Biology Commons^™

Estrogen's Effects On Oxidative Stress Levels In Glial Cells, Jacob J. Dirkman

Theses and Dissertations

A decrease in astrocyte function and viability has been linked to many neurodegenerative diseases, including schizophrenia, major depressive disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Previous research indicates that some estrogens may have a positive effect on neuron and astrocyte viability. Estrogens’ effects on the brain are of interest as estrogens are commonly prescribed as hormone replacement therapy to reduce the symptoms of menopause in women. Unfortunately, these effects on are not completely understood. The goal of the project was to discover if estrogen has any protective effect on astrocytes exposed to oxidative stress. We measured the oxidative stress …

Filifactor Alocis, A Newly Appreciated Oral Pathogen, Fails To Induce The Respiratory Burst Response Of Human Neutrophils., Jacob S. Edmisson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Almost 50% of adult Americans suffer from periodontitis which is a bacterially induced inflammation of the tissue that surround and support the tooth. The accumulation of neutrophils, a critical cell component of the innate immune system, in the gingival crevice contributes to tissue damage. Filifactor alocis is a newly appreciated pathogen present in oral biofilms at periodontal disease sites. Studying the interactions between neutrophils and F. alocis will provide valuable information for delineating the role of this bacterium in periodontal disease and enhance our understanding of bacterial strategies to evade leukocytes’ antimicrobial mechanisms. The hypothesis that F. alocis modulates human …

Exploring The Mechanisms Of Action Of Antifungal Peptides Using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae., Michelle L. Mason

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Candida albicans is a normal inhabitant of the skin and mucosal membranes of humans, however, in individuals with depressed immune systems or disrupted cutaneous flora, Candida can overgrow and cause serious infection. Candida infection is the fourth leading cause of nosocomial infection in the United States. These infections are often associated with longer hospital stays and higher mortality. Current drug therapies for this infection are largely ineffective due to the increased drug resistance of Candida species, and for some therapeutics, high levels of drug toxicity to humans. Histatin 5 is a naturally occurring salivary peptide that has strong antifungal properties. …

Development Of Vip-Sst Interneuron Associations In Mouse Neocortex And Entorhinal Cortex, Aayushi A. Mehta

Honors Scholar Theses

Cortical networks depend upon inhibition through the neurotransmitter GABA to control and coordinate specific spatiotemporal circuit patterns, underlying the exquisite complexity of neural signaling. Disinhibition, a form of inhibition where inhibitory neurons inhibit other inhibitory cells, further aids in amplifying local neural processing in a selective, organized manner. A subset of GABAergic interneurons, vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing (VIP) cells, preferentially inhibit somatostatin interneurons, which provide inhibitory input onto pyramidal cells, thus creating an archetypal circuit illustrating disinhibition in the cortex. The aim of this anatomical study was to investigate variations in GABAergic VIP synapses onto somatostatin-expressing inhibitory interneurons in mice at …

Genomic Drivers Of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Development, Vida Chitsazzadeh

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in humans. Annually, in U.S. there are over 3 million cases with an estimated overall economic impact of $2 billion. Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma (cuSCC) comprises 15-20% of all skin cancers. cuSCC has the best-defined progression from a distinct precancerous lesion, the Actinic Keratosis (AK), to invasive cuSCC. Destructive therapies for AK treatment must be used repetitively, causing significant morbidity. There is a tremendous need for targeted diagnostics and therapy for AKs, representing an important opportunity for secondary skin cancer prevention. Our knowledge of the molecular and cellular events that lead to the …

The Notch Target Hes4 Promotes Osteosarcoma Tumor Growth And Metastasis By Inhibiting Osteogenic Differentiation, And Has Potential As A Prognostic Biomarker For Newly Diagnosed Patients With High Grade Osteosarcoma., Madonna Mcmanus

