Biology Commons^™

Table Of Contents

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Canvass: A Crowd-Sourced, Natural-Product Screening Library For Exploring Biological Space, Sara E. Kearney, Gergely ZahoráNszky-KőHalmi, Kyle R. Brimacombe, Mark J. Henderson, Caitlin Lynch, Tongan Zhao, Kanny K. Wan, Zina Itkin, Christopher Dillon, Min Shen, Dorian M. Cheff, Tobie D. Lee, Danielle Bougie, Ken Cheng, Nathan P. Coussens, Dorjbal Dorjsuren, Richard T. Eastman, Ruili Huang, Michael J. Iannotti, Surendra Karavadhi, Carleen Klumpp-Thomas, Jacob S. Roth, Srilatha Sakamuru, Wei Sun, Steven A. Titus, Adam Yasgar, Ya-Qin Zhang, Jinghua Zhao, Rodrigo B. Andrade, M. Kevin Brown, Robert B. Grossman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Natural products and their derivatives continue to be wellsprings of nascent therapeutic potential. However, many laboratories have limited resources for biological evaluation, leaving their previously isolated or synthesized compounds largely or completely untested. To address this issue, the Canvass library of natural products was assembled, in collaboration with academic and industry researchers, for quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) across a diverse set of cell-based and biochemical assays. Characterization of the library in terms of physicochemical properties, structural diversity, and similarity to compounds in publicly available libraries indicates that the Canvass library contains many structural elements in common with approved drugs. The …

Generating High-Order Optical And Spin Harmonics From Ferromagnetic Monolayers, G.P. Zhang, M.S. Si, M. Murakami, Y.H. Bai, Thomas George

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in solids has entered a new phase of intensive research, with envisioned band-structure mapping on an ultrashort time scale. This partly benefits from a flurry of new HHG materials discovered, but so far has missed an important group. HHG in magnetic materials should have profound impact on future magnetic storage technology advances. Here we introduce and demonstrate HHG in ferromagnetic monolayers. We find that HHG carries spin information and sensitively depends on the relativistic spin–orbit coupling; and if they are dispersed into the crystal momentum k space, harmonics originating from real transitions can be k-resolved and …

Molecular Fossils From Phytoplankton Reveal Secular Pco2 Trend Over The Phanerozoic, Caitlyn R. Witkowski, Johan W. H. Weijers, Brian S. Blais, Stefan Schouten, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Past changes in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (PCO2) have had a major impact on earth system dynamics; yet, reconstructing secular trends of past PCO2 remains a prevalent challenge in paleoclimate studies. The current long-term PCO2reconstructions rely largely on the compilation of many different proxies, often with discrepancies among proxies, particularly for periods older than 100 million years (Ma). Here, we reconstructed Phanerozoic PCO2 from a single proxy: the stable carbon isotopic fractionation associated with photosynthesis (Ɛp) that increases as PCO2 increases. This concept has been widely applied to alkenones, but here, we …

Proceedings Of The First Annual Symposium On The Wright State Woods, College Of Science And Mathematics, College Of Liberal Arts

1st Annual Wright State Woods Symposium

The proceeding of the Woods Symposium held at Wright State University and sponsored by the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts.

Regulation Of Kv11.1 Potassium Channel C-Terminal Isoform Expression By The Rna-Binding Proteins Hur And Hud, Qiuming Gong, Matthew R. Stump, Zhengfeng Zhou

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

The potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily H member 2 (KCNH2) gene encodes the Kv11.1 potassium channel, which conducts the rapidly activating delayed rectifier current in the heart. KCNH2 pre-mRNA undergoes alternative polyadenylation and forms a functional, full-length Kv11.1a isoform if exon 15 is polyadenylated or a nonfunctional, C-terminally truncated Kv11.1a-USO isoform if intron 9 is polyadenylated. The molecular mechanisms that regulate Kv11.1 isoform expression are poorly understood. In this study, using HEK293 cells and reporter gene expression, pulldown assays, and RNase protection assays, we identified the RNA-binding proteins Hu antigen R (HuR) and Hu antigen D (HuD) as regulators of Kv11.1 …

