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2020

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Articles 331 - 360 of 806

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

Integrated Unicellular/Filamentous Algal Production, Harvesting And Remediation System, Paul N. Black, James Allen, Timothy J Nicodemus May 2020

Integrated Unicellular/Filamentous Algal Production, Harvesting And Remediation System, Paul N. Black, James Allen, Timothy J Nicodemus

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

A method of removing nitrogen-bound nitrate from at least one of groundwater, surface water, or waste water is disclosed. The method includes providing contaminant-containing water from groundwater, surface water, and/or waste water sources. The method further includes adding the contaminant-containing water to an algal photobioreactor system. The method further includes adding an alga culture to the alga photobioreactor system. The method further includes adjusting temperature, CO2 concentration, pH, light wavelength, and/or light intensity in the algal photobioreactor system to optimize the growth of the algea. The method further includes separating the aglae from the water and harvesting algal biomass.

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Selective Autophagy Maintains The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Levels In Hela Cells: A Mechanism That Is Dependent On The P23 Co-Chaperone, Yujie Yang, William K. Chan May 2020

Selective Autophagy Maintains The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Levels In Hela Cells: A Mechanism That Is Dependent On The P23 Co-Chaperone, Yujie Yang, William K. Chan

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an environmental sensing molecule which impacts diverse cellular functions such as immune responses, cell growth, respiratory function, and hematopoietic stem cell differentiation. It is widely accepted that the degradation of AHR by 26S proteasome occurs after ligand activation. Recently, we discovered that HeLa cells can modulate the AHR levels via protein degradation without exogenous treatment of a ligand, and this degradation is particularly apparent when the p23 content is down-regulated. Inhibition of autophagy by a chemical agent (such as chloroquine, bafilomycin A1, or 3-methyladenine) increases the AHR protein levels in HeLa cells whereas activation …

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Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera (Protac) For Targeted Protein Degradation And Cancer Therapy, Xin Li, Yongcheng Song May 2020

Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera (Protac) For Targeted Protein Degradation And Cancer Therapy, Xin Li, Yongcheng Song

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) has been developed to be a useful technology for targeted protein degradation. A bifunctional PROTAC molecule consists of a ligand (mostly small-molecule inhibitor) of the protein of interest (POI) and a covalently linked ligand of an E3 ubiquitin ligase (E3). Upon binding to the POI, the PROTAC can recruit E3 for POI ubiquitination, which is subjected to proteasome-mediated degradation. PROTAC complements nucleic acid-based gene knockdown/out technologies for targeted protein reduction and could mimic pharmacological protein inhibition. To date, PROTACs targeting ~ 50 proteins, many of which are clinically validated drug targets, have been successfully developed with several …

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Thinking Like A Chemist Or Beekeeper, Paul E. Harper, Andres T. Cavazos, Jacob J. Kinnun, Horia I. Petrache May 2020

Thinking Like A Chemist Or Beekeeper, Paul E. Harper, Andres T. Cavazos, Jacob J. Kinnun, Horia I. Petrache

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Vitamin E (α-tocopherol) and a range of other biological compounds have long been known to promote the HII (inverted hexagonal) phase in lipids. Now, it has been well established that purely hydrophobic lipids such as dodecane promote the HII phase by relieving extensive packing stress. They do so by residing deep within the hydrocarbon core. However, we argue from X-ray diffraction data obtained with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPE) and 1,2-dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPE) that α-tocopherol promotes the HII phase by a different mechanism. The OH group on the chromanol moiety of α-tocopherol anchors it near the aqueous interface. This restriction combined with the relatively …

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Breast Cancer Sub-Clones That Metastasize To Lung And Bone Exhibit Different Metabolic Preferences, Mollie Merrell May 2020

Breast Cancer Sub-Clones That Metastasize To Lung And Bone Exhibit Different Metabolic Preferences, Mollie Merrell

Honors Theses

Metastasis is responsible for the majority of cancer related deaths. In breast cancer the lungs and bones are the major sites for metastasis. Previous studies used the metastatic aggressive MDA-MB-231 breast cancer line to isolate sub-clones that preferentially invade the lungs (LM line) or bones (BoM line). While genes associated with the tissue specific metastasis have been identified, it is unknown if metabolic adaptations contribute to the growth of the LM and BoM lines in their respective organs. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that the LM and BoM lines exhibit differences in glucose and glutamine …

