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2019

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Articles 751 - 780 of 1905

Full-Text Articles in Biology

The Effects Of Electrofishing On Different Life Stages Of Ozark And Eastern Hellbenders, Stephanie Kay Morrison May 2019

The Effects Of Electrofishing On Different Life Stages Of Ozark And Eastern Hellbenders, Stephanie Kay Morrison

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Electrofishing, a common method of freshwater fish sampling, has been shown to negatively affect some fish species, but the effects on non-target species, such as hellbenders, have not been well studied. I tested effects of electrofishing on the behavior of several life stages of captivereared Ozark (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) and eastern (C. a. alleganiensis) hellbenders. Ozark hellbender eggs were exposed to different voltages in the laboratory, and embryos in higher voltages had higher incidences of twitching during exposures and higher numbers of morphological deformities after exposures. For hatchling Ozark hellbenders, which typically are sedentary, individuals moved more during exposure to …

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Effects Of Herbicides On Zebrafish Embryo Development And Viability, Kayla Ray King May 2019

Effects Of Herbicides On Zebrafish Embryo Development And Viability, Kayla Ray King

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Environmental contaminants are chemicals of anthropogenic origin that are found in water, soil, and air, and are harmful to a wide variety of organisms (ORD US EPA, 2018-a). One common group of contaminants are herbicides. Though herbicides are used to control unwanted vegetation in agriculture, aquatic organisms and humans may be exposed to these herbicides through run off into streams and rivers, by drinking contaminated water, by consuming treated crops, by direct exposure, or through bioaccumulation. Thus the effect of these herbicides on animals needs further investigation. In this study, I sought to determine whether six different herbicides, which have …

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Does Tcdd Exposure Alter Β7-Integrin Expression On Mouse B Cells?, Sebastian Ramos May 2019

Does Tcdd Exposure Alter Β7-Integrin Expression On Mouse B Cells?, Sebastian Ramos

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Activated aryl hydrocarbon receptor with ligand 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) alters immune responses, including immunoglobulin A (IgA). Manipulation of antibody production via this ligand-activated receptor may provide a novel approach to enhance vaccination in the intestines. The present study aimed to explain the mechanism responsible for increased levels of fecal IgA in TCDD-treated mice. We hypothesized that TCDD enhances migration of B cells from non-intestinal tissue to the intestines. Here we predicted that β7-integrin, an essential protein for B cell migration into the intestines, would be upregulated by TCDD exposure on B cells. Female C57BL/6 mice were treated with a single dose …

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Trefoil Factor 1 (Tff1) Expression In E3 And Ewd8 Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Jazmyn Mosqueda-Banuelos May 2019

Trefoil Factor 1 (Tff1) Expression In E3 And Ewd8 Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Jazmyn Mosqueda-Banuelos

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

The ability to identify and treat cancer early can drastically improve patient survival outcomes. While much effort is placed on anti-cancer therapeutics, a developing area of interest is the identification of cancer biomarkers for the early detection of different types of cancer. Trefoil factors (TFFs) are a family of proteins whose known functions suggest that they may be major contributors to cancer; however, these proteins are understudied in a disease state like cancer. In this work, we identify expression of TFF1 among varying cancer types. We then investigate the correlation between varying levels of TFF1 expression and the aggressiveness of …

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Investigating The Antidiabetic Effect Of Metformin On Pyruvate Carboxylase, Guadalupe A. Solis May 2019

Investigating The Antidiabetic Effect Of Metformin On Pyruvate Carboxylase, Guadalupe A. Solis

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Metformin is the most commonly prescribed treatment for type II diabetes. While the clinical effects of this generic drug are established, exact targets of metformin action remain unclear. The hypothesis of the present study was that metformin lowers blood glucose through inhibition of pyruvate carboxylase (PC), an enzyme catalyzing the first committed step of gluconeogenesis. Because metformin is relatively low cost, it is widely accessible to communities worldwide; currently, 150 million individuals depend on metformin for treatment. Thorough investigation of all targets involved in action of metformin becomes crucial, as it further explains the adverse effects of the drug. The …