Identification Of Coliphages In The Aviary At Brookgreen Gardens And The Factors That Might Influence Coliphage Population Dynamics In This Cypress Swamp Environment, Olivia Shirley, Lisa Pieterse, Paul E. Richardson

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

It has been understood that the presence of coliphages (bacteriophages specific for E. coli) in water is an indirect measurement of fecal contamination. Bacteriophages have been suggested to hold an important role in regulating the bacterial population. This pilot study analyzes the relationship between the presence of coliphages in the water in the aviary at Brookgreen Gardens and how environmental factors such as temperature, pH, and turbidity affect the presence of these viruses over the time period of three months (June 2017 through August 2017). Coliphages found in volary water sources were speculated to be deposited directly by birds that …

Investigating The Lytic Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteriophage Reservoir Amongst A South Carolina University Population: Discovery, Characterization, And Identification Of A Potential Bacteriophage Treatment For Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Lisa Pieterse, Amy Powers, Derek Pride, Lisha Van Onselen, Giovanna E. Leone, Paul E. Richardson

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Bacteriophages are viruses that only infect bacterial cells and can be used to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. This study focused on the isolation and characterization of bacteriophages lytic to Staphylococcus aureus at Coastal Carolina University (CCU) in Conway, South Carolina, as a means to isolate bacteriophages that can potentially be used to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant S. aureus variant. From 2014 to 2018, collection of ear and nose samples from 225 randomly selected CCU volunteers was conducted. Filter sterilization, amplification, microbial tests, and PCR analyses were performed in order to identify and characterize bacteriophages. Coliphage populations …

An Investigation Of The Order Of Applying An Emollient With A Topical Steroid In The Treatment Of Atopic Dermatitis, Andrea Conner, Ashlee Tietje

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

In 2007, the prevalence of Atopic Dermatitis had increased two to three-fold within the last three decades and affected 15-20% of young children (Buys, 2007). Current treatment includes the use of both steroid and emollient creams. Current suggestions for the order of application are contradictory. This study aims to examine the role of the order of application of treatments for Atopic Dermatitis (AD). Hairless mice (SKH-1) were induced to a mild AD flare-up using 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) and treated with either 1% hydrocortisone (Maximum Strength Cortizone 10 cream) alone, 1% hydrocortisone followed by Cetaphil (emollient), or Cetaphil followed by 1% hydrocortisone. …

Table Of Contents

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Building Soft Nanomachines From Polydiacetylene Liposomes, Timothy W. Hanks

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Study Of The Visual Adaptation Mechanism In Marine Species With The Change Of Habitation Depth., Demid Osipov, Daniil Moshnikov

The International Student Science Fair 2018

The goal of our work was to determine the principal mechanisms that provide the difference in visual perception of two marine species that live on different depths: T. Pacificus and O. Vulgaris. In nature, visual perception of species that live deeper is shifted towards the blue region. This is related to the fact that red, orange and yellow light is absorbed more strongly by water than the blue light. On the other hand, the visual perception spectrum of an animal is determined by the absorption spectrum of the "light sensor" located in rods and cones of its eye retina. These …

Quantitative Proteomics To Support Translational Cancer Research, Melissa Hoffman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Altered signaling pathways, which are mediated by post-translational modifications and changes in protein expression levels, are key regulators of cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic escape. Many aspects of cancer progression, including early carcinogenesis and immediate response to drug treatment, are beyond the scope of genetic profiling and non-invasive monitoring techniques. Global protein profiling of cancer cell line models, tumor tissues, and biofluids (e.g. serum or urine) using mass spectrometry-based proteomics produces novel biological insights, which support improved patient outcomes. Recent technological advances resulting in next-generation mass spectrometry instrumentation and improved bioinformatics workflows have led to unprecedented measurement reproducibility as well …

Deconvoluting The Effects Of Surface Chemistry And Nanoscale Topography: Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Biofilm Nucleation On Si-Based Substrates, Jing Zhang, Jingling Huang, Carmen Say, Robert L. Dorit, Kate Queeney

Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Hypothesis

The nucleation of biofilms is known to be affected by both the chemistry and topography of the underlying substrate, particularly when topography includes nanoscale (nm) features. However, determining the role of topography vs. chemistry is complicated by concomitant variation in both as a result of typical surface modification techniques. Analyzing the behavior of biofilm-forming bacteria exposed to surfaces with systematic, independent variation of both topography and surface chemistry should allow differentiation of the two effects.