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The Effects Of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (Igf-1) And Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor (Igfr) Regulation On Cognition And Structure Of Astrocytes, Sariya Khan May 2020

The Effects Of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (Igf-1) And Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor (Igfr) Regulation On Cognition And Structure Of Astrocytes, Sariya Khan

Honors Theses

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a neuroendocrine signaling hormone that plays an integral role in bone and tissue growth and development. Inhibition of this hormone is known to disrupt the chemistry of the brain, resulting in cognitive impairments such as those seen in many common neurodegenerative diseases. While much research has been conducted on neurons and their relation with IGF-1, the role of astrocytes still needs to be explored. Our research investigates how astrocytes are affected as a result of IGF-1 regulation. Preliminary studies in our laboratory established a connection between IGF-1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and in …

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Testing Kalanchoe Laxiflora U6 Promoters For Optimal Sgrna Expression In Tobacco, Marlee E. Jones May 2020

Testing Kalanchoe Laxiflora U6 Promoters For Optimal Sgrna Expression In Tobacco, Marlee E. Jones

Honors Thesis

Within studies of plant genome modification there is a method of gene alteration which involves using CRISPR/Cas systems in order to target specific gene loci and implement the intended modification. This process is driven by the ability of a single guide RNA (sgRNA) to find this target location within the plant’s genome. This sgRNA strand is expressed due to the presence of a proper RNA promoter. In an effort to understand the effect of an endogenous RNA promoter’s sequence on the successful expression of a sgRNA strand, an experiment was developed involving twelve U6 promoter sequences from a crassulacean metabolism …

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Investigatin Actin-Myosin Mechanics To Model Heart Disease Using Fluorescence Microscopy And Optical Trapping, Justin Edward Reynolds May 2020

Investigatin Actin-Myosin Mechanics To Model Heart Disease Using Fluorescence Microscopy And Optical Trapping, Justin Edward Reynolds

Honors Theses

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a hereditary disease in which the myocardium becomes hypertrophied, making it more difficult for the heart to pump blood. HCM is commonly caused by a mutation in the β-cardiac myosin II heavy chain. Myosin is a motor protein that facilitates muscle contraction by converting chemical energy from ATP hydrolysis into mechanical work and concomitantly moving along actin filaments. Optical tweezers have been used previously to analyze single myosin biophysical properties; however, myosin does not work as a single unit within the heart. Multiple myosin interacts to displace actin filaments and do not have the same properties …

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The Raphe-Hippocampal Tract And Its Age Differences: Diffusion Tensor Imaging And Probabilistic Tractography Study, Ashley Sekul May 2020

The Raphe-Hippocampal Tract And Its Age Differences: Diffusion Tensor Imaging And Probabilistic Tractography Study, Ashley Sekul

Honors Theses

The raphe-hippocampal tract links the raphe nuclei to the hippocampus and is responsible for the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. The hippocampus is key in regulating emotional and stress responses. This study utilized diffusion tensor imaging which uses Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to provide scans of the brain for analyzing differences in the raphe-hippocampal tract as one ages. In this specific study, 491 samples were visually analyzed to gather data about the fractional anisotropy of the raphe nuclei in both male and female brains ranging from 6 to 85 years old. Through the ranking of images, some were discarded, and …

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Dimerization Of Neural Cadherin In The Presence Of Low Calcium, Kyler Pisciotta May 2020

Dimerization Of Neural Cadherin In The Presence Of Low Calcium, Kyler Pisciotta

Honors Theses

Cell-cell linkage is a necessity for proper tissue function and stability in many biological systems. One moiety that allows for the proper linking of cells to one another is a family of molecules known as cadherins. This family of proteins can be found within the membrane of many different types of cells and the extracellular portions of the cadherin proteins interact with those of other cells to link adjacent cells together via the formation of a dimer complex. The presence of calcium (Ca2+) is of crucial importance for the formation of this cadherin dimer. In this study, we …

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Intrinsic Buffer Hydroxyl Radical Dosimetry For Hydroxyl Radical Protein Footprinting, Addison Roush May 2020

