Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Chemoimmunotherapy Treatment Strategies On A Mathematical Model Of Cancer Evolution, Sandra M. Lopez, Yolocuauhtli Salazar, Paul A. Valle

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Neural Network Controller Vs Pulse Control To Achieve Complete Eradication Of Cancer Cells In A Mathematical Model, Joel A. Quevedo, Sergio A. Puga, Paul A. Valle

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Reconstructing Mathematical Models With Chaotic Attractors Via Genetic Algorithms, Luis A. Ramirez Islas, Paul A. Valle

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Cpeb2 Alternative Splicing In Tnbc Metastasis, Shaun C. Stevens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women in the U.S. Although the overall 5-year survival rate for breast cancer is 90%, this rate drops substantially for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) due to its high metastatic potential. Furthermore, there is a lack of targeted therapeutics for TNBC, and clinical trials have been largely unsuccessful. These characteristics validate the need for identifying novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of TNBC. The study of alternative splicing (AS) has emerged as a powerful tool to elucidate the molecular underpinnings driving cancer.

Our lab has identified cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein …

Mt10-Cvb3 Vaccine Virus Protects Against Cvb4 Infection By Inducing Cross-Reactive, Antigen-Specific Immune Responses, Ninaad Lasrado, Rajkumar Arumugam, Mahima T. Rasquinha, Meghna Sur, David Steffen, Jay Reddy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Group B coxsackieviruses (CVB) containing six serotypes, B1–B6, affect various organs, and multiple serotypes can induce similar diseases such as myocarditis and pancreatitis. Yet, no vaccines are currently available to prevent these infections. Translationally, the derivation of vaccines that offer protection against multiple serotypes is highly desired. In that direction, we recently reported the generation of an attenuated strain of CVB3, termed Mt10, which completely protects against both myocarditis and pancreatitis induced by the homologous wild-type CVB3 strain. Here, we report that the Mt10 vaccine can induce cross-protection against multiple CVB serotypes as demonstrated with CVB4. We note that the …

Contact Normalization And The Role Of Maackia Amurensis Seed Lectin As A Novel Chemotherapeutic And Antiviral Agent, Stephanie A. Sheehan

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Cells communicate with each other to coordinate tissue function and homeostasis. Diseases including cancer, arthritis, and acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS) require a breakdown in this intercellular communication. For example, cancer progression is suppressed by junctional communication between nontransformed and transformed cells. This process is called contact normalization. Junctional communication must be disrupted to enable transformed cells to grow into malignancies. However, the junctions and mechanisms by which nontransformed cells normalize cell behavior have not been clearly defined. My project aimed to identify junctions and elucidate mechanisms underlying contact normalization. We discovered that cadherins, specifically N-cadherin, form junctions that enable …

Murine Trophoblast Stem Cells And Their Differentiated Cells Attenuate Zika Virus In Vitro By Reducing Glycosylation Of The Viral Envelope Protein, Biswas Neupane, Mona Fendereski, Farzana Nazneen, Yanlin Guo, Fengwei Bai

Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause devastating fetal neuropathological abnormalities, including microcephaly. Most studies of ZIKV infection in pregnancy have focused on post-implantation stage embryos. Currently, we have limited knowledge about how a pre-implantation stage embryo deals with a viral infection. This study investigates ZIKV infection on mouse trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) and their in vitro differentiated TSCs (DTSCs), which resemble the cellular components of the trophectoderm layer of the blastocyst that later develops into the placenta. We demonstrate that TSCs and DTSCs are permissive to ZIKV infection; however, ZIKV propagated in TSCs and DTSCs exhibit substantially lower …

College Of Natural Sciences Scholarship Brunch Program, November 6th 2021, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

This is the program for the first annual College of Natural Sciences Scholarship Brunch, held on November 6th, 2021 at McCrory Gardens.