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Currently, there are no well-established prognostic biomarkers for osteosarcoma (OS) at the time of diagnosis. Although response to preoperative chemotherapy correlates with metastasis risk and overall survival, this information is obtained 3-4 months after the initial diagnosis. The major purpose of this study is to identify clinically relevant biomarkers that will allow for the stratification of patients into good or poor responders to chemotherapy at diagnosis. We also aim to understand the biology of these markers in OS pathogenesis. Because the development of OS is caused by genetic disruptions of osteogenic differentiation, we sought to identify pathways that are involved …

Epigenetic Profiles Signify Cell Fate Plasticity In Unipotent Spermatogonial Stem And Progenitor Cells, Ying Liu, Eugenia G. Giannopoulou, Duacheng Wen, Ilaria Falciatori, Oliver Elemento, C. David Allis, Shahin Rafii, Marco Seandel

Publications and Research

Spermatogonial stem and progenitor cells (SSCs) generate adult male gametes. During in vitro expansion, these unipotent murine cells spontaneously convert to multipotent adult spermatogonial-derived stem cells (MASCs). Here we investigate this conversion process through integrative transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses. We find in SSCs that promoters essential to maintenance and differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are enriched with histone H3-lysine4 and -lysine 27 trimethylations. These bivalent modifications are maintained at most somatic promoters after conversion, bestowing MASCs an ESC-like promoter chromatin. At enhancers, the core pluripotency circuitry is activated partially in SSCs and completely in MASCs, concomitant with loss of …

A Review On The Respiratory System Toxicity Of Carbon Nanoparticles, Maricica Pacurari, Kristine L. Lowe, Paul B. Tchounwou, Ramzi Kafoury

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

The respiratory system represents the main gateway for nanoparticles’ entry into the human body. Although there is a myriad of engineered nanoparticles, carbon nanoparticles/nanotubes (CNPs/CNTs) have received much attention mainly due to their light weight, very high surface area, durability, and their diverse applications. Since their discovery and manufacture over two decades ago, much has been learned about nanoparticles’ interactions with diverse biological system models. In particular, the respiratory system has been of great interest because various natural and man-made fibrous particles are known to be responsible for chronic and debilitating lung diseases. In this review, we present up-to-date the …

Virus-Host Co-Evolution: Determining The Origin Of Human Cytomegalovirus Us27 And Us28, Jessica A. Scarborough, Juliet Spencer, John Paul

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are the largest family of cell surface proteins, found in organisms from yeast to humans. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen that is particularly skilled at evading immune detection and defense mechanisms, largely due to extensive co-evolution with its host’s immune system. One aspect of this co-evolution involves the acquisition of four virally encoded GPCR homologs: US27, US28, UL33 and UL78. In this research, phylogenetic analysis was used to investigate the origins of the US27 and US28 genes, which are adjacent in the viral genome. The results indicate that both US27 and US28 share the …

Concussions, Why They Go Unreported, Drake Matuska

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Introduction: In the world today, concussions are a major health risk in sports and many other physically demanding activities. Every day, we see former athletes who have experienced multiple concussions complain of cognitive impairment and memory loss. It is the risk every athlete takes when they participate in a sport they love; however, when an individual plays through a concussion that is when a line is crossed. People playing through a concussion lead to the foundation of this study, which is to find out why individuals play through their concussions, why they fail to report, and the core cognitive reasons. …

Cardiac Tissue Engineering: Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells To Repair Damaged Cardiac Tissue, Megan Lenz

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and affects many individuals on a daily basis. The purpose of this research was to explore possible tissue regeneration therapies that aim to improve and recover function of damaged myocardial tissue commonly seen as a side-effect of chronic heart disease. Cardiac tissue engineering using induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) is a relatively new method that involves dedifferentiating cells from any tissue of the host into pluripotent stem cells. These cells are then guided to be differentiated into functioning myocardial cells that can be used to …

From Mollusks To Medicine: A Venomics Approach For The Discovery And Characterization Of Therapeutics From Terebridae Peptide Toxins, Aida Verdes, Prachi Anand, Juliette Gorson, Stephen Jannetti, Patrick Kelly, Abba Leffler, Danny Simpson, Girish Ramrattan, Mandë Holford