Intrinsic Buffer Hydroxyl Radical Dosimetry For Hydroxyl Radical Protein Footprinting, Addison Roush

Honors Theses

Hydroxyl radical protein footprinting (HRPF) coupled to mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for the analysis of protein topography as it generates covalent mass labels that can survive downstream sample handling, and it is sensitive to the solvent accessibility of amino acid sidechains. Of the multiple platforms for HRPF, fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) utilizes a pulsed 248 nm KrF excimer laser to label proteins by photolyzing hydrogen peroxide. FPOP is the most widely used HRPF platform because it labels proteins faster than unfolding can occur. Variations in FPOP sample conditions make it difficult to compare results between experiments …

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Studies Of Salvinorin-Based Antagonists To Elucidate Pertinent Interactions For Kappa Opioid Receptor Antagonism, Madeline Keane May 2020

Studies Of Salvinorin-Based Antagonists To Elucidate Pertinent Interactions For Kappa Opioid Receptor Antagonism, Madeline Keane

Honors Theses

Opioid abuse, leading to addiction and related deaths, has created a chronic epidemic in the United States for the past 30 years. This crisis has sprung from reliance on the prescription of opioid analgesics as the primary method for the management of pain in the 1990s. At that time, these drugs, specifically Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin, were marketed as non-addictive. Due to this systemic minimization of the addictive properties of opioid analgesics, as prescription rates increased, opioid-related mortality rates climbed. This epidemic continues to be pervasive, as opioid-related overdose resulted in 47,600 deaths in 2017. In addition to the opioid epidemic, …

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Glucose Metabolism Of Breast Cancer Sub-Clones That Preferentially Metastasize To The Lungs And Bone, Anna G. Skubiz May 2020

Glucose Metabolism Of Breast Cancer Sub-Clones That Preferentially Metastasize To The Lungs And Bone, Anna G. Skubiz

Honors Theses

Malignant breast cancers exhibit preferential metastasis to bone and lung (1). While changes in gene expression in lung-specific (LM) and bone-specific metastasis (BoM) lines derived from the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer line have been identified, few metabolic genes are differentially expressed; thus it is unknown if tissue-specific metabolic reprogramming occurs. Two hallmarks of cancer cells are an altered metabolic phenotype characterized by enhanced conversion of glucose to lactate in spite of adequate oxygen availability for complete mitochondrial oxidation of this substrate (referred to as aerobic glycolysis or the Warburg effect) and a greater dependence on glutamine. These changes in primary tumor …

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The Impact Of Age/Rage Signaling On Oxidative Stress Under Diabetic Conditions In Cardiac Fibroblasts, Christopher Dorroh May 2020

The Impact Of Age/Rage Signaling On Oxidative Stress Under Diabetic Conditions In Cardiac Fibroblasts, Christopher Dorroh

Honors Theses

Diabetes is a major health concern in the United States, with 1.5 million new cases diagnosed each year. Patients who suffer from diabetes have an increased risk of developing heart failure, a form of cardiovascular disease. Heart failure has been shown to result from increased left ventricular stiffness, which in turn is caused by increased remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM). This increase in ECM remodeling is a result of AGE/RAGE signaling, which occurs at a heightened level in the cardiac fibroblast cells of diabetics. Studies have shown that diabetics have elevated levels of AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-Products), which bind …

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Crystallization Efforts For An Engineered Nickel-Binding Protein, Gold-Bovine Serum Albumin Nanoclusters, And An Artificial De Novo Tetramer Hydrogenase Mimic, Skyler Crane May 2020

Crystallization Efforts For An Engineered Nickel-Binding Protein, Gold-Bovine Serum Albumin Nanoclusters, And An Artificial De Novo Tetramer Hydrogenase Mimic, Skyler Crane

Honors Theses

Protein crystallization is fundamental to modern research efforts given its ability to determine a protein’s structure as well as the interactions that structure allows and relies upon. This process, though lacking direct application, provides necessary information for subsequent research efforts for which applicationsmay be explored. As such, efforts were taken to crystallize nickel-binding protein (NBP) reengineered from Copper Storage Protein 1 (Csp1) in its apo and metal bound form, Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) in its apo and gold bound form (Au-BSA), and an artificial de novo tetramer hydrogenase mimic peptide to better inform future research actions for these respective molecules. …

