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Motor And Sensory Characterization Of A Mouse Model Of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2o Disease, Swaran Nandini May 2019

Motor And Sensory Characterization Of A Mouse Model Of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2o Disease, Swaran Nandini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dynein is an essential motor protein required for the maintenance and survival of cells. Dynein forms a motor complex to carry intracellular cargoes like organelles, growth factors, peptides, and hormones along the microtubules inside the cells. In neurons, the dynein is the retrograde motor protein that moves cargoes from the neuronal tip to the neuronal soma along the length of an axon. Dynein has an established role in neuronal nuclear migration, transport of neuronal survival signals and growth factors, organelle positioning inside neurons etc. Hence, it is not very surprising that numerous mutations in dynein have been reported in association …


Unraveling Pdi And Its Interaction With Ab Toxins, Jessica Guyette Jan 2019

Unraveling Pdi And Its Interaction With Ab Toxins, Jessica Guyette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) is an essential endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein that acts as both an oxidoreductase and chaperone. It exhibits substantial flexibility and undergoes cycles of unfolding and refolding in its interaction with cholera toxin (Ctx), which is a unique property of PDI. This unfolding allows PDI to disassemble the Ctx holotoxin, which is required for Ctx activity. Here, we investigated the unfolding and refolding property of PDI and how this affects its interaction with bacterial toxins. PDI showed remarkable redox-linked conformational resilience that allows it to refold after being thermally stressed. Deletion constructs of PDI showed that both …


It Takes Two To Tango: The Toxin-Chaperone Relationship, Alisha Kellner Jan 2019

It Takes Two To Tango: The Toxin-Chaperone Relationship, Alisha Kellner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cholera toxin (CT) enters the cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis and travels in a retrograde fashion to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The catalytic A1 subunit (CTA1) is then displaced from the rest of the holotoxin, unfolds, and is exported to the cytosol where it regains an active conformation for the ADP-ribosylation of its G-protein target. We have shown that the cytosolic chaperones Hsp90 and Hsc70 are required for CTA1 translocation to the cytosol. We have also shown that both are able to independently bind and refold CTA1. Using libraries of CTA1-derived peptides, we have identified a single Hsc70 binding site, YYIYVI …


Mechanism Of Nanogp8 In Glioblastoma Multiforme, Jonhoi Smith Jan 2019

Mechanism Of Nanogp8 In Glioblastoma Multiforme, Jonhoi Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an incurable brain tumor, with patients only expecting to live 15 to 16 months post-diagnosis with the most current treatments options including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. How GBM resist treatment is still not very well known. However, cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subset of cells in GBM tissue considered responsible for therapeutic resistance and the poor patient prognosis. NANOG, a homeobox gene, is responsible for maintaining pluripotency of embryonic stem cells and is observed in CSCs. NANOGP8, a retrogene in the NANOG family is expressed in CSCs and provides cells with stem-like characteristics previously observed in …


Development Of A Functional Testing Platform For The Sensory Segment Of The Neuromuscular Reflex Arc, Alisha Colon Jan 2019

Development Of A Functional Testing Platform For The Sensory Segment Of The Neuromuscular Reflex Arc, Alisha Colon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Investigations of human biology and disease have been hindered by the use of animal models. The information obtained from such studies often results in clinically irrelevant results and drug trial failures. Additionally, several governing bodies have been formulating legislation to move away from animal models and toward more ethical and efficient testing platforms for drug discovery and cosmetic research. As an answer to these issues, "body-on-a-chip" systems have been a rapidly developing field which easily recapitulates in vivo functionality, providing a more relevant, repeatable, and ethical testing platform to better predict biology. These systems can be used as human-based testing …


Synthesis And Bioevaluation Of Methionine Depletion Agents, Houssine Ikhlef Jan 2019

