Biology Commons^™

Mutlifunctional Platforms For Gene And Drug Delivery For Cancer Therapy, Jeffery J. Ambrose Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society estimate that 1.6 million new cancer incidences and over half a million cancer related deaths occur annually [1][2]. Cancer the second most common cause of death in the United States [1], [2]. Although the causes of cancer can vary depending on cell type, all or almost all instances of cancer arise from a mutation or from an abnormal activation of the cellular genes that control cell growth and mitosis [3].

Treatment of a given cancer type depends on the subtype, stage and progression of the cancer. Varieties of cancer therapy include …

Volume 08, Meghan Enzinna, Casey Dawn Gailey, Raven Collins, Chiara Enriquez, Amelia Mcconnell, Alexander Morton, Emma Beckett, Leah G. Parr, Briana Adhikusuma, Taylor Embrey, Rowan Davis, Danielle Sisson, Bianca Cherry, Melissa Cacho, Chloe Woodward, Catherine Rollins, Carson Reeher, Landon Cooper, Haley Vasquez, Marlisha Stewart, Eric Whitehead, Sabrina Walker, James Bates

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Interim Dean Dr. Jennifer Apperson

Indigenous Peoples and the Modern Era by Meghan Enzinna

"Who Says": How Selena Gomez and the Scene Attempt to Subvert the Popular Standards of Beauty by Casey Dawn Gailey

Art by Raven Collins

Meltdown on Social Media: Amy's Baking Company Meets Kitchen Nightmares by Nathena Haddrill

Art by Chiara Enriquez

Design by Amelia Mcconnell

Worth More Than a Thousand Words: A Visual Rhetorical Discussion of Virtual Reality by Examining "Clouds Over Sidra" by Alexander Morton

Design by Emma Beckett

The Sonata: An Analysis of Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor, K. …

Xenoestrogens From Household Plastics Bind Estrogen Receptors And Affect Cell Proliferation, Susan G. Hurley, Brett R. Lackey, Patricia L. Tate, Sandra L. Gray

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Xenoestrogens are “foreign” chemicals or compounds that interact with estrogen receptors as either agonists or antagonists to interfere with endocrine system function. Xenoestrogens include phytoestrogens, pesticides, industrial by- products and synthetic estrogens. In this study, consumer plasticware, including baby bottles and food storage containers, were found to release xenoestrogenic compounds that bound to ERα and ERβ and affected cell proliferation.

Effects Of A Pyrrole-Based, Microtubule-Depolymerizing Compound On Raw 264.7 Macrophages, John A. Ciemnieckia, Clarke P. Lewis, John T. Gupton, Krista J. Stenger

Biology Faculty Publications

RAW 264.7 murine macrophages were exposed to the pyrrole-based compound 3,5-Dibromo-4-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (JG-03-14), which is a known microtubule depolymerizing agent with antitumor activity [1,2,3]. In this study exposure to JG-03-14 reduced the production of pro-inflammatory molecules by macrophages activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Treatment with the pyrrole-based compound decreased the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) released from the macrophages. Exposure to JG-03-14 also decreased TNF-α mRNA expression levels and the protein expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), the enzyme responsible for NO production in the activated macrophages. Furthermore, JG-03-14 treatment significantly changed …

Novel Cell Penetrating Peptide-Adaptors Effect Intracellular Delivery And Endosomal Escape Of Protein Cargos, John C. Salerno, Verra M. Ngwa, Scott J. Nowak, Carol A. Chrestensen, Allison N. Healey, Jonathan L. Mcmurry

Faculty Articles

The use of cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) as biomolecular delivery vehicles holds great promise for therapeutic and other applications, but development has been stymied by poor delivery and lack of endosomal escape. We have developed a CPP-adaptor system capable of efficient intracellular delivery and endosomal escape of user-defined protein cargos. The cell penetrating sequence of HIV transactivator of transcription was fused to calmodulin, which binds with subnanomolar affinity to proteins containing a calmodulin binding site. Our strategy has tremendous advantage over prior CPP technologies because it utilizes high affinity noncovalent, but reversible coupling between CPP and cargo. Three different cargo …