Experiments

Silicon surfaces with reproducible nanotopography were created by anisotropic etching in deoxygenated water. Surface chemistry was varied independently to create hydrophilic (OH- terminated) …

Decreased Brood-Size Of Starvation-Induced Postdauer Adults Is Inherited Transgenerationally Via Hrde-1, Ibnul Rafi

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Environmental stress experienced in utero or in early life has profound effects on the behavior and physiology of an adult animal. Interestingly, genome-wide association studies in humans have shown that early-life stress not only affects the exposed individual, but also their future generations. However, the molecular mechanisms of how early-life stress can impact physiology transgenerationally in the absence of the original stress are not well understood. To study the mechanisms and consequences of environmental stress on adult phenotypes, we utilize the life cycle of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. In favorable conditions, the life cycle of C. elegans includes 5 …

Evaluating Mutagenicity Of Burned Arginine-Based Heterocyclic Amines And Anti-Mutagenicity Effect Of Chinese Medicinal Herbs, Rayford C. Alva

Honors Theses

From the unexpected finding that cooked grains and meat substitutes elicit a mutagenic response in Salmonella typhimurium TA98, our work has been aimed at deconstructing this finding via a survey of heated binary amino acid combinations, involving arginine, a plant-based amino acid. secondly, our work has looked towards sing phytochemical extracts from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs to inhibit the mutagenic activity of heterocyclic amines (main culprit for mutagenicity in meat). Two fractions from the burned products of arginine and phenylalanine (RF-HCA-06 and -07) were statistically significant inducers of mutagenesis; Scutellaria barbata and Oldenlandia diffusa, both separately and together, were statistically …

Do Paraben Derivatives Alter T Cell Immunity?, Hailey Kintz

Spring Presentation of Undergraduate Research

T cells immunity is linked to a complex system of cytokines that determine differentiation of naïve T cells into Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg cells. Estrogen production or periods of elevated production have been correlated with an anti-inflammatory state in which Th2 and Treg cells are up-regulated. Such responses in the immune system are capable of supporting pre-cancerous activity. We are investigating the tie between the xenoestrogen compounds found in cosmetics, parabens, and their ability to regulate T cell immunity. Testing parabens and paraben derivatives with weaker estrogen receptor association will allow for a better understanding of the interplay between …

Volume 10, Taylor Hogg, Tiffany Carter, Brandyn Johnson, Haleigh James, Josh Baker, Tyler Cernak, Kirsten Bauer, Allie Snavely, Mary Zell Galen, Eric Powell, Thomas Wise, Katie Kinsey, Beth Barbolla, Maeleigh Ferlet, Rebecca Morra, Michala Day, Alexandra Evangelista, Max Flores, Harley Hodges, Clardene Jones, Harrison Samaniego, Jamesha Watson, Abby Gargiulo, Heather Green, Haley Klepatzki, Juan Guevara, Dani Bondurant, Michael Joseph Link Jr., Pamela Dahl, Maeve Losen, Charlotte Murphey

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Roger A. Byrne

An Analysis of Media Framing in Cases of Violence Against Women by Taylor Hogg

Writing in the Discipline of Nursing by Tiffany Carter

Photography by Brandyn Johnson

The Hidden Life of Beef Cattle: A Study of Cattle Welfare on Traditional Ranches and Industrial Farms by Haleigh James

Bloodworth's by Josh Baker and Tyler Cernak

Prosimians: Little Bodies, Big Significance by Kirsten Bauer

Skinformed by Allie Snavely

Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism: The Effects of First Robotics Folklore and Culture on the Stem Community by Mary Zell Galen

Tilt by Eric Powell And Thomas Wise

The Millennial …

Robust Microplate-Based Methods For Culturing And In Vivo Phenotypic Screening Of Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Timothy C. Haire, Cody Bell, Kirstin Cutshaw, Brendan Swiger, Kurt Winkelmann, Andrew G. Palmer