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Green Infrastructure Design Influences Communities Of Urban Soil Bacteria, Jessica Lee Joyner, Jordan Kerwin, Maha Deeb, George Lozefski, Bharath Prithiviraj, Anna Paitseva, John Mclaughin, Peter M. Groffman, Zhongqi Cheng, Theodore R. Muth May 2019

Green Infrastructure Design Influences Communities Of Urban Soil Bacteria, Jessica Lee Joyner, Jordan Kerwin, Maha Deeb, George Lozefski, Bharath Prithiviraj, Anna Paitseva, John Mclaughin, Peter M. Groffman, Zhongqi Cheng, Theodore R. Muth

Publications and Research

The importance of natural ecosystem processes is often overlooked in urban areas. Green Infrastructure (GI) features have been constructed in urban areas as elements to capture and treat excess urban runoff while providing a range of ancillary benefits, e.g., ecosystem processes mediated by microorganisms that improve air and water quality, in addition to the associations with plant and tree rhizospheres. The objective of this study was to characterize the bacterial community and diversity in engineered soils (Technosols) of five types of GI in New York City; vegetated swales, right of way bioswales (ROWB; including street-side infiltration systems and enhanced tree …

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Species Distribution Modeling And Cold-Tolerance Of A Fungus-Farming Ant Symbiosis, Sarah F. Senula May 2019

Species Distribution Modeling And Cold-Tolerance Of A Fungus-Farming Ant Symbiosis, Sarah F. Senula

Biology Theses

Current anticipated climate change suggests that average global temperature will continue to rise and will cause species ranges to shift to higher latitudes and altitudes. In general, species that are tolerant to a wide range of temperatures and water availability will be able to adapt to changing global temperatures opposed to those who have smaller ranges. In the light of global climate change, many symbioses have been studied regarding stress-induced and adaptive evolution, however, one symbiosis yet to be thoroughly considered is that between fungal-gardening ants and their fungal symbionts. In the following studies, we lay foundation for such work. …

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Antifungal Activities Of 4”,6”-Disubstituted Amphiphilic Kanamycins, Madher N. Alfindee, Yagya Prasad Subedi, Michelle M. Grilley, Jon Y. Takemoto, Cheng-Wei Tom Chang May 2019

Antifungal Activities Of 4”,6”-Disubstituted Amphiphilic Kanamycins, Madher N. Alfindee, Yagya Prasad Subedi, Michelle M. Grilley, Jon Y. Takemoto, Cheng-Wei Tom Chang

Biology Faculty Publications

Amphiphilic kanamycins derived from the classic antibiotic kanamycin have attracted interest due to their novel bioactivities beyond inhibition of bacteria. In this study, the recently described 4″,6″-diaryl amphiphilic kanamycins reported as inhibitors of connexin were examined for their antifungal activities. Nearly all 4″,6″-diaryl amphiphilic kanamycins tested had antifungal activities comparable to those of 4″,6″-dialkyl amphiphilic kanamycins, reported previously against several fungal strains. The minimal growth inhibitory concentrations (MICs) correlated with the degree of amphiphilicity (cLogD) of the di-substituted amphiphilic kanamycins. Using the fluorogenic dyes, SYTOXTM Green and propidium iodide, the most active compounds at the corresponding MICs or at …

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The Degenerating Star Clock: Circadian Clock Regulation Of Astrogliosis And Implications For Alzheimer’S Disease, Brian Vincent Lananna May 2019

The Degenerating Star Clock: Circadian Clock Regulation Of Astrogliosis And Implications For Alzheimer’S Disease, Brian Vincent Lananna

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Sleep disruption and circadian dysfunction are common symptoms of aging and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The molecular rhythms in transcription/translation that govern these behavioral processes are mediated by clock genes and can be abrogated by deletion of the master circadian transcription factor Bmal1 (Arntl). We have shown that disruption of clock gene function in the mouse brain causes astrogliosis, synaptic damage, oxidative stress, and exacerbated neurodegeneration. However, the molecular mechanisms linking the circadian clock to these phenotypes and their implications for AD pathology remain largely unknown. Astrocyte activation occurs in response to diverse insults, and plays a critical …

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The Evolutionary And Functional Roles Of Synonymous Codon Usage In Eukaryotes, Zhen Peng May 2019