Publications and Research

Animal venoms comprise a diversity of peptide toxins that manipulate molecular targets such as ion channels and receptors, making venom peptides attractive candidates for the development of therapeutics to benefit human health. However, identifying bioactive venom peptides remains a significant challenge. In this review we describe our particular venomics strategy for the discovery, characterization, and optimization of Terebridae venom peptides, teretoxins. Our strategy reflects the scientific path from mollusks to medicine in an integrative sequential approach with the following steps: (1) delimitation of venomous Terebridae lineages through taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses; (2) identification and classification of putative teretoxins through omics …

Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of 3.0 Mg/Kg Mephedrone In Rats, Nathyn Thompson

Honors Theses

Consumption of a prominent synthetic cathinone known as mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) has become a popular alternative to club drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, and methamphetamine within the past decade. The pharmacological mechanisms that contribute to its subjective effects have yet to be fully characterized and are thus warranted for investigation. The present study employed drug discrimination methods to train eight male Sprague-Dawley rats to discriminate injections of 3.0 mg/kg mephedrone from saline. Various doses of mephedrone, 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), d-amphetamine (AMPH), cocaine, (+)-methamphetamine (METH), and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) were investigated for their ability to substitute for the stimulus cues of the training …

Poster: Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Emillie Partridge

Best Integrated Writing

This poster presentation by Partridge provides information about stem cell research and the controversy surrounding it.

An Analysis Of Bacterial Contamination Of Chicken Eggs And Antimicrobial Resistance, Holly Spitzer

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

Chicken eggs are a major component of American diets, with an average yearly consumption of approximately 250 eggs per person (American Humane Society). While highly nutritious, eggs are also one of the leading causes of food poisoning and food borne illness in the United States. Eggs may become contaminated by a number of different types of bacteria during production, including Salmonella, a group of bacteria that, according to the CDC, causes more than 1.2 million cases of food borne illness in the United States every year. In an effort to decrease the frequency of bacterial contamination, many food producers …

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. …

Influence Of The 3d Microenvironment On Glioblastoma Migration And Drug Response, Ruth Marisol Herrera Perez

Open Access Dissertations

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly invasive brain cancer characterized by poor prognosis. Despite significant efforts by the basic and clinical research community our understanding of GBM progression and recurrence has been incremental. Improvements in therapeutic response have been dismal, and GBM continues to be the deadliest tumor of the central nervous system, with patient average survival rate of 12 months. Synergistic relationships that the tumor cells establish with the brain microenvironment have been proven fundamental for successful tumor progression and maintenance. Yet, many in vitro GBM studies are performed in formats that fail to recapitulate the most essential component of …

A Model Of Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, And Vaso-Vagal Responses Produced By Vestibulo-Sympathetic Activation, Theodore Raphan, Bernard Cohen, Yongqing Xiang, Sergei B. Yakushin

Publications and Research

Blood Pressure (BP), comprised of recurrent systoles and diastoles, is controlled by central mechanisms to maintain blood flow. Periodic behavior of BP was modeled to study how peak amplitudes and frequencies of the systoles are modulated by vestibular activation. The model was implemented as a relaxation oscillator, driven by a central signal related to Desired BP. Relaxation oscillations were maintained by a second order system comprising two integrators and a threshold element in the feedback loop. The output signal related to BP was generated as a nonlinear function of the derivative of the first state variable, which is a summation …

The Effects Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids On Intracellular Inositol Levels In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jee Yeon (Joanne) Lee

Honors Theses

Bipolar disorder is a severe and chronic debilitating mental disorder characterized by extreme mood swings between mania and depression. The current medications for bipolar disorder, lithium and valproate, have been associated with numerous negative side effects. Although the therapeutic mechanism by which lithium and valproate (VPA) exert their effect is unknown, a leading hypothesis implicates inositol depletion as a mechanism of action. On the other hand, omega-3-fatty acids have been shown to relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder. In this study, we compare the effects of VPA to the effects of decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth and intracellular inositol …

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.

