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2020

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Articles 61 - 66 of 66

Full-Text Articles in Biophysics

Factors Influencing Huntingtin Aggregation At Surfaces: Implications For Huntington’S Disease, Sharon E. Groover Jan 2020

Factors Influencing Huntingtin Aggregation At Surfaces: Implications For Huntington’S Disease, Sharon E. Groover

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a genetic, neurodegenerative disease characterized by an abnormal polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion in the first exon of the huntingtin protein (htt). The polyQ domain facilitates aggregation and initiates the formation of a diverse collection of aggregate species, including fibrils, oligomers and annular aggregates. The first 17 amino acids of htt (Nt17) directly flank the polyQ domain and is a key factor in htt’s association to membranous structures. In addition to Nt17 being an amphipathic αhelix, it also promotes aggregation through self-association and contains numerous posttranslational modifications (PTMs) that can modulate toxicity and subcellular localization. For in depth …


The Effects Of Membrane Physicochemical Properties On Huntingtin Membrane Association And Downstream Aggregation, Maryssa Beasley Jan 2020

The Effects Of Membrane Physicochemical Properties On Huntingtin Membrane Association And Downstream Aggregation, Maryssa Beasley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded glutamine repeat region (polyQ) within the huntingtin protein (htt). As a result of the expanded polyQ domain, htt associates into a variety of toxic aggregate species. The polyQ domain of htt is flanked at the N-terminal end by 17 amino acids (Nt17) that adopt an amphipathic α-helical structure in the presence of binding partners such as lipid membranes. In addition to comprising a lipid binding domain, the Nt17 amphipathic α -helix has been directly implicated in htt aggregation initiation via self-association with other Nt17 α -helices. Due to …


Deconvolution Tools For Extracting Insight From Challenging Two-Flavin Systems, Dallas Michael Bell Jan 2020

Deconvolution Tools For Extracting Insight From Challenging Two-Flavin Systems, Dallas Michael Bell

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Flavoproteins have long been explored for their ubiquity among a number of metabolic and energetic reactions. The flavin cofactor has the inherent benefit of distinct spectral changes associated with redox transitions; however, the double-edged sword is incurred as these distinct signatures overlap and take up much of the UV-vis spectral range. Therefore, it is crucial to create a method to demarcate the expressed redox transitions for studying these systems. The first portion of these studies discusses the creation of a program that deduces spectra for redox transitions in a single-flavin containing model protein: flavodoxin. The latter portions discuss the application …


A Novel Pool Of Microparticle Cholesterol Is Elevatedin Rheumatoid Arthritis But Not In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients, Shuai Shuai Hu, Brenton L. Cavanagh, Robert Harrington, Muddassar Ahmad, Grainne Kearns, Steve Meaney, Claire Wynne Jan 2020

A Novel Pool Of Microparticle Cholesterol Is Elevatedin Rheumatoid Arthritis But Not In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients, Shuai Shuai Hu, Brenton L. Cavanagh, Robert Harrington, Muddassar Ahmad, Grainne Kearns, Steve Meaney, Claire Wynne

Articles

Microparticles are sub-micron, membrane-bound particles released from virtually allcells and which are present in the circulation. In several autoimmune disorders their amountand composition in the circulation is altered. Microparticle surface protein expression has beenexplored as a differentiating tool in autoimmune disorders where the clinical pictures can overlap.Here, we examine the utility of a novel lipid-based marker—microparticle cholesterol, present in allmicroparticles regardless of cellular origin—to distinguish between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) andsystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We first isolated a series of microparticle containing lipoproteindeficient fractions from patient and control plasma. There were no significant differences in thesize, structure or protein content of …


Synthesis And Biophysical Analysis Of The Cell-Penetrating Peptide Penetratin And Its Aromatic Analogues, An Le Jan 2020

Synthesis And Biophysical Analysis Of The Cell-Penetrating Peptide Penetratin And Its Aromatic Analogues, An Le

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) interact with biological membranes, undergo cellular intake/uptake, and may act as potential drug delivery agents. Understanding the molecular interactions of these peptides with membranes contributes to gaining a better knowledge of their potential use in medical and pharmaceutical applications to improve human health. The current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of a CPP in interaction with different model phospholipid membranes. The peptide penetratin (primary sequence: RQIKIWFQNRRMKWKK) is an example of a CPP that can interact with and pass through biological membranes. The current thesis provides spectroscopic and calorimetric evidence that penetratin associates with lipid membranes. Circular …


Special Issue On The Third Workshop On Biological Mentality, Kenneth A. Augustyn Jan 2020

Special Issue On The Third Workshop On Biological Mentality, Kenneth A. Augustyn

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Third Workshop on Biological Mentality was held from September 23, 2019 to March 2, 2020 as a series of twenty-one Monday online conferencing sessions, each consisting of a talk followed by a Q&A discussion. Like the two previous workshops [1, 2], the objective of this workshop was to seek a deeper level of understanding the physical foundations of biological mentality (whether conscious or nonconscious).