The Evolutionary And Functional Roles Of Synonymous Codon Usage In Eukaryotes, Zhen Peng

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Most amino acids are encoded by multiple synonymous codons. Although alternative usage of synonymous codons does not affect the amino acid sequences of proteins, researchers have been reporting evidence for functional synonymous codon usage at the species- and gene-specific levels for over four decades. It has been shown that variations in synonymous codon usage can affect phenotypes through diverse mechanisms such as shaping translation efficiency and mRNA stability. On the other hand, the common view that cellular and organismal phenotypes are primarily determined by proteins whose functions are primarily determined by amino acid sequences, often drives the assumption that synonymous …

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Mapping And Functional Analysis Of Cis-Regulatory Elements In Mouse Photoreceptors, Andrew Hughes May 2019

Mapping And Functional Analysis Of Cis-Regulatory Elements In Mouse Photoreceptors, Andrew Hughes

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Photoreceptors are light-sensitive neurons that mediate vision, and they are the most commonly affected cell type in genetic forms of blindness. In mice, there are two basic types of photoreceptors, rods and cones, which mediate vision in dim and bright environments, respectively. The transcription factors (TFs) that control rod and cone development have been studied in detail, but the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) through which these TFs act are less well understood. To comprehensively identify photoreceptor CREs in mice and to understand their relationship with gene expression, we performed open chromatin (ATAC-seq) and transcriptome (RNA-seq) profiling of FACS-purified rods and cones. …

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Glycan Precursor Transport In Cryptococcus Neoformans, Lucy X. Li May 2019

Glycan Precursor Transport In Cryptococcus Neoformans, Lucy X. Li

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Glycans play diverse biological roles, ranging from structural and regulatory functions to mediating cellular interactions. For pathogens, they are also often required for virulence and survival in the host. Our interest in glycoconjugates stems from their role in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. This yeast colonizes the lungs and disseminates to the brain of immunocompromised individuals, where it causes a meningoencephalitis that is frequently lethal, killing almost 200,000 people each year. The major virulence factor of this yeast is a polysaccharide capsule that enables it to manipulate the host immune response and resist host antimicrobial defenses.Synthesis of the capsular glycans …

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Notes On Rhopalosomatid Wasps Of Dominican And Mexican Amber (Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae) With A Description Of The First Fossil Species Of Rhopalosoma Cresson, 1865, Volker Lohrmann, Michael Ohl, Peter Michalik, James P. Pitts, Laurent Jeanneau, Vincent Perrichot May 2019

Notes On Rhopalosomatid Wasps Of Dominican And Mexican Amber (Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae) With A Description Of The First Fossil Species Of Rhopalosoma Cresson, 1865, Volker Lohrmann, Michael Ohl, Peter Michalik, James P. Pitts, Laurent Jeanneau, Vincent Perrichot

Biology Faculty Publications

Rhopalosomatidae are a family of aculeate wasps that are ectoparasitoids of crickets as larvae and are predominantly distributed pantropically. The published fossil record of the family is scarce. Here, we report three new fossil rhopalosomatid wasp specimens from Dominican and Mexican amber. Rhopalosoma hispaniola Lohrmann sp. nov. is described and documented from Dominican amber by two separate inclusions – one of each sex. An additional fossil female Rhopalosoma is described and documented from Mexican amber but is not named due to the insufficient preservation of the fossil. The new fossils, which are morphologically intermediate between Townes' isopus and poeyi species …

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A Neural Network For Uncertainty Anticipation And Information Seeking, Jensen Kael White May 2019

A Neural Network For Uncertainty Anticipation And Information Seeking, Jensen Kael White

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In a world flooded with ‘click bait’, ‘alternative facts’, and ‘fake news’ one’s ability to seek out, discern, and value information is of utmost importance. Although contemporary phenomena, these cultural ills take advantage of an evolutionarily-preserved drive for humans and nonhuman animals to monitor for and pursue opportunities to gain information. Indeed, in a natural environment where rewards are scarce and can be risky, animals often seek sensory cues as a source of information about future outcomes. Interestingly, humans and nonhuman animals will seek sensory information that provides advance information that predicts an outcome even when this information does not …

