Other Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Radiation Exposure Determination In A Secure, Cloud-Based Online Environment, Ben C. Shirley, Eliseos J. Mucaki, Peter Rogan

Biochemistry Publications

Rapid sample processing and interpretation of estimated exposures will be critical for triaging exposed individuals after a major radiation incident. The dicentric chromosome (DC) assay assesses absorbed radiation using metaphase cells from blood. The Automated Dicentric Chromosome Identifier and Dose Estimator System (ADCI) identifies DCs and determines radiation doses. This study aimed to broaden accessibility and speed of this system, while protecting data and software integrity. ADCI Online is a secure web-streaming platform accessible worldwide from local servers. Cloud-based systems containing data and software are separated until they are linked for radiation exposure estimation. Dose estimates are identical to ADCI …

Unified Methods For Feature Selection In Large-Scale Genomic Studies With Censored Survival Outcomes, Lauren Spirko-Burns, Karthik Devarajan

COBRA Preprint Series

One of the major goals in large-scale genomic studies is to identify genes with a prognostic impact on time-to-event outcomes which provide insight into the disease's process. With rapid developments in high-throughput genomic technologies in the past two decades, the scientific community is able to monitor the expression levels of tens of thousands of genes and proteins resulting in enormous data sets where the number of genomic features is far greater than the number of subjects. Methods based on univariate Cox regression are often used to select genomic features related to survival outcome; however, the Cox model assumes proportional hazards …

Supervised Dimension Reduction For Large-Scale "Omics" Data With Censored Survival Outcomes Under Possible Non-Proportional Hazards, Lauren Spirko-Burns, Karthik Devarajan

COBRA Preprint Series

The past two decades have witnessed significant advances in high-throughput ``omics" technologies such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and radiomics. These technologies have enabled simultaneous measurement of the expression levels of tens of thousands of features from individual patient samples and have generated enormous amounts of data that require analysis and interpretation. One specific area of interest has been in studying the relationship between these features and patient outcomes, such as overall and recurrence-free survival, with the goal of developing a predictive ``omics" profile. Large-scale studies often suffer from the presence of a large fraction of censored observations and potential …

Mrub_1675, Mrub_1676, Mrub_1677, And Mrub_1679 Genes Are Orthologs Of B_3458, B_3457, B_3456, And B_3454 Genes In E. Coli, Respectively, Coding For Abc Transporters. Mrub_1678 And B_3455, Though Perform Similar Tasks, Are Not Orthologous, Ravi Patel, Alaina Hofmann, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_1675, Mrub_1676, Mrub_1677, and Mrub_1679 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a Branched chain amino acid (ABC) transporter: Mrub_1675 (DNA coordinates 1711022..1712185 on the reverse strand) encodes the permease component, Mrub_1676 (DNA coordinates 1712313..1713170) encodes for the NBD (aka nucleotide binding domain), Mrub_1677 (DNA coordinates 1713167..1714075 on the reverse strand) encodes the NBD (aka nucleotide binding domain), Mrub_1678 (DNA coordinates 1713167..1714075 on the reverse strand) encodes the TMD (aka transmembrane domain) and Mrub_1679 (DNA coordinates 1714781..1715485 on the reverse strand) encodes …

Accurate Cytogenetic Biodosimetry Through Automated Dicentric Chromosome Curation And Metaphase Cell Selection, Jin Liu, Yanxin Li, Ruth Wilkins, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Joan H. Knoll, Peter Rogan

Biochemistry Publications

Accurate digital image analysis of abnormal microscopic structures relies on high quality images and on minimizing the rates of false positive (FP) and negative objects in images. Cytogenetic biodosimetry detects dicentric chromosomes (DCs) that arise from exposure to ionizing radiation, and determines radiation dose received based on DC frequency. Improvements in automated DC recognition increase the accuracy of dose estimates by reclassifying FP DCs as monocentric chromosomes or chromosome fragments. We also present image segmentation methods to rank high quality digital metaphase images and eliminate suboptimal metaphase cells. A set of chromosome morphology segmentation methods selectively filtered out FP DCs …