Novel Strategies To Promote Smoking Cessation, Matthew J. Carpenter

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Antiretroviral Drugs-Loaded Nanoparticles Fabricated By Dispersion Polymerization With Potential For Hiv/Aids Treatment, Winston Anderson

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

Highly active antiretroviral (ARV) therapy (HAART) for chronic suppression of HIV replication has revolutionized the treatment of HIV/AIDS. HAART is no panacea; treatments must be maintained for life. Although great progress has been made in ARV therapy, HIV continues to replicate in anatomical and intracellular sites where ARV drugs have restricted access. Nanotechnology has been considered a platform to circumvent some of the challenges in HIV/AIDS treatment. Dispersion polymerization was used to fabricate two types (PMM and ECA) of polymeric nanoparticles, and each was successfully loaded with four ARV drugs (zidovudine, lamivudine, nevirapine, and raltegravir), followed by physicochemical characterization: scanning …

Associations Between Ectomycorrhizal Fungi And Bacterial Needle Endophytes In Pinus Radiata: Implications For Biotic Selection Of Microbial Communities, Megan A. Rúa, Emily C. Wilson, Sarah Steele, Arielle R. Munters, Jason D. Hoeksema, Anna C. Frank

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Studies of the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants and their associated microbes have long been focused on single microbes, or single microbial guilds, but in reality, plants associate with a diverse array of microbes from a varied set of guilds. As such, multitrophic interactions among plant-associated microbes from multiple guilds represent an area of developing research, and can reveal how complex microbial communities are structured around plants. Interactions between coniferous plants and their associated microbes provide a good model system for such studies, as conifers host a suite of microorganisms including mutualistic ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi and foliar bacterial endophytes. …

Molecular Analyses Of Circadian Gene Variants Reveal Sex-Dependent Links Between Depression And Clocks, S-Q Shi, M. J. White, H. M. Borsetti, Julie S. Pendergast, A. Hida, C. M. Ciarleglio, P. A. De Verteuil, A. G. Cadar, C. Cala, D. G. Mcmahon, R. C. Shelton, S. M. Williams, C. H. Johnson

Biology Faculty Publications

An extensive literature links circadian irregularities and/or sleep abnormalities to mood disorders. Despite the strong genetic component underlying many mood disorders, however, previous genetic associations between circadian clock gene variants and major depressive disorder (MDD) have been weak. We applied a combined molecular/functional and genetic association approach to circadian gene polymorphisms in sex-stratified populations of control subjects and case subjects suffering from MDD. This approach identified significant sex-dependent associations of common variants of the circadian clock genes hClock, hPer3 and hNpas2 with major depression and demonstrated functional effects of these polymorphisms on the expression or activity of the hCLOCK …

Alternative Regulation Of Myc In Lung Cancer, Patrick N. Backman

Open Access Theses

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, accounting for 27% of all cancer induced deaths1. In an attempt to create a effective targeted therapy for the treatment of lung cancer, a strategy used to treat an activated KrasG12D/+;p53 R172H/+ transgenic lung cancer mouse model was to deliver a known tumor suppressive microRNA (miRNA) to stop tumor growth. The tumor suppressive miRNA let-7 was lentivirally delivered in the form of its primary transcript, pri-let-7a-1, and resulted in increased lung size and inflammation compared to lungs exposed to a control lentivirus. It was identified …

Abnormal Tau Induces Cognitive Impairment Through Two Different Mechanisms: Synaptic Dysfunction And Neuronal Loss, J. Di, L. S. Cohen, C. P. Corbo, Greg R. Phillips, Abdeslem El Idrissi, Alejandra D. Alonso