Analyzing Urine In Mice With Tyrosinemia Type 1 Using Nmr Spectroscopy, Emily Olsen

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Rcd+: Fast Loop Modeling Server, José R. López-Blanco, Alejandro J. Canosa-Valis, Yaohang Li, Pablo Chacón

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Modeling loops is a critical and challenging step in protein modeling and prediction. We have developed a quick online service (http://rcd.chaconlab.org) for ab initio loop modeling combining a coarse-grained conformational search with a full-atom refinement. Our original Random Coordinate Descent (RCD) loop closure algorithm has been greatly improved to enrich the sampling distribution towards near-native conformations. These improvements include a new workflow optimization, MPI-parallelization and fast backbone angle sampling based on neighbor-dependent Ramachandran probability distributions. The server starts by efficiently searching the vast conformational space from only the loop sequence information and the environment atomic coordinates. The generated closed loop …

Biolabeling Through The Use Of Water-Soluble Colloidal Quantum Dots, Cody Stombaugh

Honors Projects

Nanomaterials continues to be a growing field of study due to their wide range of potential applications. Quantum dots are artificially synthesized crystalline clusters of atoms able to confine electron motion as a result of their incredibly small size. Recently, medical applications of nanomaterials have expanded greatly. Quantum dots are ideal for biolabeling due to their rather narrow photoluminescence emission peaks. By synthesizing quantum dots of a specific diameter, it is possible to predetermine the peak photoluminescence wavelength of a sample. Through ligand exchange and immunoconjugation of the quantum dots with proteins, it is possible to use the quantum dots …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Two Distinct Modes Of Metal Ion Binding In The Nuclease Active Site Of A Viral Dna-Packaging Terminase: Insight Into The Two-Metal-Ion Catalytic Mechanism, Haiyan Zhao, Zihan Lin, Anna Y. Lynn, Brittany Varnado, John A. Beutler, Ryan P. Murelli, Stuart F.J. Le Grice, Liang Tang

Publications and Research

Many dsDNA viruses encode DNA-packaging terminases, each containing a nuclease domain that resolves concatemeric DNA into genome-length units. Terminase nucleases resemble the RNase H-superfamily nucleotidyltransferases in folds, and share a two-metal-ion catalytic mechanism. Here we show that residue K428 of a bacteriophage terminase gp2 nuclease domain mediates binding of the metal cofactor Mg2+. A K428A mutation allows visualization, at high resolution, of a metal ion binding mode with a coupled-octahedral configuration at the active site, exhibiting an unusually short metal-metal distance of 2.42 A° . Such proximity of the two metal ions may play an essential role in catalysis by …

Comprehensive Quantification Of Triacylglycerols In Soybean Seeds By Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry With Multiple Neutral Loss Scans, Maoyin Li, Emily Butka, Xuemin Wang

Biology Department Faculty Works

Soybean seeds are an important source of vegetable oil and biomaterials. The content of individual triacylglycerol species (TAG) in soybean seeds is difficult to quantify in an accurate and rapid way. The present study establishes an approach to quantify TAG species in soybean seeds utilizing an electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry with multiple neutral loss scans. Ten neutral loss scans were performed to detect the fatty acyl chains of TAG, including palmitic (P, 16:0), linolenic (Ln, 18:3), linoleic (L, 18:2), oleic (O, 18:1), stearic (S, 18:0), eicosadienoic (20:2), gadoleic (20:1), arachidic (20:0), erucic (22:1), and behenic (22:0). The abundance of …

Heterogeneous Dynamics In Dna Site Discrimination By The Structurally Homologous Dna-Binding Domains Of Ets-Family Transcription Factors, Gaofei He, Ana Tolic, James Bashkin, Gregory Poon