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, November 2021, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 2, Issue 11

Page 1 Dean's Message
Page 2 Awards & Recognition
Page 3 Media Coverage of CNS
Page 4 2021 Day of Scholars
Page 5 Astronomy Outreach
Page 6 SDSU Faculty & Students Host American Society for Microbiology Annual Conference
Page 7 Scholarship Brunch
Page 8 Open PRAIRIE Data, SI Final Exam Review Sessions
Page 9 Aamlid Family Anatomy Lab Photos

Intracorporeal And Extracorporeal Anastomosis For Robotic-Assisted And Laparoscopic Right Colectomy: Short-Term Outcomes Of A Multi-Center Prospective Trial, Robert K. Cleary, Matthew Silviera, Tobi J. Reidy, James Mccormick, Craig S. Johnson, Patricia Sylla, Jamie Cannon, Henry Lujan, Andrew Kassir, Ron Landmann, Wolfgang Gaertner, Edward Lee, Amir Bastawrous, Ovunc Bardakcioglu, Sushil Pandey, Vikram Attaluri

Department of Surgery Faculty Research

Background: Studies to date show contrasting conclusions when comparing intracorporeal and extracorporeal anastomoses for minimally invasive right colectomy. Large multi-center prospective studies comparing perioperative outcomes between these two techniques are needed. The purpose of this study was to compare intracorporeal and extracorporeal anastomoses outcomes for robotic assisted and laparoscopic right colectomy. Methods: Multi-center, prospective, observational study of patients with malignant or benign disease scheduled for laparoscopic or robotic-assisted right colectomy. Outcomes included conversion rate, gastrointestinal recovery, and complication rates. Results: There were 280 patients: 156 in the robotic assisted and laparoscopic intracorporeal anastomosis (IA) group and 124 in the robotic …

Molecular Mechanism Of Action Of The Natural Polyphenolic Compound And The P300 Inhibitor “Carnosol” Against The Triple Negative Breast Cance, Halima Ali Mohammed Salem Alsamri

Dissertations

Carnosol, a naturally occurring Phyto polyphenol found in sage, oregano, and rosemary, has been extensively studied by our laboratory for its anticancer effects in various types of cancer. In human Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), carnosol was shown to inhibit cellular viability, colony growth, induced cell cycle arrest, autophagy, and apoptosis. Nonetheless, very little is known about the molecular mechanism of action. In the current study, the ability of carnosol to inhibit metastasis and tumour growth was examined. Wound healing and invasion assays revealed that carnosol inhibited migration and invasion at non-cytotoxic concentrations of MDA-MB-231 cells. Also, carnosol was found to …

Cryo-Em Structure Of Mechanosensitive Channel Ynai Using Sma2000: Challenges And Opportunities, Claudio Catalano, Danya Ben-Hail, Weihua Qiu, Paul Blount, Amedee Des Georges, Youzhong Guo

Publications and Research

Mechanosensitive channels respond to mechanical forces exerted on the cell membrane and play vital roles in regulating the chemical equilibrium within cells and their environment. Highresolution structural information is required to understand the gating mechanisms of mechanosensitive channels. Protein-lipid interactions are essential for the structural and functional integrity of mechanosensitive channels, but detergents cannot maintain the crucial native lipid environment for purified mechanosensitive channels. Recently, detergent-free systems have emerged as alternatives for membrane protein structural biology. This report shows that while membrane-active polymer, SMA2000, could retain some native cell membrane lipids on the transmembrane domain of the mechanosensitive-like YnaI channel, …

Investigation Of An Alternative Protocol For The Production Of Sars-Cov-2 Antigenic Proteins, Nichole Ninaltowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, large-scale antigenic protein production is still needed for surveillance using serologic assays. From screening to vaccines to biotherapeutics, being able to produce the proteins for these assays is essential; however, the current gold standard method for producing SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins is prohibitively expensive for most research groups.

Alternative methods of transfecting mammalian cells to produce recombinant proteins that are relatively inexpensive have been used for years. Unlike the expensive, commercially available lipid-based methods, other established methods such as polyethyleneimine (PEI), are considerably easier, and cheaper to meet the needs of …

Untargeted Lipidomics Of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma Demonstrates Differentially Abundant Lipid Classes In Cancer Vs. Non-Cancer Tissue, Joshua M. Mitchell, Robert M. Flight, Hunter N. B. Moseley

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) represents 85% of newly diagnosed lung cancers. In this study, we utilized our untargeted assignment tool Small Molecule Isotope Resolved Formula Enumerator (SMIRFE) and ultra-high-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry to examine lipid profile differences between paired cancerous and non-cancerous lung tissue samples from 86 patients with suspected stage I or IIA primary NSCLC. Correlation and co-occurrence analysis revealed significant lipid profile differences between cancer and non-cancer samples. Further analysis of machine-learned lipid categories for the differentially abundant molecular formulas identified a high abundance sterol, …