Lymphoid Hematopoiesis And The Role Of B-Cells In Transgenic Mouse Model Of Sickle Cell Disease, Christina Cotte

University Scholar Projects

Sickle cell disease (SCD) has been shown to be associated with decreased baseline immunity and thus increased susceptibility to infection. I sought to discern possible causes of this by looking into the correlations between SCD and hematopoiesis, the immune system and the neuroendocrine system, and ultimately by conducting experiments surrounding the impaired immune system of SCD. These experiments focused on the potential causes and effects of the diminution of B-1a cells in the SCD spleen. Adoptive transfers, infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae, and histologic imaging were conducted to establish if the diminution of the B-1a cells in the SCD spleen …

The Role Of Daf-19 In Non-Ciliated Neurons: How Is Neural Development Regulated By Different Daf-19 Isoforms?, Zabdiel Ek Vazquez

Lawrence University Honors Projects

A degenerative disease-like phenotype, specifically reduction in synaptic protein levels in adult worms, is correlated with loss-of-function of the only RFX transcription factor gene, daf-19, in C. elegans. This gene encodes four known transcription factor isoforms, two of which are correlated with particular functions. The DAF-19C isoform activates genes responsible for cilia development, while DAF-19M is needed for cilia specification in males. A comparison of the transcriptome of daf-19 null and isogenic wild type adult worms suggests both positive and negative regulation of gene expression is correlated with the presence of DAF-19 proteins. We have assessed DAF-19 regulation …

Characterization Of Induced Rnai Silencing Of Vaccinia Virus Essential Genes, Kewa Jiang

University Scholar Projects

Vaccinia virus (VACV) is a large double-stranded DNA virus and the prototypical member of the family Poxviridae and is most notable for its use as the vaccine that eradicated smallpox (variola virus). More recently, VACV has been used to develop recombinant vaccines and immunotherapies. However, many of these processes require VACV replication to be tightly controlled. RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool for in vitro silencing of mRNAs that are complimentary to 19-21 base pairs (bp) of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This project outlines the design and preliminary analysis of two inducible RNAi silencing constructs targeting multiple VACV essential genes …

The Evolution Of Respiratory O2/No Reductases: An Out-Of-The-Phylogenetic-Box Perspective, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau, Barbara Schoepp-Cothenet, Robert Van Lis, Frauke Baymann, Michael J. Russell, Wilfgang Nitschke

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Complex life on our planet crucially depends on strong redox disequilibria afforded by the almost ubiquitous presence of highly oxidizing molecular oxygen. However, the history of O₂-levels in the atmosphere is complex and prior to the Great Oxidation Event some 2.3 billion years ago, the amount of O₂ in the biosphere is considered to have been extremely low as compared with present-day values. Therefore the evolutionary histories of life and of O₂-levels are likely intricately intertwined. The obvious biological proxy for inferring the impact of changing O₂-levels on life is the evolutionary history …

Stress Responses And Energy Storage In Drosophila Melanogaster Selected For Resistance To A Gram-Positive Bacillus Cereus Spores, Zhen Hu

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A survival response study was carried out by using D. melanogaster and the opportunistic pathogen B. cereus as the agent of selection. The spores of B. cereus, a gram-positive bacteria that can cause the human pathogen disease, were applied in our artificial laboratory selection. Selected lines were treated with B. cereus spores. Wound control lines were punctured with a needle dipped into sterile H₂O. Control lines did not apply any treatment. Three different environmental treatments were used within each line type (autoclaved spores of B.cereus, sterile H₂O and no treatment). The autoclaved spores were …

Homeotic Gene Teashirt (Tsh) Has A Neuroprotective Function In Amyloid-Beta 42 Mediated Neurodegeneration, Michael T. Moran, Meghana Tare, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating age related progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of cognition, and eventual death of the affected individual. One of the major causes of AD is the accumulation of Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) polypeptides formed by the improper cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the brain. These plaques disrupt normal cellular processes through oxidative stress and aberrant signaling resulting in the loss of synaptic activity and death of the neurons. However, the detailed genetic mechanism(s) responsible for this neurodegeneration still remain elusive.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We have generated a transgenic Drosophila eye model where …