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

The ETS family of transcription factors exemplifies current uncertainty in how eukaryotic genetic regulators with overlapping DNA sequence preferences achieve target site specificity. PU.1 and Ets-1 represent archetypes for studying site discrimination by ETS proteins because their DNA-binding domains are the most divergent in sequence, yet they share remarkably superimposable DNA-bound structures. To gain insight into the contrasting thermodynamics and kinetics of DNA recognition by these two proteins, we investigated the structure and dynamics of site discrimination by their DNA-binding domains. Electrophoretic mobilities of complexes formed by the two homologs with circularly permuted binding sites showed significant dynamic differences only …

Urine Proteomics Identifies Preeclampsia Subphenotypes, Michelle R. Axe

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Preeclampsia is a perinatal complication of unknown etiology, resulting in 76,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 infant deaths annually₁. The Nationwide Children’s Center for Perinatal Research was the first cohort to propose that preeclampsia is rooted in protein misfolding. We aimed to characterize the misfolded protein components of maternal urine samples and to determine if distinct molecular profiles exist for clinical preeclampsia phenotypes. A total of 86 maternal urine samples from Yale-New Haven Hospital were analyzed for this study, from six clinical preeclampsia subphenotypes- pregnant control (n=10), idiopathic proteinuria (n=15), mild preeclampsia (n=14), superimposed preeclampsia (n=12), typical severe preeclampsia …

Essential Oils From Apple Mint (Mentha Suaveolens) And Passionflower Fruit (Passiflora Incarnata): Studies On Cognition, Coordination, And Chemical Components., Evelyn F. Patrick *, Jessie Bowers *, Shannon Read *, Brett R. Lackey, Christine Murphy, Sandra L. Gray

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Plant essential oils (EO) are used as perfumes, lotions and air fresheners because of their pleasant aromas, but EO also have the ability to elicit changes in mood and behavior. These activities are influenced by the mode of administration and by multiple signaling pathways. The EO aromas from organically grown apple mint (Mentha suaveolens) and passionflower fruit (Passiflora incarnata) were assessed for their effects on cognition and coordination. Participants completed two tasks designed to test working memory and bimanual task efficiency in rooms infused with apple mint, passionflower fruit or control EO. Bimanual coordination was assessed using the Intercept2 program …

The Rise Of Carbon Nanoscience In South Carolina, Apparao M. Rao

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Volume 07, Rachel C. Lombardi, Ben Osterhout, Lindsay Graybill, Rebecca E. Dey, Skyler T. Carpenter, Emma Beckett, Jason Ware, Mollie Andrews, James Bates, Landon Cooper, Tiffani Jeffries, Maria Wheaton, Dallas Price, Laura Kahler, Sarah Charlton, Anna Bultrowicz, Emily Spittle, Erin Godwin, Eamon Brokenbrough

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Interim Dean Dr. Jennifer Apperson

Spatial Analysis of Potential Risk Factors Associated with Addition of Atlantic Coast Pipeline Through Virginia by Rachel C. Lombardi

"Delicate Matters with No Speaking," "Hope and Nothing," "Mono Duality" by Ben Osterhout

"Connect" Graphic Design Senior Project by Lindsay Graybill

Phenolic Acids in Brassicaceae Plants: Ovipositional Stimulants or Deterrents for Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris Rapae? by Rebecca E. Dey And Skyler T. Carpenter

"Abecedarian Cards" by Emma Beckett, Jason Ware, And Mollie Andrews

Helvetica: A Type Specimen Book by James Bates, Landon Cooper, Tiffani Jeffries, And Maria Wheaton

“Things Left Behind” by Dallas …

Blue Carbon In Freshwater / Brackish Marshes On The Barrier Islands Of Virginia Aboveground Net Primary Productivity And Carbon Pools, Emily Caitlin Adams

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

"Blue carbon" is a relatively new concept describing carbon distributed tidally and sequestered via net production within coastal ecosystems, including seagrass beds, mangrove forests, and salt-water marshes. These systems sequester carbon at least 10 times faster than terrestrial systems. Fresh to brackish wetlands that receive irregular tidal influence due to overwash and storm events have not been typically studied as blue carbon systems. My objective was to quantify carbon pools within four interdunal fresh to brackish marshes on Hog Island, Virginia to determine their blue carbon potential. Marshes 1 and 2 were farthest from the ocean, below and above a …