Synthesis And Bioevaluation Of Methionine Depletion Agents, Houssine Ikhlef

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The native polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are low molecular weight amines that exist as polycations at physiological pH. These polycations interact with DNA, RNA, and influence many cellular processes. Intracellular polyamine levels are maintained via a balance of polyamine biosynthesis, catabolism, and transport. Ornithine, an amino acid obtained from L-arginine, is decarboxylated by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) to form putrescine. The biosynthesis of the higher polyamines, spermidine and spermine, requires the addition of an amino-propyl group donated by decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine (dc-SAM), which itself is derived from the amino acid L-methionine (Met). Tumor cells are heavily reliant on methionine because it …


Ab Toxins: Recovery From Intoxication And Relative Potencies, Patrick Cherubin Jan 2019

Ab Toxins: Recovery From Intoxication And Relative Potencies, Patrick Cherubin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

AB-type protein toxins have a catalytic A subunit attached to a cell-binding B subunit. Ricin, Shiga toxin (Stx), exotoxin A, and diphtheria toxin are AB toxins that act within the host cytosol and kill the host cell through pathways involving the inhibition of protein synthesis. Our overall goal is to help elucidate the cellular basis of intoxication for therapeutic development. According to the current model of intoxication, the effect of AB toxins is irreversible. To test this model, we developed a system that uses flow cytometry and a fluorescent reporter to examine the cellular potency of toxins that inhibit protein …


Exacerbation Of Δefp Sickness In Escherichia Coli By An Uncharacterized Rna Helicase, Robert Wingo Jan 2018

Exacerbation Of Δefp Sickness In Escherichia Coli By An Uncharacterized Rna Helicase, Robert Wingo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Escherichia coli, growth is rate-limited by translation capacity [1]. Stalled ribosomes have profound effects on a cell such as altered mRNA abundance, decreased ribosome availability, and an imbalanced proteome. The absence of elongation factor P (EF-P), a universally conserved transpeptidation enhancer, presents an extreme example of this scenario, wherein ribosomes accumulate disproportionately onto messages that are more slowly translated and cell growth becomes notably impaired. We discovered that faster-growing cells arise spontaneously in Δefp cultures, suggesting that translation defects could be circumvented by mutating other genes. This thesis presents a genetic and biochemical analysis of a mechanism Δefp cells …


Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Exosomes Enhance Cardiac Stem Cell Differentiation Into Heart Cells, Jamillah Hammond Jan 2018

Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Exosomes Enhance Cardiac Stem Cell Differentiation Into Heart Cells, Jamillah Hammond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transplantation of embryonic stem (ES) cells into the ischemic and infarcted heart has proven to repopulate cardiac cell populations, attenuate structural cardiac remodeling, and rescue cardiac function. Unfortunately, the pluripotency of ES cells increases risk of teratoma formation in vivo. Exosomes, smaller in comparison to ES cells, are cell free carriers of miRNA, proteins, and lipids, and do not suggest risk of teratoma formation. Exosomes have been proposed to mediate and attenuate regeneration following myocardial infarction (MI), however, the role of exosomes derived from ES cells (ES-Exo) in activating resident cardiac stem cells (CSCs) to undergo cardiac differentiation is not …


Neuromuscular Junction Defects In A Mouse Model Of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 2o, Thywill Sabblah Jan 2018

Neuromuscular Junction Defects In A Mouse Model Of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 2o, Thywill Sabblah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT) represents the most common inheritable peripheral group of motor and sensory disorders; affecting 1 in 2500 people worldwide. Individuals with CMT experience slow progressing weakness of the muscle, atrophy, mild loss of motor coordination and in some cases loss of sensory function in the hands and feet which could ultimately affect mobility. Dynein is an essential molecular motor that functions to transport cargos in all cells. A point mutation in the dynein heavy chain was discovered to cause CMT disease in humans, specifically CMT type 2O. We generated a knock-in mouse model bearing the same …


Role Of Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (Map) And Tnfsf15 Snps On Tl1a In Cd, Sayf Al-Deen Hassouneh Jan 2018