Publications and Research

The hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau is present in several neurodegenerative diseases, although the causal relationship remains elusive. Few mouse models used to study Alzheimerlike dementia target tau phosphorylation. We created an inducible pseudophosphorylated tau (Pathological Human Tau, PH-Tau) mouse model to study the effect of conformationally modified tau in vivo. Leaky expression resulted in two levels of PH-Tau: low basal level and higher upon induction (4% and 14% of the endogenous tau, respectively). Unexpectedly, low PH-Tau resulted in significant cognitive deficits, decrease in the number of synapses (seen by EM in the CA1 region), reduction of synaptic proteins, and localization …

Challenges Of Adoptive (T-)Cell Transfer Immunotherapy For Cancer, Aaron Volk

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Background and significance: The rebirth of the theory of immunosurveillance in 2001 rejuvenated interest in anticancer immunotherapies. In particular, T-cell-based therapies have garnered substantial interest due to the robustness and tumor antigen-specific cytotoxicity of T-cell anticancer immune responses.

Hypothesis: The efficacy of adoptive cell transfer (ACT) T-cell immunotherapy could significantly improve and gain widespread approval if future innovations in ACT-based approaches account for the pro- and antitumoral properties of non-CD8⁺ lineages of effector T-cells, evasion of T-cell antitumor immunity, and tumor-induced suppression of antitumor immunity.

Problem Analysis: Despite numerous reports of highly successful ACT-based clinical trials, no such therapy …

Comparing Apples And Oranges?: Next Generation Sequencing And Its Impact On Microbiome Analysis, Adam G. Clooney, Fiona Fouhy, Roy D. Sleator, Aisling O'Driscoll, Stanton Catherine, Paul D. Cotter, Marcus J. Claesson

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Rapid advancements in sequencing technologies along with falling costs present widespread opportunities for microbiome studies across a vast and diverse array of environments. These impressive technological developments have been accompanied by a considerable growth in the number of methodological variables, including sampling, storage, DNA extraction, primer pairs, sequencing technology, chemistry version, read length, insert size, and analysis pipelines, amongst others. This increase in variability threatens to compromise both the reproducibility and the comparability of studies conducted. Here we perform the first reported study comparing both amplicon and shotgun sequencing for the three leading next-generation sequencing technologies. These were applied to …

Late Pleistocene Fishes Of The Tennessee River Basin: An Analysis Of A Late Pleistocene Freshwater Fish Fauna From Bell Cave (Site Acb-2) In Colbert County, Alabama, Usa, Stephen J. Jacquemin, Jun A. Ebersole, William C. Dickenson, Charles Ciampaglio

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Tennessee River Basin is considered one of the most important regions for freshwater biodiversity anywhere on the globe. The Tennessee River Basin currently includes populations of at least half of the described contemporary diversity of extant North American freshwater fishes, crayfish, mussel, and gastropod species. However, comparatively little is known about the biodiversity of this basin from the Pleistocene Epoch, particularly the late Pleistocene (∼10,000 to 30,000 years B.P.) leading to modern Holocene fish diversity patterns. The objective of this study was to describe the fish assemblages of the Tennessee River Basin from the late Pleistocene using a series …

The Human Disease-Associated Ab Amyloid Core Sequence Forms Functional Amyloids In A Fungal Adhesin, Rachele D. Rameau, Desmond N. Jackson, Audrey Beaussary, Yves F. Dufrêne, Peter N. Lipke

Publications and Research

There is increasing evidence that many amyloids in living cells have physiological functions. On the surfaces of fungal cells, amyloid core sequences in adhesins can aggregate into 100- to 1,000-nm-wide patches to form high-avidity adhesion nanodomains on the cell surface. The nanodomains form through interactions that have amyloid-like properties: binding of amyloid dyes, perturbation by antiamyloid agents, and interaction with homologous sequences. To test whether these functional interactions are mediated by typical amyloid interactions, we substituted an amyloid core sequence, LVFFA, from human A protein for the native sequence IVIVA in the 1,419-residue Candida albicans adhesin Als5p. The chimeric protein …