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Faculty Publications

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cr), a unicellular alga, is routinely utilized to study photosynthetic biochemistry, ciliary motility, and cellular reproduction. Its minimal culture requirements, unicellular morphology, and ease of transformation have made it a popular model system. Despite its relatively slow doubling time, compared with many bacteria, it is an ideal eukaryotic system for microplate-based studies utilizing either, or both, absorbance as well as fluorescence assays. Such microplate assays are powerful tools for researchers in the areas of toxicology, pharmacology, chemical genetics, biotechnology, and more. However, while microplate-based assays are valuable tools for screening biological systems, these methodologies can significantly alter the …

Cooperative Standing-Horizontalstanding Reentrant Transition For Numerous Solid Particles Under External Vibration, Satoshi Takatori, Hikari Baba, Takatoshi Ichino, Chwen-Yang Shew, Kenichi Yoshikawa

Publications and Research

We report the collective behavior of numerous plastic bolt-like particles exhibiting one of two distinct states, either standing stationary or horizontal accompanied by tumbling motion, when placed on a horizontal plate undergoing sinusoidal vertical vibration. Experimentally, we prepared an initial state in which all of the particles were standing except for a single particle that was placed at the center of the plate. Under continuous vertical vibration, the initially horizontal particle triggers neighboring particles to fall over into a horizontal state through tumbling-induced collision, and this effect gradually spreads to all of the particles, i.e., the number of horizontal particles …

Biomimetic Macromolecules For Macrophage Targeting And Modulation, Joshua Whited

ETD Archive

Carbohydrate recognition has come to the forefront of biological aiming to uncover the mechanisms of physiological and pathological processes. Cell surface glycans are involved in processes including cellular adhesion, cell signaling, and immune response. A new approach for profiling cell surface glycans has great potential for a wide range of biomedical applications. Lectins have been conventionally used to determine the structure and function of glycoproteins, however, their numbers are still restricted compared to the number of glycan structures. Boronic acid has proven a remarkable small molecule capable of binding diols in aqueous solution. This interaction indicates boronic acid derived molecules …

Audiobook Of A World From Dust, Ben Mcfarland

Faculty Open Access Books

A World From Dust is a popular science book about the chemical sequence behind the evolution of creation.

It’s about how geology, biology, and chemistry worked together over billions of years, providing a hidden order under the random flow of genes and lava and water.

It’s about the chemical job that each element takes up in life, and how that job is predictable from its place on the periodic table.

It can be told as the story of many elements: how iron and sulfur gave a spark of life; how manganese was a key for oxygen; and how copper and …

Large Effect Quantitative Trait Loci For Salicinoid Phenolic Glycosides In Populus: Implications For Gene Discovery, Scott A. Woolbright, Brian J. Rehill, Richard L. Lindroth, Stephen P. Difazio, Gregory D. Martinsen, Matthew S. Zinkgraf, Gerard J. Allan, Paul Keim, Thomas G. Whitham

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Genomic studies have been used to identify genes underlying many important plant secondary metabolic pathways. However, genes for salicinoid phenolic glycosides (SPGs)—ecologically important compounds with significant commercial, cultural, and medicinal applications—remain largely undescribed. We used a linkage map derived from a full-sib population of hybrid cottonwoods (Populus spp.) to search for quanti- tative trait loci (QTL) for the SPGs salicortin and HCH-salicortin. SSR markers and primer sequences were used to anchor the map to the V3.0 P. trichocarpa genome. We discovered 21 QTL for the two traits, including a major QTL for HCH-salicortin (R2 = .52) that colocated with a …

Sequestered Alkaloid Defenses In The Dendrobatid Poison Frog Oophaga Pumilio Provide Variable Protection From Microbial Pathogens, K. J. Hovey, E. M. Seiter, Erin E. Johnson, Ralph Saporito