Blue Carbon In Coastal Freshwater/Brackish Marshes On The Barrier Islands Of Virginia: Belowground Carbon Dynamics, Nathan M. Sedghi

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Some coastal ecosystems sequester substantially more carbon (blue carbon) than land locked systems due to high net primary production and deposition associated with oceanic influences. Most blue carbon research has focused on mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes. Studies on blue carbon potential of coastal freshwater marshes are less common. Barrier islands frequently flood, with seawater reaching interior ecosystems. I examined brackish/freshwater marshes on Virginia barrier islands for possible roles as blue carbon systems. I studied four interior marshes on Hog Island, which varied in proximity to a direct overwash path and protection by a trail berm that divides northern …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Determination In Liver Of Menhaden Exposed To The Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill, Rebecca Hawke

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The April 2010 BP® oil spill has caused great concern for ecological impacts in the Gulf of Mexico. Crude oil contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and oil spills increase the exposure of aquatic organisms to this class of chemicals. The overall detrimental health effects associated with PAH exposure depend on the exposure period, the concentration of PAHs, and the toxicity of the PAHs in the mixture. Brevoortia tyrannus and Brevoortia patronus are filter feeding fish commonly known as menhaden and account for over 40% of the commercial industry fisheries catch. As primary consumers, they are a major link in the …

The Allosteric Regulatory Mechanism Of The Escherichia Coli Metni Methionine Atp Binding Cassette (Abc) Transporter, Janet G. Yang, D. C. Rees

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The MetNI methionine importer of Escherichia coli, an ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, uses the energy of ATP binding and hydrolysis to catalyze the high affinity uptake of d- and l-methionine. Early in vivo studies showed that the uptake of external methionine is repressed by the level of the internal methionine pool, a phenomenon termed transinhibition. Our understanding of the MetNI mechanism has thus far been limited to a series of crystal structures in an inward-facing conformation. To understand the molecular mechanism of transinhibition, we studied the kinetics of ATP hydrolysis using detergent-solubilized MetNI. We find that transinhibition is …

2015 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Northeastern State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

This document contains all abstracts from the 2015 Oklahoma Research Day held at Northeastern State University.

Ua94/6/15 Student / Alumni Personal Papers Wku Dorris Hutchinson, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Correspondence and publications created by and about the Dorris Hutchison during her time at Sloan-Kettering Institute.

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 1, No. 1, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

The Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM) is a scientific coastal research center and field station dedicated to exploring our global coastal environments and near-shore oceans. CERCOM is the field station support facility for all sciences at Molloy College and services the degree programs of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies, with special attention to a B.S. degree in Earth and Environmental Studies. Located at the West Sayville Boat Basin on the Great South Bay, CERCOM is a 2,500 sq. ft. field station estuarine/ marine science laboratory where environmental monitoring and analysis is conducted 365 days a year.

The Loss Of Genomic Uracil Homeostasis And Aid-Dependent Accumulation Of Dna Damage In B Cell Lymphomas, Sophia Shalhout

Wayne State University Dissertations

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is a sequence-selective DNA cytosine deaminase that introduces uracils in immunoglobulin genes. This DNA mutator is required for somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination- processes involved in the affinity maturation and diversification of antibodies. AID, however, can also lead to deleterious mutations and translocations promoting lymphomagenesis. The introduction of uracils throughout the genome of activated B cells and the ability of UNG2 glycosylase to excise these uracils is examined here. This interplay was also studied in cancerous B cells, with different results emerging in transformed cells versus healthy cells. Genomic uracil levels are found to remain at …

Peptide Inhibitor Of Complement C1 (Pic1) Rapidly Inhibits Complement Activation After Intravascular Injection In Rats, Julia A. Sharp, Pamela S. Hair, Haree K. Pallera, Parvathi S. Kumar, Clifford T. Mauriello, Julius O. Nyalwidhe, Cody A. Phelps, Dalnam Park, Nicole M. Thielens, Stephen M. Pascal, Waldon Chen, Diane M. Duffy, Frank A. Lattanzio, Kenji M. Cunnion, Neel K. Krishna