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A Combinatorial Approach Of Ionomics, Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping, And Transcriptome Analysis To Characterize Element Homeostasis In Maize, Alexandra Asaro May 2019

A Combinatorial Approach Of Ionomics, Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping, And Transcriptome Analysis To Characterize Element Homeostasis In Maize, Alexandra Asaro

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In plant systems, genetic and biochemical pathways impact uptake of elements from the soil. These environment-sensitive pathways often act in the root tissue to impact element concentrations throughout the plant. In order to characterize element regulation as well as apply ionomics to understand plant adaptation, perspectives are needed from multiple tissues and environments and from approaches that take interactions between elements into account. The work described in this thesis includes multi-environment and multi-tissue experiments that connect variation in genetic sequence, and in gene expression, with variation in element accumulation. The associations found here include those that are sensitive to environment, …

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Activation Of Toll-Like Receptor 3 Translates To Long-Term Post-Viral Lung Disease, Xinyu Wang May 2019

Activation Of Toll-Like Receptor 3 Translates To Long-Term Post-Viral Lung Disease, Xinyu Wang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) causes substantial human and economic costs both in the US and worldwide. To identify the molecular mechanisms to allow for targeted therapies for COPD, we developed a high-fidelity mouse model of chronic lung inflammation using the natural rodent pathogen Sendai virus (SeV). While nucleic acid-sensing pattern recognition receptors are important for innate immune responses to viral pathogens, there have been few studies investigating their role in the context of chronic disease. Here we show that Toll-like receptor 3 (Tlr3) signaling is required for the development of chronic lung disease in a postviral mouse model. Activation …

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Defining Gastric Epithelial Cell Population Dynamics At Homeostasis And Following Injury, Joseph Ronald Burclaff May 2019

Defining Gastric Epithelial Cell Population Dynamics At Homeostasis And Following Injury, Joseph Ronald Burclaff

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Gastric diseases affect many people around the world, yet surprisingly little is known about the basic dynamics of gastric epithelial cells. Loss of acid-secreting parietal cells has long been observed to precede pre-cancerous gastric metaplasias like Spasmolytic Polypeptide-Expressing Metaplasia (SPEM), yet no signaling component from dying parietal cells has yet been implicated in initiating the metaplastic responses. Also, experiments pulsing 3H-thymidine and or examining intracellular components suggest that gastric mucous neck cells are short-lived transient intermediates between the gastric stem cell and mature zymogenic “chief” cells, yet specifics about this transition remain elusive. Here, we develop a novel mouse line …

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Development Of Enteric Neurons And Muscularis Macrophages, Marina Avetisyan May 2019

Development Of Enteric Neurons And Muscularis Macrophages, Marina Avetisyan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a complex interconnected network of neurons and glia in the bowel wall that regulates intestinal motility, blood flow, and epithelial function. The ENS also controls aspects of inflammatory signaling within the bowel. To perform these tasks, there are at least 20 types of enteric neuron and four types of enteric glia. Although much is known about early events in ENS development, signals governing the development of specific neuronal subtypes and communication with neighboring cell types within the bowel remain poorly understood. One fundamental hypothesis is that diverse trophic factors support distinct neuronal populations in …

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Development Of Novel Tumor-Targeted Compounds For Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, Micah John Luderer May 2019

Development Of Novel Tumor-Targeted Compounds For Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, Micah John Luderer

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents the most common primary brain tumor among adults. Despite surgical resection and aggressive chemoradiotherapy regimens, the current 2- and 5-year survival rates are only 27% and 9.8%, respectively. The low survival stems from the poor response to conventional therapy and underscores the critical need to develop new therapeutic approaches for GBM treatment. The high recurrence rate observed in GBM is in part attributed to the hypoxic (poorly oxygenated) tumor microenvironment. Hypoxic tumor conditions have been shown to increase metastasis, promote angiogenesis, and confer resistance to chemotherapy and radiation.Hypoxic tissues are inherently radiation resistant due to a …

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Characterizing The Humoral Response To Flavivirus Infection, Estefania Fernandez May 2019