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Molecular Insights Into Paf-1 Mediated Pancreatic Homeostasis, Stemness, And Cancer Progression, Saswati Karmakar May 2020

Molecular Insights Into Paf-1 Mediated Pancreatic Homeostasis, Stemness, And Cancer Progression, Saswati Karmakar

Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease that has one of the lowest 5-year survival rates among cancers, at just 9%. This grim prognosis is primarily due to the extensive metastatic spread of tumor cells beyond the pancreas at diagnosis and the inability of current therapeutic modalities to treat this aggressive disease effectively. Given that the cancer cells in pancreatic tumors are heterogeneous, the major culprit for cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis remains elusive. Recent studies provide evidence for the existence of highly tumorigenic and drug-resistant cells that are capable of tumor initiation, known as the cancer stem cells …

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Novel Regulatory Roles Of Endocytic Membrane Trafficking Proteins In Mitochondrial Homeostasis, Trey Farmer May 2020

Novel Regulatory Roles Of Endocytic Membrane Trafficking Proteins In Mitochondrial Homeostasis, Trey Farmer

Theses & Dissertations

Endocytic membrane trafficking is a basic cell process that is critical for regulating the transport of lipids and proteins. Our lab focuses on the cellular functions and mechanisms of the proteins that regulate these pathways. A key family of regulatory proteins is the C-terminal Eps15 Homology Domain (EHD) protein family. The EHD family includes EHD1-4, which are ubiquitously expressed in mammalian tissues. While these isoforms do have some overlapping functions, each protein also has distinct activities in regulating the shape and fission of membranes throughout the endocytic pathways. Specifically, EHD1 uses ATP hydrolysis to induce constriction and fission of endocytic …

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The Physiology And Evolution Of Selenite Respiration In Bacteria, Michael Wells May 2020

The Physiology And Evolution Of Selenite Respiration In Bacteria, Michael Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The selenium oxyanions selenate (Se(VI)) and selenite (Se(IV)) can be utilized by some bacteria and archaea as terminal electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration. Se(VI) and Se(IV) respiration is mediated by a phylogenetically and ecologically diverse array of organisms, suggesting that selenium respiration is ubiquitous in natural environments. Several respiratory Se(VI) reductases have been characterized in bacteria, revealing that Se(VI) respiration has evolved independently several times in this domain. Se(IV) respiration, in contrast, has yet to be characterized. I have purified and characterized the first respiratory Se(IV) reductase from Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10. The Se(IV) reductase appeared to purify as a single …

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The Effects Of Largazole, A Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, On Breast Cancer Cell Viability And Metastasis, Hannah Mccowan May 2020

The Effects Of Largazole, A Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, On Breast Cancer Cell Viability And Metastasis, Hannah Mccowan

Honors Theses

Histone deacetylase enzymes modify epigenetic characteristics of a genome by removing acetyl groups from histone proteins in chromatin. Histone deacetylase inhibitors work by stopping this activity which can have various results in a cell including apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, differentiation, and migration. The purpose of these experiments was to see how largazole, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, affected cell viability for breast cancer and associated metastatic cell lines in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The experiment was completed by setting up two 96-well plates with varying concentrations of largazole and conducting a sulforhodamine viability assay. The specific cell lines used in …

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Cell Proliferation And Viability Inhibition By Resveratrol On Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Kyle Ford Gordon Jr May 2020

Cell Proliferation And Viability Inhibition By Resveratrol On Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Kyle Ford Gordon Jr

Honors Theses

Antioxidants are well-known for their various health benefits. They are able to protect cells from being damaged by free radicals that are produced by vital biochemical processes. It has long been known that antioxidants are important in our everyday health, but their potential as disease preventers and potential therapeutic agents is a relatively new field of study. Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol and well-known antioxidant, is found in plants, fruits, and products derived from them, like red wine. Resveratrol has been shown to have various properties, including antiaging, anti-aggregation of platelets, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. Because of their many health benefits, …

