Cawthorn, Adriana Bravo, Ana L. Porzecanski

Biology: Faculty Publications

This exercise1 presents a scenario and raw data on a realistic conflict between parrot conservation and palm tree harvest. It requires that students analyze data very comparable to what would be gathered in the field, to: 1) construct a life tables for the palm and parrot, 2) extract vital statistics about both the palm and parrot population from the life tables, 3) estimate maximum sustainable yield for both species, and 4) make a decision about the sustainability of harvest intensity. It illustrates the importance of data analysis skills for conservation.


Forelimb Position Affects Facultative Bipedal Locomotion In Lizards, Chase T. Kinsey, Lance D. Mcbrayer Jan 2018

Forelimb Position Affects Facultative Bipedal Locomotion In Lizards, Chase T. Kinsey, Lance D. Mcbrayer

Biology: Faculty Publications

Recent work indicates that bipedal posture in lizards is advantageous during obstacle negotiation. However, little is known about how bipedalism occurs beyond a lizard's acceleratory threshold. Furthermore, no study to date has examined the effects of forelimb position on the body center of mass (BCoM) in the context of bipedalism. This study quantified the frequency of bipedalism when sprinting with versus without an obstacle at 0.8 m from the start of a sprint. Forelimb positions were quantified during bipedal running at the start of a sprint and when crossing an obstacle. Two species with contrasting body forms (and thus different …


Targeting Ovarian Cancer And Endothelium With An Allosteric Ptp4a3 Phosphatase Inhibitor, Kelley E. Mcqueeney, Joseph M. Salamoun, James C. Burnett, Nektarios Barabutis, Paula Pekic, Sophie L. Lewandowski, Danielle C. Llaneza, Robert Cornelison, Yunpeng Bai, Zhong-Yin Zhang, John D. Catravas Jan 2018

Targeting Ovarian Cancer And Endothelium With An Allosteric Ptp4a3 Phosphatase Inhibitor, Kelley E. Mcqueeney, Joseph M. Salamoun, James C. Burnett, Nektarios Barabutis, Paula Pekic, Sophie L. Lewandowski, Danielle C. Llaneza, Robert Cornelison, Yunpeng Bai, Zhong-Yin Zhang, John D. Catravas

Bioelectrics Publications

Overexpression of protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP4A oncoproteins is common in many human cancers and is associated with poor patient prognosis and survival. We observed elevated levels of PTP4A3 phosphatase in 79% of human ovarian tumor samples, with significant overexpression in tumor endothelium and pericytes. Furthermore, PTP4A phosphatases appear to regulate several key malignant processes, such as invasion, migration, and angiogenesis, suggesting a pivotal regulatory role in cancer and endothelial signaling pathways. While phosphatases are attractive therapeutic targets, they have been poorly investigated because of a lack of potent and selective chemical probes. In this study, we disclose that a potent, …


Transport Of Charged Small Molecules After Electropermeabilization - Drift And Diffusion, Esin B. Sözer, C. Florencia Pocetti, P. Thomas Vernier Jan 2018

Transport Of Charged Small Molecules After Electropermeabilization - Drift And Diffusion, Esin B. Sözer, C. Florencia Pocetti, P. Thomas Vernier

Bioelectrics Publications

Background: Applications of electric-field-induced permeabilization of cells range from cancer therapy to wastewater treatment. A unified understanding of the underlying mechanisms of membrane electropermeabilization, however, has not been achieved. Protocols are empirical, and models are descriptive rather than predictive, which hampers the optimization and expansion of electroporation-based technologies. A common feature of existing models is the assumption that the permeabilized membrane is passive, and that transport through it is entirely diffusive. To demonstrate the necessity to go beyond that assumption, we present here a quantitative analysis of the post-permeabilization transport of three small molecules commonly used in electroporation research-YO-PRO-1, propidium, …


Esope-Equivalent Pulsing Protocols For Calcium Electroporation: An In Vitro Optimization Study On 2 Cancer Cell Models, Stefania Romeo, Anna Sannino, Maria Rosaria Scarfi, P. Thomas Vernier, Ruggero Cadossi, Julie Gehl, Olga Zeni Jan 2018

Esope-Equivalent Pulsing Protocols For Calcium Electroporation: An In Vitro Optimization Study On 2 Cancer Cell Models, Stefania Romeo, Anna Sannino, Maria Rosaria Scarfi, P. Thomas Vernier, Ruggero Cadossi, Julie Gehl, Olga Zeni

Bioelectrics Publications

Reversible electroporation is used to increase the uptake of chemotherapeutic drugs in local tumor treatment (electrochemotherapy) by applying the pulsing protocol (8 rectangular pulses, 1000 V/cm, 100 µs) standardized in the framework of the European Standard Operating Procedure on Electrochemotherapy multicenter trial. Currently, new electrochemotherapy strategies are under development to extend its applicability to tumors with different histology. Electrical parameters and drug type are critical factors. A possible approach is to test pulse parameters different from European Standard Operating Procedure on Electrochemotherapy but with comparable electroporation yield (European Standard Operating Procedure on Electrochemotherapy-equivalent protocols). Moreover, the use of non-toxic drugs …