Role Of Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (Map) And Tnfsf15 Snps On Tl1a In Cd, Sayf Al-Deen Hassouneh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tumor Necrosis Factor-Like Ligand 1a (TL1A) is a cytokine encoded by Tumor Necrosis Factor Super Family 15 gene (TNFSF15) gene mostly in endothelial cells which binds to T-cells and foments the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1b, IFN- γ and IL-13. TL1A level is elevated in inflammatory diseases including Crohn's Disease (CD). Although Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in TNFSF15 have been reported in CD, no studies have investigated the effect of these SNPs on TL1A, inflammation, and susceptibility to Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection. MAP is a strong candidate in CD pathogenesis. This study is designed to …


Development Of A Non-Human Primate Model For Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriage, Amanda Lasseter Jan 2018

Development Of A Non-Human Primate Model For Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriage, Amanda Lasseter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage (SANC) is largely asymptomatic, but presents a risk of autoinfection and dissemination to new immunocompromised hosts. SA disease states range from mild cutaneous infections to life-threatening bacteremia. Historically utilized rodent models do not naturally carry SA in the nose, are insufficient in longitudinal SANC experimentation, and lack immune factors that are vital in human clearance of SA. The nasal passages of non-human primates are similar anatomically and histologically, and reproductive mucosal studies have shown similar immune responses to pathogens and human-relevant microbial profiles. Seventeen captive pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) were found to naturally carry SA in …


The Actin-Severing Protein Cofilin Is Downstream Of Neuregulin Signaling, Is Regulated By The Tumor Suppressor Merlin, And Is Essential For Schwann Cell Myelination, Nicklaus Sparrow Jan 2017

The Actin-Severing Protein Cofilin Is Downstream Of Neuregulin Signaling, Is Regulated By The Tumor Suppressor Merlin, And Is Essential For Schwann Cell Myelination, Nicklaus Sparrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Myelination is a complex process requiring coordination of directional motility and an increase in Schwann cell (SC) size to generate a multi-lamellar myelin sheath. Regulation of actin dynamics during myelination is poorly understood. However, it is known that myelin thickness is related to the abundance of neuregulin1-type III (NRG) expressed on the axon surface. NRG binding to ErbB2/3 receptors on the Schwann cell surface initiates signaling cascades necessary for myelination. We identify cofilin1, an actin depolymerizing and severing protein, as a downstream target of NRG-ErbB2/3 signaling in rat SC. A five minute exposure of SCs to NRG triggers phosphorylation of …


Implication Of Alpha-Synuclein Transcriptional Regulation And Mutagenesis In The Pathogenesis Of Sporadic Parkinson's Disease, Sambuddha Basu Jan 2017

Implication Of Alpha-Synuclein Transcriptional Regulation And Mutagenesis In The Pathogenesis Of Sporadic Parkinson's Disease, Sambuddha Basu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selective loss of dopaminergic neurons (DA neurons) from the substantia nigra (SN) of the mid-brain. PD is classically associated with cytoplasmic inclusion of aggregated proteins called Lewy bodies. alpha-synuclein (α-SYN) coded by the gene SNCA, is one of the major components of Lewy body and neurite along with several other proteins like ubiquitin, neurofilament to name a few. PD is broadly categorized into two groups based on their incidence of occurrence. First is the familial form that occurs due to known genetic aberrations like mutation, gene duplication/triplication in important PD …


The Microbial Ecosystem Of Beer Spoilage And Souring: Competition And Cooperation In The Age Of Bioinformatics, Andrew Kettring Jan 2017

The Microbial Ecosystem Of Beer Spoilage And Souring: Competition And Cooperation In The Age Of Bioinformatics, Andrew Kettring

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The brewing industry generates $350 billion in revenue in the US annually, representing 1.9% of the gross domestic product. Spoilage is a persistent problem throughout production and distribution that causes economic loss, and is therefore meticulously avoided. Contrarily, artisanal sour beers are necessarily produced by a diverse variety of these spoilage organisms metabolically interacting in symbiosis as a microbial ecosystem. We sought to gain insight into factors driving assembly of microbial communities by testing a long-debated Darwinian hypothesis. A collection of community members were screened in co-culture and novel bioinformatics tools were developed to predict observed interactions. A fundamental understanding …