The Multifaceted Role Of Ccar-1 In The Alternative Splicing And Germline Regulation In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Doreen Ikhuva Lugano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cell Division Cycle and Apoptosis Regulator (CCAR) family members are an enigmatic family of proteins regulating metabolism, cancer, apoptosis, DNA damage, and stress. Mammals have CCAR family members, CCAR1 and CCAR2/DBC1, which evolved from the founding family member CCAR-1/LST-3 expressed in Caenorhabditis elegans. Several studies have shown the importance of understanding these proteins' function in standard and altered physiological processes. Our studies aim to understand the genome-wide alternative splicing and germline regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans CCAR-1 in normal and heat shock conditions. Recently, mammalian CCAR family member CCAR2/DBC1 regulates the alternative splicing by forming a complex with ZNF326. This …

Physiological Roles Of Mammalian Transmembrane Adenylyl Cyclase Isoforms, Katrina F. Ostrom, Justin E. Lavigne, Tarsis F. Brust, Roland Seifert, Carmen Dessauer, Val J. Watts, Rennolds S. Ostrom

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Adenylyl cyclases (ACs) catalyze the conversion of ATP to the ubiquitous second messenger cAMP. Mammals possess nine isoforms of transmembrane ACs, dubbed AC1-9, that serve as major effector enzymes of G protein-coupled receptors. The transmembrane ACs display varying expression patterns across tissues, giving potential for them having a wide array of physiologic roles. Cells express multiple AC isoforms, implying that ACs have redundant functions. Furthermore, all transmembrane ACs are activated by Gα_s so it was long assumed that all ACs are activated by Gα_s-coupled GPCRs. AC isoforms partition to different microdomains of the plasma membrane and form …

Developing Inside A Layer Of Germs—A Potential Role For Multiciliated Surface Cells In Vertebrate Embryos, Ryan R. Kerney

Biology Faculty Publications

This paper reviews current research on the microbial life that surrounds vertebrate embryos. Several clades are believed to develop inside sterile—or near-sterile—embryonic microhabitats, while others thrive within a veritable zoo of microbial life. The occurrence of embryo-associated microbes in some groups, but not others, is an under-appreciated transition (possibly transitions) in vertebrate evolution. A lack of comparable studies makes it currently impossible to correlate embryo-associated microbiomes with other aspects of vertebrate evolution. However, there are embryonic features that should instruct a more targeted survey. This paper concludes with a hypothesis for the role of multiciliated surface cells in amphibian and …

Inheritance Of A Mutation Causing Neuropathy With Splayed Forelimbs In Jersey Cattle, A. Al-Khudhair, D. J. Null, J. B. Cole, C. W. Wolfe, David J. Steffen, P. M. Vanraden

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

A new undesirable genetic factor, neuropathy with splayed forelimbs (JNS), has been identified recently in the Jersey breed. Calves affected with JNS are unable to stand on splayed forelimbs that exhibit significant extensor rigidity and excessive lateral abduction at birth. Affected calves generally are alert at birth but exhibit neurologic symptoms, including spasticity of head and neck and convulsive behavior. Other symptoms reported include dislocated shoulders, congenital craniofacial anomalies, and degenerative myelopathy. Inheritance of an undesirable genetic factor was determined from a study of 16 affected calves reported by Jersey breeders across the United States. All of their pedigrees traced …

Regulation Of Brain Primary Cilia Length By Mch Signaling: Evidence From Pharmacological, Genetic, Optogenetic, And Chemogenic Manipulations, Wedad Alhassen, Yuki Kobayashi, Jessica Su, Brianna Robbins, Henry Nguyen, Thant Myint, Micah Yu, Surya M. Nauli, Yumiko Saito, Amal Alachkar

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) system is involved in numerous functions, including energy homeostasis, food intake, sleep, stress, mood, aggression, reward, maternal behavior, social behavior, and cognition. In rodents, MCH acts on MCHR1, a G protein-coupled receptor, which is widely expressed in the brain and abundantly localized to neuronal primary cilia. Cilia act as cells’ antennas and play crucial roles in cell signaling to detect and transduce external stimuli to regulate cell differentiation and migration. Cilia are highly dynamic in terms of their length and morphology; however, it is not known if cilia length is causally regulated by MCH system activation …