Characterizing The Humoral Response To Flavivirus Infection, Estefania Fernandez

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Flaviviruses are positive (+) sense, single-stranded RNA viruses of the Flaviviridae family that are transmitted by mosquitoes. For our studies, we focused on Zika virus (ZIKV) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Most human infections with ZIKV historically resulted in a mild self-limiting febrile illness. However, since 2013, a worldwide spread and increase in ZIKV infections has been observed. Notably, ZIKV has been associated with autoimmune ascending paralysis (Guillain-Barré Syndrome) and ophthalmologic effects in adults and intrauterine growth restriction and microcephaly in developing fetuses. Current vaccine efforts utilize technologies implemented for related flaviviruses (yellow fever virus (YFV), Dengue virus (DENV), and …

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Dissemination Of The Apicomplexan Parasite, Toxoplasma Gondii, Lisa L. Drewry May 2019

Dissemination Of The Apicomplexan Parasite, Toxoplasma Gondii, Lisa L. Drewry

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The parasitic protist Toxoplasma gondii is a common pathogen of rodents and felines that also infects humans. The most severe clinical manifestations of toxoplasmosis in humans derive from the systemic dissemination of T. gondii, during which the parasite penetrates biological barriers and accesses protected host compartments such as the central nervous system. T. gondii dissemination is enabled by the intrinsic gliding motility of extracellular parasites, which allows for travel to new host cells and tissues, and also powers the invasion of diverse host cells including migratory leukocytes. Dissemination is further advanced when migrating infected leukocytes shuttle intracellular parasites to new …

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Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 As A Therapeutic Target In Breast And Ovarian Cancer, Whitney Grither May 2019

Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 As A Therapeutic Target In Breast And Ovarian Cancer, Whitney Grither

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 (DDR2) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that utilizes the extracellular matrix protein collagen as its ligand. Recently, DDR2 was shown to be critical in facilitating breast cancer metastasis. DDR2 stabilizes protein levels of the epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) inducing transcription factor, SNAIL1 in basal K14+ epithelial cells that are known to be important for invasive leader cell properties during collective invasion/migration. DDR2 expression is present in a majority of human invasive ductal breast carcinomas, and expression is localized to the tumor-stroma boundary. Additionally, in genetic models of breast cancer, deletion of DDR2 within the stroma (MMTV-PyMT; DDR2 fl/fl; …

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Exploring Infant Leukemia Through Exome Sequencing And An In Vitro Model Of Hematopoietic Development, Mark Cannon Valentine May 2019

Exploring Infant Leukemia Through Exome Sequencing And An In Vitro Model Of Hematopoietic Development, Mark Cannon Valentine

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease with myriad causes and outcomes. Many of the cancers that occur in adult populations have become increasingly well characterized with the advent of affordable high-throughput sequencing. These studies have revealed that cancer is largely a disease of somatic mutation in the adult population. In strong contrast to this, childhood cancers have an exceedingly low rate of somatic mutation. At the extreme end of this spectrum is Infant Leukemia (IL). Sequencing of IL has revealed that these tumors frequently have one or fewer somatic SNP. In the absence of a somatic explanation for IL, many other …

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Molecular Mechanisms Responsible For Functional Cortical Plasticity During Development And After Focal Ischemic Brain Injury, Andrew Wiggen Kraft May 2019

Molecular Mechanisms Responsible For Functional Cortical Plasticity During Development And After Focal Ischemic Brain Injury, Andrew Wiggen Kraft

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The cerebral cortex is organized into functional representations, or maps, defined by increased activity during specific tasks. In addition, the brain exhibits robust spontaneous activity with spatiotemporal organization that defines the brain’s functional architecture (termed functional connectivity). Task-evoked representations and functional connectivity demonstrate experience-dependent plasticity, and this plasticity may be important in neurological development and disease. An important case of this is in focal ischemic injury, which results in destruction of the involved representations and disruption of functional connectivity relationships. Behavioral recovery correlates with representation remapping and functional connectivity normalization, suggesting functional organization is critical for recovery and a potentially …

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Integrative Analysis To Investigate Complex Interaction In Alzheimer’S Disease, Zeran Li May 2019