Targeted Therapy Development For Neurofibromatosis Type 2, Marisa Fuse Jan 2017

Targeted Therapy Development For Neurofibromatosis Type 2, Marisa Fuse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is a debilitating disease characterized by the formation of bilateral vestibular schwannomas, which compress the vestibulocochlear nerve and cause deafness. Additional peripheral schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas may also form. NF2 is caused by mutations in the NF2 gene, resulting in the loss of function of the merlin tumor suppressor. Merlin functions in multiple signaling pathways and its absence in Schwann cells yields increased cell survival and proliferation, thereby causing schwannoma formation. First line treatment for NF2 is watchful waiting and surgical removal of tumors, potentially resulting in facial paralysis and deafness. To date, there are no …


The Mauc Gene Encodes A Versatile Signal Sequence And Redox Protein That Can Be Utilized In Native And Non-Native Protein Expression And Electron Trnasfer Systems, Brian Dow Jan 2016

The Mauc Gene Encodes A Versatile Signal Sequence And Redox Protein That Can Be Utilized In Native And Non-Native Protein Expression And Electron Trnasfer Systems, Brian Dow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The redox-active type 1 copper site of amicyanin is composed of a single copper ion that is coordinated by two histidines, a methionine, and a cysteine residue. This redox site has a potential of +265 mV at pH7.5. Over ten angstroms away from the copper site resides a tryptophan residue whose fluorescence is quenched by the copper. The effects of the tryptophan on the electron transfer (ET) properties were investigated by site-directed mutagenesis. Lessons learned about the hydrogen bonding network of amicyanin from the aforementioned study were attempted to be used as a model to increase the stability of another …


Structural And Functional Characterization Of Enzymes Of A Novel Group Of Tryptophylquinone Cofactor Containing Oxidases, Esha Sehanobish Jan 2016

Structural And Functional Characterization Of Enzymes Of A Novel Group Of Tryptophylquinone Cofactor Containing Oxidases, Esha Sehanobish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein-derived cofactors are redox and catalytic centers that are generally formed by the posttranslational modifications of one or more amino acids. An important class of these cofactors are the quinones derived from tyrosine and tryptophan. Amongst redox proteins, it has been known till now that oxidases either contain a flavin or a tyrosylquinone cofactor, whereas tryptophylquinone ones are present within the dehydrogenases. In recent times, oxidases from a marine bacterium, Marinomonas mediterranea, have been shown to possess the latter. This study involves the characterization of two such proteins, lysine-?-oxidase (LodA) and glycine oxidase (GoxA). They have been reported to contain …


Role Of Klf8-Cxcr4 Signaling In Breast Cancer Metastasis, Debarati Mukherjee Jan 2016

Role Of Klf8-Cxcr4 Signaling In Breast Cancer Metastasis, Debarati Mukherjee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Krüppel-like factor 8 (KLF8) has been strongly implicated in breast cancer metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study we report a novel signaling from KLF8 to C-X-C cytokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in breast cancer. Overexpression of KLF8 in MCF-10A cells induced CXCR4 expression at both mRNA and protein levels. This induction was well correlated with increased Boyden chamber migration, matrigel invasion and transendothelial migration (TEM) of the cells towards the ligand CXCL12. On the other hand, knockdown of KLF8 in MDA-MB-231 cells reduced CXCR4 expression associated with decreased cell migration, invasion and TEM towards CXCL12. …


Biophysical Sources Of 1/F Noises In Neurological Tissue, Alan Paris Jan 2016

Biophysical Sources Of 1/F Noises In Neurological Tissue, Alan Paris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High levels of random noise are a defining characteristic of neurological signals at all levels, from individual neurons up to electroencephalograms (EEG). These random signals degrade the performance of many methods of neuroengineering and medical neuroscience. Understanding this noise also is essential for applications such as real-time brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which must make accurate control decisions from very short data epochs. The major type of neurological noise is of the so-called 1/f-type, whose origins and statistical nature has remained unexplained for decades. This research provides the first simple explanation of 1/f-type neurological noise based on biophysical fundamentals. In addition, noise …