2018 Faculty Bibliography

Most amphibians produce their own defensive chemicals; however, poison frogs sequester their alkaloid-based defenses from dietary arthropods. Alkaloids function as a defense against predators, and certain types appear to inhibit microbial growth. Alkaloid defenses vary considerably among populations of poison frogs, reflecting geographic differences in availability of dietary arthropods. Consequently, environmentally driven differences in frog defenses may have significant implications regarding their protection against pathogens. While natural alkaloid mixtures in dendrobatid poison frogs have recently been shown to inhibit growth of non-pathogenic microbes, no studies have examined the effectiveness of alkaloids against microbes that infect these frogs. Herein, we examined …

The Coastal Monitor: Fall 2017/ Spring 2018, John T. Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

As I sat there in the Members Lounge at the Explorers Club; the world center for exploration, getting ready for our first Spring Saturday Science for Students @the EC lecture, I was putting together some notes on the accomplishments of our science students and CERCOM over the last few months since our last newsletter. Our visit to the Galapagos, a spectacular academic experience for our Molloy College students was at the top of my list! This was certainly not an epiphany but as I accumulated the items on this list, I was impressed not only with what we have conducted …

Upregulation Of Functional Kv11.1a Isoform Expression By Modified U1 Small Nuclear Rna, Qiuming Gong, Matthew R. Stump, Zhengfeng Zhou

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

The KCNH2 or human ether-a go-go-related gene (hERG) encodes the Kv11.1 potassium channel that conducts the rapidly activating delayed rectifier potassium current in the heart. The expression of Kv11.1 C-terminal isoforms is directed by the alternative splicing and polyadenylation of intron 9. Splicing of intron 9 leads to the formation of a functional, full-length Kv11.1a isoform and polyadenylation of intron 9 results in the production of a non-functional, C-terminally truncated Kv11.1a-USO isoform. The relative expression of Kv11.1a and Kv11.1a-USO plays an important role in regulating Kv11.1 channel function. In the heart, only one-third of KCNH2 pre-mRNA is processed to Kv11.1a …

Effects Of Yoga On The Motor Skills Of A Ten-Year-Old Male With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amber Schmitt

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD} is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is typically diagnosed in childhood due to the presence of atypical development, social interactions, and repetitive stereotypical patterns of behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a yoga intervention on a ten-year-old male diagnosed with ASD. It was hypothesized that the yoga intervention on select instructed poses would increase both pose duration and pose performance and that the results would generalize to longer pose duration and better pose performance on non-instructed poses. Pre-intervention assessments of motor functioning were administered, including the Movement ABC, BOT-2, TGMD, …

Transplanting A Bacterial Immune System: Determining The Function Of A Novel Crispr System, Riannon Smith, Melena Garrett

Research on Capitol Hill

CRISPR (Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) loci and cas (CRISPR-associated) genes provide adaptive immunity (see panel below) in bacteria and have recently been repurposed for genome editing.

Systems are structurally and functionally diverse.

• 2 classes, 6 types, 33 subtypes
• Very few have been studied experimentally
• None of the Type IV systems have been characterized

The Forensic Characterization Of Bacterial And Fungal Organisms In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Julia Grzymkowski, Christopher J. Ehrhardt, Justin L. Poklis, Michelle R. Peace

UROP Posters

There has been an increase in use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the United States because they are less expensive and believed to be more effective with less adverse effects in comparison to traditional pharmaceutics. Therefore, sales have increased in the US, despite articles and case studies demonstrating the dangers, such as injury and death, related to TCM, stemming from improper labelling, toxic contaminants, and, in some cases, the presence of pathogenic bacteria. The aim of this study was to perform a survival experiment to demonstrate the importance of proper herbal brewing technique and to conduct a molecular and …

Connecting Chemistry To Community With Deliberative Democracy, Regis Komperda, Jack Barbera, Erin Shortlidge, Gwen Shusterman, Stem Education And Equity Institute, Portland State University

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Science education communities have called for rethinking curricula to improve student understanding of the nature of science and the role of science in addressing controversial modern issues such as climate change, energy policy, and pollution levels. One approach to meeting this call is integrating these topics into class activities that require students to use discussion and scientific approaches to solve problems and deliberate potential policy solutions. Deliberative democracy (DD) is one such active learning approach in which students work in peer groups to reach a consensus on a scientific topic relevant to both real-world issues and course content. During DD …