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Testing The Potential Of Environmental Dna: Genetic Monitoring Of Estuarine And Coastal Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Stocks In South Carolina, Kathryn Greiner-Ferris May 2020

Testing The Potential Of Environmental Dna: Genetic Monitoring Of Estuarine And Coastal Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Stocks In South Carolina, Kathryn Greiner-Ferris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a non-invasive monitoring technique that can detect and potentially monitor elusive marine mammals. To date, the majority of eDNA studies have been performed in freshwater environments, partially due to methodological challenges posed by higher salinities and increased dilution effects of large water masses in marine environments. The objective of this study was to design and optimize species-specific oligonucleotide PCR primers to accurately detect and quantify common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) eDNA collected from the marine environment and to evaluate potential trends between eDNA concentration and dolphin abundance and seasonality. Primer pairs were designed to target …

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Characterizing The Role Of Β-Amylase3 In Cold Stress Response And Recovery In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Isabelle G. Houston May 2020

Characterizing The Role Of Β-Amylase3 In Cold Stress Response And Recovery In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Isabelle G. Houston

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Starch is a polymer of glucose that is used as an energy store in plants. Mobilization of starch has implications in abiotic stress survival and recovery. While the importance of carbon and energy allocation in plant survival has been explored, the specific roles of starch degrading enzymes in plant responses to stress are still unclear. β-Amylase3, or BAM3, is the principle starch degrading enzyme at night and is transcriptionally upregulated in response to cold stress in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Using single and quadruple knockout mutant plants, I aimed to clarify the role of BAM3 in the response to …

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Investigation Of Potentially Catalytic Residues Of Uba5 Through Mutagenesis, Purification, And Structural Characterization, Grant Bradley May 2020

Investigation Of Potentially Catalytic Residues Of Uba5 Through Mutagenesis, Purification, And Structural Characterization, Grant Bradley

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Ubiquitin-fold modifier 1 (Ufm1) is a member of the Ubiquitin (Ub) family of proteins whose primary function is degradation of proteins through a sequential mechanism of chemical reactions. Though Ufm1’s specific roles are largely unknown, this family of proteins has shown to play a part in a wide variety of processes, including regulation of the cell cycle1, secretory functions of cells2,3, and blood clotting4. Ufm1’s mechanism of action proceeds with the aid of three enzymes: an E1, E2, and E3. Uba5 is the E1 activating enzyme that is specific to Ufm1, and its mechanism of …

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A Goldenbraid Cloning System For Synthetic Biology In Social Amoebae, Peter Kundert, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Mariko Katoh-Kurasawa, Shigenori Hirose, Peter Lehmann, Koen J T Venken, Gad Shaulsky May 2020

A Goldenbraid Cloning System For Synthetic Biology In Social Amoebae, Peter Kundert, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Mariko Katoh-Kurasawa, Shigenori Hirose, Peter Lehmann, Koen J T Venken, Gad Shaulsky

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

GoldenBraid is a rapid, modular, and robust cloning system used to assemble and combine genetic elements. Dictyostelium amoebae represent an intriguing synthetic biological chassis with tractable applications in development, chemotaxis, bacteria-host interactions, and allorecognition. We present GoldenBraid as a synthetic biological framework for Dictyostelium, including a library of 250 DNA parts and assemblies and a proof-of-concept strain that illustrates cAMP-chemotaxis with four fluorescent reporters coded by one plasmid.

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Investigating The Link Between Mrna Binding To Hts1/Tys1 Trna Synthetases And Charcot Marie Tooth Neuropathy, Hallie G. Ryan, Sarah Mitchell May 2020

Investigating The Link Between Mrna Binding To Hts1/Tys1 Trna Synthetases And Charcot Marie Tooth Neuropathy, Hallie G. Ryan, Sarah Mitchell

Honors Thesis

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are critical in regulating gene expression and many cellular functions. Recent proteome-wide studies have revealed hundreds of novel RBPs showing new modes of binding. A subset of RBPs known as aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS) catalyze the covalent ligation of an amino acid with its corresponding tRNA in the synthesis of aminoacyl-tRNAs. A recent study found a significant number of novel mRNA-binding proteins to be cytosolic aaRS. The novel functions of RBPs and aaRS are important to consider for their potential relationships to human disease pathology. Dominant intermediate Charcot Marie Tooth type C, also known as DI-CMTC, …

