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Effects Of Arsenic Responsive P21 On Innate Immunity And Apoptosis In Zebrafish, Gabriel O. Vachon
Effects Of Arsenic Responsive P21 On Innate Immunity And Apoptosis In Zebrafish, Gabriel O. Vachon
Honors College
Arsenic is a heavy metal that is frequently found in drinking water, especially well-water in the Northeastern United States. Arsenic is thought to be involved with numerous negative health conditions. This project examined the impact of this environmental toxicant, on the zebrafish innate immune system. Specifically, this project characterized the gene encoding for the protein p21. The particular gene is cdkn1a (will be referred to here by its product "p21" both for the protein and gene itself which will be italicized) and had increased expression as a result of arsenic exposure from a previously complete microarray analysis. In attempt to …
Evolutionary And Molecular Analysis Of Conserved Vertebrate Immunity To Fungi, Erin Carter
Evolutionary And Molecular Analysis Of Conserved Vertebrate Immunity To Fungi, Erin Carter
Honors College
The innate immune system is highly conserved amongst all multicellular organisms. Yet a constant battle exists between host cells and pathogens due to the rapid evolution of immune system components. Functional genomics and in silico methods can be employed to elucidate the evolutionary patterns of vertebrate immunity to pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause lethal candidiasis in the immunocompromised. Mammals such as humans and mice possess conserved C-type lectin receptors that recognize the C. albicans cell wall. However, these receptors have not been identified in fish. Here I describe how we identified potential …