Development Of Alveolar-Capillary-Exchange (Ace) Chip And Its Application For Assessment Of Pm2.5-Induced Toxicity, Mingyang Gang, Song Tang, Haiyun Chang, Yuanyuan Chen, Fengge Chen, Ying Mu, Dong Zhao, Weiwei Fan, Huifang Tian, Diane Darland, Ying Zhang

Biology Faculty Publications

Although standard two-dimensional (2D) cell culture is an effective tool for cell studies, monolayer cultivation can yield imperfect or misleading information about numerous biological functions. In this study, we developed an alveolar-capillary exchange (ACE) chip aiming to simulate the cellular microenvironment at the alveolar-capillary interface. The ACE chip was designed with two chambers for culturing alveolar epithelial cells and vascular endothelial cells separately, which are separated by a microporous polycarbonate film that allows for the exchange of soluble biomolecules. Using this model, we further tested the toxic effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a form of airborne pollutant known to …

Regulatory Non-Coding Rnas Modulate Transcriptional Activation During B Cell Development, Mary Attaway, Tzippora Chwat-Edelstein, Bao Q. Vuong

Publications and Research

B cells play a significant role in the adaptive immune response by secreting immunoglobulins that can recognize and neutralize foreign antigens. They develop from hematopoietic stem cells, which also give rise to other types of blood cells, such as monocytes, neutrophils, and T cells, wherein specific transcriptional programs define the commitment and subsequent development of these different cell lineages. A number of transcription factors, such as PU.1, E2A, Pax5, and FOXO1, drive B cell development. Mounting evidence demonstrates that non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), modulate the expression of these transcription factors directly by binding …

Human 5’-Tailed Mirtrons Are Processed By Rnasep, Mohammad Farid Zia

Dissertations

Approximately a thousand microRNAs (miRNAs) are documented from human cells. A third appear to transit non-canonical pathways that typically bypass processing by Drosha, the dedicated nuclear miRNA producing enzyme. The largest class of non-canonical miRNAs are mirtrons which eschew Drosha to mature through spliceosome activity. While mirtrons are found in several configurations, the vast majority of human mirtron species are 5’-tailed. For these mirtrons, a 3’ splice site defines the 3’ end of their hairpin precursor while a “tail” of variable length separates the 5’ base of the hairpin from the nearest splice site. How this tail is removed is …

High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Effects Of Adipocyte-Specific Cxcr2 Conditional Knockout In The Peritoneal Tumor Microenvironment Of Ovarian Cancer, Deokyeong Choe, Eun-Sook Lee, Alicia Beeghly-Fadiel, Andrew J. Wilson, Margaret M. Whalen, Samuel E. Adunyah, Deok-Soo Son

Chemistry Faculty Research

Obesity contributes to ovarian cancer (OC) progression via tumorigenic chemokines. Adipocytes and OC cells highly express CXCR2, and its ligands CXCL1/8, respectively, indicating that the CXCL1/8-CXCR2 axis is a molecular link between obesity and OC. Here, we investigated how the adipocyte-specific CXCR2 conditional knockout (cKO) affected the peritoneal tumor microenvironment of OC in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mouse model. We first generated adipocyte-specific CXCR2 cKO in mice: adipose tissues were not different in crown-like structures and adipocyte size between the wild-type (WT) and cKO mice but expressed lower levels of CCL2/6 compared to the obese WT mice. HFD-induced obese …

Toward A Methodology For Evaluating Dna Variants In Nuclear Families, Dustin B. Miller, Reid Robison, Stephen Piccolo

Faculty Publications

The genetic underpinnings of most pediatric-cancer cases are unknown. Population-based studies use large sample sizes but have accounted for only a small proportion of the estimated heritability of pediatric cancers. Pedigree-based studies are infeasible for most human populations. One alternative is to collect genetic data from a single nuclear family and use inheritance patterns within the family to filter candidate variants. This approach can be applied to common and rare variants, including those that are private to a given family or to an affected individual. We evaluated this approach using genetic data from three nuclear families with 5, 4, and …