The Role Of Sod1 Acetylation In Neurodegeneration, Michael Kaliszewski Jan 2016

The Role Of Sod1 Acetylation In Neurodegeneration, Michael Kaliszewski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting motor neurons. Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), a cytoplasmic free radical scavenging enzyme, is mutated in familial ALS (fALS) and post-translational modification of the wild-type protein has been associated with sporadic ALS (sALS). Proteomic studies indicate that SOD1 is acetylated at Lys123; however, the role of this modification remains unknown. To investigate its function, we generated antibodies for Lys123-acetylated SOD1 (Ac-K123 SOD1). Sod1 deletion in Sod1-/- mice, K123 mutation, or preabsorption with Ac-K123 peptide suppressed immunoreactivity, confirming antibody specificity. In the normal central nervous system, Ac-K123 SOD1 maps to glutamatergic …


The Ct20 Peptide As An Agent For Cancer Treatment, Rania Bassiouni Jan 2015

The Ct20 Peptide As An Agent For Cancer Treatment, Rania Bassiouni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to cancer recurrence and the development of drug resistance, metastatic breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women. In the search for a new therapeutic to treat metastatic disease, we discovered CT20p, an amphipathic peptide based on the C-terminus of Bax. Due to inherent properties of its sequence and similarity to antimicrobial peptides, CT20p is a promising cytotoxic agent whose activity is distinct from the parent protein (e.g. does not cause apoptosis). CT20p is not membrane permeable but can be introduced to cells using polymeric nanoparticles, a method that promotes efficient delivery of the peptide into the …


Overexpression Of Human Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase In Mice; The Effect Of Increase Superoxide Scavenging On Autonomic Control Of The Heart., Jeffrey Hatcher Jan 2015

Overexpression Of Human Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase In Mice; The Effect Of Increase Superoxide Scavenging On Autonomic Control Of The Heart., Jeffrey Hatcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dysregulation of the autonomic cardiovascular control is a complication of diseases including diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and aging. A common factor in these conditions is an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in neural, cardiac, and endothelial tissues. Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is an intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme that catalyzes dismutation of the superoxide anion (O2.-) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Expression and function of this enzyme are diminished in pathologies that impair cardiovascular autonomic control. This study employed mice overexpressing a transgene for human SOD1 (hSOD1) to determine if its overexpression would alter autonomic regulation of BP, HR, and BRS in …


The Role Of A Highly Conserved Eubacterial Ribosomal Protein In Translation Quality Control, Anusha Naganathan Jan 2015

The Role Of A Highly Conserved Eubacterial Ribosomal Protein In Translation Quality Control, Anusha Naganathan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The process of decoding is the most crucial determinant of the quality of protein synthesis. Ribosomal protein L9 was first implicated in decoding fidelity when a mutant version of L9 was found to increase the translation of a T4 phage gene. Later studies confirmed that the absence of L9 leads to increased translational bypassing, frameshifting, and stop codon readthrough. L9 is part of the large subunit of the prokaryotic ribosome and is located more than 90 Å from the site of decoding, making it difficult to envision how it might affect decoding and reading frame maintenance. Twenty years after the …


Timp-1 Activates A Unique Cardiac Stem Cell Population, Cd63+Ve/C-Kit+Ve, Thereby Enhancing Cardiac Differentiation, And Protects The Heart From Adverse Cardiac Remodeling Following Myocardial Infarction, Latifa Abdelli Jan 2015

Timp-1 Activates A Unique Cardiac Stem Cell Population, Cd63+Ve/C-Kit+Ve, Thereby Enhancing Cardiac Differentiation, And Protects The Heart From Adverse Cardiac Remodeling Following Myocardial Infarction, Latifa Abdelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We previously demonstrated that embryonic stem (ES) cells over-expressing tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) have increased potential to engraft and differentiate into cardiac myocytes following transplantation into the infarcted heart. However, the ability of TIMP-1 to activate endogenous stem cells and enhance their differentiation into cardiac regenerative cell types is still unknown. We postulate that TIMP-1 may additionally activate a stem cell population that enhances cardiac cell type differentiation in the infarcted myocardium. To prove this hypothesis, we isolated c-kit+ve cells from four weeks old C57BL/6 mice and cultured them in vitro in presence of ES conditioned media (ESCM), ES-TIMP-1-CM …