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Molecular Characterization Of A Gene Encoding Insulin-Like Peptide 5 (Ilp5) In Drosophila Virilis, Nikolas R. Likourentzos, Jae H. Park May 2020

Molecular Characterization Of A Gene Encoding Insulin-Like Peptide 5 (Ilp5) In Drosophila Virilis, Nikolas R. Likourentzos, Jae H. Park

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The study of the insulin-like peptides of Drosophila can provide insight of their similarities to mammalian insulin and their potential usage in treating human insulin-related diseases. In this study, we isolated and characterized cDNA encoding insulin-like peptide (ILP) 5 in D. virilis by using RNA purification, reverse transcription, and RACE protocols. Subsequently, various bioinformatic softwares were employed to predict peptide structure. The ILP5 gene (587 base pairs) codes for 121 amino acids that make up prepro-ILP5. After maturation, functional ILP5 is a peptide of two 25 amino acid chains, A- and B-chain, connected by two disulfide bonds. Sequencing genomic DNA …

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The Current Neuroscientific Understanding Of Alzheimer's Disease, Rachel A. Brandes May 2020

The Current Neuroscientific Understanding Of Alzheimer's Disease, Rachel A. Brandes

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative neurological illness characterized by the deterioration of brain regions implicated in memory and cognitive function. While researchers have yet to find a cure or effective treatment, they have gained a better understanding of its pathology and development. Through years of neuroscience research, scientists have discovered much of what happens in the brain during Alzheimer’s disease onset and how this causes its symptoms; many hypotheses regarding this aspect of the illness involve temporal lobe atrophy, neurofibrillary tangles, and amyloid plaques. Although Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of people every day, it seems that most are unaware of …

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Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Platform For Direct Clinical Samples, Terrance Zhang May 2020

Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Platform For Direct Clinical Samples, Terrance Zhang

Honors Scholar Theses

Infectious diseases and septicemia are two of the major causes of death in the U.S., necessitating rapid treatment of septic patients with proper, efficacious antibiotics. Unfortunately, the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria are continuously being aggravated by an abuse in antibiotic prescription at a clinical and agricultural level. It is known that antibiotic resistance evolves through the sequential accumulation of multiple mutations in bacteria, which is accentuated by prolonged exposure of bacteria to ineffective antibiotics when implementing traditional septicemia treatment. The goal of this project is to develop a novel, easy-to-use AST platform for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility profiling to …

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Chemical Tools For Residue-Specific And Secondary Amine Selective Petasis (Sasp) Bioconjugation Of Peptides And Proteins, Yonnette Sim May 2020

Chemical Tools For Residue-Specific And Secondary Amine Selective Petasis (Sasp) Bioconjugation Of Peptides And Proteins, Yonnette Sim

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Chemical protein synthesis is an invaluable tool that enables the construction of novel protein design, incorporation of non-native functionalities, elucidation of structure-function relationships and enable a wide diversity of modifications (such as Post Translation Modification) to study protein functions. Native Chemical Ligation (NCL) in conjunction with Fmoc Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) is the most used method for synthesis of functional peptides and proteins. The synthesis relies on the reaction of a C-terminal peptide thioester and a N-terminal cysteine peptide. Fmoc SPPS of peptide thioester for chemical protein synthesis via NCL is a challenge. Methods that exist for the synthesis …

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Mechanisms Of Statin Effects On Muscle And Neuronal Proteostasis, Daniel Yu May 2020

Mechanisms Of Statin Effects On Muscle And Neuronal Proteostasis, Daniel Yu

University Scholar Projects

Statins are widely prescribed and used chronically, but we know little about the effects on long-term protein homeostasis during stress and aging. Our aim was to quantify the effect of statins on stress-induced protein damage. We administered atorvastatin in a dose-response curve in Caenorhabditis elegans under naïve control conditions and in conditions of hypertonic and heat stress known to induce muscle damage measurable as countable puncta in a polyglutamine aggregation model of damage. We observed that there is significant polyglutamine aggregation variability among worms at baseline and thus further study requires within experiment baseline controls, per worm. Our results are …

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