The Novel Orfv Protein Orfv113 Activates Lpa-P38 Signaling, Sushil Khatiwad, Gustavo Delho, Sabal Chaulagai, Daniel L. Rock

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Viruses have evolved mechanisms to subvert critical cellular signaling pathways that regulate a wide range of cellular functions, including cell differentiation, proliferation and chemotaxis, and innate immune responses. Here, we describe a novel ORFV protein, ORFV113, that interacts with the G protein-coupled receptor Lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPA₁). Consistent with its interaction with LPA₁, ORFV113 enhances p38 kinase phosphorylation in ORFV infected cells in vitro and in vivo, and in cells transiently expressing ORFV113 or treated with soluble ORFV113. Infection of cells with virus lacking ORFV113 (OVIA82Δ113) significantly decreased p38 phosphorylation and viral plaque size. …

Salicylic Acid: A Key Regulator Of Redox Signalling 1 And Plant Immunity, Mohd Saleem, Qazi Fariddudin, Christian Castroverde

Biology Faculty Publications

In plants, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed during normal conditions are essential in regulating several processes, like stomatal physiology, pathogen immunity and developmental signaling. However, biotic and abiotic stresses can cause ROS over-accumulation leading to oxidative stress. Therefore, a suitable equilibrium is vital for redox homeostasis in plants, and there have been major advances in this research arena. Salicylic acid (SA) is known as a chief regulator of ROS; however, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. SA plays an important role in establishing the hypersensitive response (HR) and systemic acquired resistance (SAR). This is underpinned by a robust and …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, October 2021, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 2, Issue 10

Page 1 Dean's Message
Page 2 Awards and Recognition; Introducing Natural Sciences Student Ambassadors
Page 3 Media Coverage of CNS
Page 4 Spooky Science Outreach
Page 5 The BIG Event Outreach
Page 6 Geography Club Road Trip
Page 7 Aamlid Family Anatomy Lab
Page 8 Hobo Day Recap
Page 10 Open PRAIRIE Data; Grants Awarded in CNS

A Comparison Of Calcium Aggregation And Ultracentrifugation Methods For The Preparation Of Rat Brain Microsomes For Drug Metabolism Studies, Barent N. Dubois, Farideh Amirrad, Reza Mehvar

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Preparation of brain microsomes by the calcium chloride aggregation method has been suggested as an alternative to the ultracentrifugation method. However, the effects of the calcium chloride concentration on the quality of the microsomal fractions are not known. Brain microsomes were prepared from the adult rat brains using the high-speed ultracentrifugation and low-speed calcium chloride (10–100 mM) aggregation methods (n = 5–6 per group). The microsomal protein yield (spectrometry), the cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) activity (spectrometry), and the monooxygenase activities (UPLC-MS/MS) of CYP2D and CYP2E1 were determined in the obtained fractions. Increasing the concentrations of calcium chloride progressively increased …

Analysis Of Tri-Lineage Collagen Reporter Mice Growth Plates Through Light Sheet Microscopy, Olivia Ferrigno

Holster Scholar Projects

The growth plate is an active area of cartilage in the long bones of children. Its main function is to enable limb lengthening, but is a relatively weak structure that is prone to fractures and injuries. These injuries can have severe long term ramifications, as they can create premature bone fusion, also known as a bony bridge, that causes stunted or crooked growth. Dr. Liisa Kuhn’s Lab has developed an accurate, reproducible animal model that mimics this same growth plate behavior and can be used to further analyze the growth plate structure, healing process, and new treatments. This animal model …

Determining The Primary Dna Substrates Of Shld2'S Ob-Fold Domains, Hari Patchigolla

Holster Scholar Projects

Failure to repair DNA double-stranded breaks leads to cell death. Radiation therapy is commonly used to kill cancer cells by inducing these breaks. However resistance to radiation therapy, due to a hyperactive DNA double-stranded break repair pathway, is a common occurrence that makes cancer patients more prone to relapse. The Shieldin complex is shown to promote DNA-double stranded break repair by binding to DNA at sites of damage. Thus, the objective of this project is to understand the affinity and type of DNA that Shieldin binds to, through gel-shift assays, for the eventual creation of an inhibitor for this protein …