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The complement system has been increasingly recognized to play a pivotal role in a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Consequently, therapeutic modulators of the classical, lectin and alternative pathways of the complement system are currently in preclinical and clinical development. Our laboratory has identified a peptide that specifically inhibits the classical and lectin pathways of complement and is referred to as Peptide Inhibitor of Complement C1 (PIC1). In this study, we determined that the lead PIC1 variant demonstrates a salt-dependent binding to C1q, the initiator molecule of the classical pathway. Additionally, this peptide bound to the lectin pathway initiator …

The Effects Of Substrate Roughness In Air And Water On The Gecko Adhesive System, Amanda Palecek

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In an effort to better understand the fascinating gecko adhesive system, scientists have long tested the abilities of the gecko in controlled conditions that mimic the gecko’s native environment. The effects of humidity, environmental temperature, and exposure to water have all been tested. Roughness, however has not been studied in great detail. Surfaces of varying roughnesses are all over the gecko’s natural environment. We tested geckos on hydrophilic silicon carbide sandpapers of varying roughnesses in both air and water to attempt to better study the effects of roughness on gecko adhesion. When tested on the rougher (1 µm) surface, the …

Snails From Heavy-Metal Polluted Environments Have Reduced Sensitivity To Carbon Dioxide-Induced Acidity, Hugh Lefcort, David A. Cleary, Aaron M. Marble, Morgan V. Phillips, Timothy J. Stoddard, Lara M. Tuthill, James R. Winslow

Biology Faculty Scholarship

Anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3) which increases water acidity. While marine acidification has received recent consideration, less attention has been paid to the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide on freshwater systems—systems that often have low buffering potential. Since many aquatic systems are already impacted by pollutants such as heavy metals, we wondered about the added effect of rising atmospheric CO2 on freshwater organisms. We studied aquatic pulmonate snails (Physella columbiana) from both a heavy-metal polluted watershed and snails from a reference watershed that has not experienced mining pollution. We used gaseous CO2 …

Constitutive Activity In Orphan G Protein Coupled Receptors, Adam Lee Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

"The goal of this research was to use a distal signaling pathway analysis to evaluate the extent of agonist independent constitutive signaling among orphan class-A G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). These receptors translate extracellular signals via conformational change into intracellular activation of different G proteins and subsequent second messenger synthesis. These small molecules regulate cellular biochemistry, eventually leading to nuclear signaling that results in changes in gene expression. Some GPCRs are capable of signaling in the absence of an activating ligand, a phenomenon called constitutive activity that is inhibited via an "inverse-agonist". The use of cAMP dependent Luciferase expression is …

The Role Of Hydroxyl Channel In Defining Selected Physicochemical Peculiarities Exhibited By Hydroxyapatite, Vuk Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Mysteries surrounding the most important mineral for the vertebrate biology, hydroxyapatite, are many. Perhaps the Greek root of its name, απαταo, meaning ‘to deceive’ and given to its mineral form by the early gem collectors who confused it with more precious stones, is still applicable today, though in a different connotation, descriptive of a number of physicochemical peculiarities exhibited by it. Comparable to water as the epitome of peculiarities in the realm of liquids, hydroxyapatite can serve as a paradigm for peculiarities in the world of solids. Ten of the peculiar properties of hydroxyapatite are sketched in this review piece, …

Empirical Demonstration Of Environmental Sensing In Catalytic Rna: Evolution Of Interpretive Behavior At The Origins Of Life, Niles Lehman, Tess Bernhard, Brian C. Larson, Andrew J.N. Robinson, Christopher C.B. Southgate

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The origins of life on the Earth required chemical entities to interact with their environments in ways that could respond to natural selection. The concept of interpretation, where biotic entities use signs in their environment as proxy for the existence of other items of selective value in their environment, has been proposed on theoretical grounds to be relevant to the origins and early evolution of life. However this concept has not been demonstrated empirically.

Results: Here, we present data that certain catalytic RNA sequences have properties that would enable interpretation of divalent cation levels in their environment. …