Integrative Analysis To Investigate Complex Interaction In Alzheimer’S Disease, Zeran Li

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder featuring progressive cognitive and functional deficits. Pathologically, AD is characterized by tau and amyloid β protein deposition in the brain. As the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., the disease course usually last from 7 to 10 years on average before the consequential death. In 2019 there are estimated 5.8 million Americans living with AD affecting 16 million family members. At certain stage of the disease course, patients with inability of maintaining their daily functioning highly depend on caregivers, primarily family caregivers, that incur estimated 18.4 billion unpaid hours of cares, …

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Spatio-Temporal Principles Of Infra-Slow Brain Activity, Anish Mitra May 2019

Spatio-Temporal Principles Of Infra-Slow Brain Activity, Anish Mitra

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In the study of systems where basic laws have eluded us, as is largely the case in neuroscience, the simplest approach to progress might be to ask: what are the biggest, most noticeable things the system does when left alone? Without any perturbations or fine dissections, can regularities be found in the basic operations of the system as a whole? In the case of the brain, it turns out that there is an amazing amount of activity even in the absence of explicit environmental inputs or outputs. We call this spontaneous, or resting state, brain activity. Prior work has shown …

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The Role Of Smc3 In Mouse Embryonic And Adult Hematopoiesis, Tianjiao Wang May 2019

The Role Of Smc3 In Mouse Embryonic And Adult Hematopoiesis, Tianjiao Wang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease, characterized by recurrent genetic mutations. Mutations in the cohesin complex are one of the 8 functional categories of mutations in AML. SMC3 encodes a subunit of the cohesin complex, which has important roles in chromosome segregation, genome instability, and gene expression. In the first chapter of the dissertation, we discuss the genetics of AML, normal functions of the cohesin complex, and the interplay between cohesin mutations and myeloid malignancies.SMC3 is recurrently mutated in AML and other myeloid malignancies. In the second chapter of the dissertation, we compare the consequences of Smc3 deficient …

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Mechanics Of Phenotypic Aging Trajectories In C. Elegans And Humans, William Zhang May 2019

Mechanics Of Phenotypic Aging Trajectories In C. Elegans And Humans, William Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Overall, my dissertation integrates longitudinal measurements of physiology to investigate the aging process. In the first half, I examine the surprising and largely unexplained degree of variation in lifespan within even homogeneous populations. I sought to understand how physiological aging differs between long- and short-lived individuals within a population of genetically identical C. elegans reared in a homogeneous environment. Using a novel culture apparatus, I longitudinally monitored aspects of aging physiology across a large population of isolated individuals. Aggregating several measures into an overall estimate of senescence, I find that long- and short-lived individuals start adulthood on an equal physiological …

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The Role Of The Ascc Complex In The Alkylation Damage Response, Jennifer Soll May 2019

The Role Of The Ascc Complex In The Alkylation Damage Response, Jennifer Soll

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

DNA alkylation damage is caused by various agents that are present in the environment as well as cellular metabolism and can be induced by certain chemotherapeutic agents. Thus, the repair of damaged DNA is critical for genomic maintenance. The ALKBH family of proteins plays a central role in the repair of specific alkylated lesions, including 1-methyladenine (1meA) and 3-methylcytosine (3meC). A major outstanding question in the field of alkylation repair is the role of associated protein partners in the function of the human AlkB homologues. Here, I demonstrate that the ALKBH3 associated complex ASCC (comprised of ASCC1, ASCC2, and ASCC3) …

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Typical And Atypical Development Of The Brain’S Functional Network Architecture, Ashley Nicole Nielsen May 2019

Typical And Atypical Development Of The Brain’S Functional Network Architecture, Ashley Nicole Nielsen

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The human brain is a complex organ that gives rise to many behaviors. Specialized neural regions cooperate as functional networks that form an intricate functional architecture. Development provides a unique window into how brain functioning and human thinking are affected if the necessary neural features and connections are not fully formed. Similarly, developmental disorders can shed light on atypical trajectories of neural systems that may lead to or be a consequence of symptomatic behavior. A description of the typical and atypical development of functional networks is essential to identify the features of brain organization critical for mature human thinking and …

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