Proteomic Analysis Delineates The Signaling Networks Of Plasmodium Falciparum, Brittany Pease Jan 2015

Proteomic Analysis Delineates The Signaling Networks Of Plasmodium Falciparum, Brittany Pease

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by Plasmodium parasites that are spread through the bites of infected mosquito vectors. It is a worldwide pandemic that threatens 3.4 billion people annually. Currently, there are only a few validated Plasmodium drug targets, while drug resistance continues to rise. This marks the urgency for the development of novel parasite-specific therapeutics. Plasmodium falciparum diverges from the paradigm of the eukaryotic cell cycle by undergoing multiple rounds of DNA replication and nuclear division without cytokinesis. A better understanding of the molecular switches that coordinate the progression of the parasite through the intraerythrocytic developmental stages will …


Development Of Cytotoxic Natural Killer Cells For Ovarian Cancer Treatment, Veethika Pandey Jan 2015

Development Of Cytotoxic Natural Killer Cells For Ovarian Cancer Treatment, Veethika Pandey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of gynecological malignancy. Cytoreductive surgery and frontline platinum/taxane-based chemotherapy provides good initial efficacy in the treatment, but poor long-term patient survival. This is mainly caused by tumor relapse due to intraperitoneal spreading and ineffective alternate therapies to treat these resistant tumors. The challenge in the field is to develop strategies that would prove effective in these patients and extend overall survival. Over the years, various treatments have been developed for the treatment of cancer amongst which, adoptive cell immunotherapy has shown promising results. But despite the efficacy seen in the clinic, there are concerns …


The Role Of Lim Kinase 1 And Its Substrates In Cell Cycle Progression, Lisa Ritchey Jan 2014

The Role Of Lim Kinase 1 And Its Substrates In Cell Cycle Progression, Lisa Ritchey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

LIM Kinase 1 (LIMK1), a modulator of actin and microtubule dynamics, has been shown to be involved in cell cycle progression. In this study we examine the role of LIMK1 in G1 phase and mitosis. We found ectopic expression of LIMK1 resulted in altered expression of p27Kip1, the G1 phase Cyclin D1/Cdk4 inhibitor. Overexpression of LIMK1 resulted in lower levels of p27Kip1 and p27Kip1-pY88 (inactive p27Kip1). Knockdown of LIMK1 resulted in elevated levels of p27Kip1 and p27Kip1-pY88. Together, these results suggest LIMK1 regulates progression of G1 phase through modulation of p27Kip1 expression. LIMK1 is involved in the mitotic process through …


Preparation, Characterization, And Delivery Of Antibodies Binding To A Model Oncogenic Rna, Human Initiator Trna, Jennifer Archer Jan 2014

Preparation, Characterization, And Delivery Of Antibodies Binding To A Model Oncogenic Rna, Human Initiator Trna, Jennifer Archer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) account for a higher percent of the genome than coding mRNAs, and are implicated in human disease such as cancer, neurological, cardiac and many others. While the majority of ncRNAs involved in disease were originally attributed to a class of RNAs called micro RNAs (miRNAs) with a small size of only about 19 -24 base pairs, emerging research has now demonstrated a class of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have a size of over 200 base pairs to be responsible for gene regulation and other functional roles and have also found to contribute to pathogenesis in humans. …


Host And Bacterial Determinants Of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Colonization In Humans, Gowrishankar Muthukrishnan Jan 2014

Host And Bacterial Determinants Of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Colonization In Humans, Gowrishankar Muthukrishnan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus (SA), an opportunistic pathogen colonizing the anterior nares in approximately 30% of the human population, causes severe hospital-associated and community-acquired infections. SA nasal carriage plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of staphylococcal infections and SA eradication from the nares has proven to be effective in reducing endogenous infections. To understand SA nasal colonization and its relation with consequent disease, assessment of nasal carriage dynamics among a diverse population and determining factors responsible for SA nasal carriage have become major imperatives. Here, we report on an extensive longitudinal monitoring of SA nasal carriage in 109 healthy individuals over …