Investigative Techniques Commons^™

Expression And Function Of Transcription Factors Foxa1, Hoxb13 And Cdx2 In Prostate Cancer, Hamsat B. Anwar

University Honors Theses

Prostate cancer (PC) is the second leading cause of death in men, affecting around 190 thousand patients in 2020 alone (National Institute of Cancer, 2020). Much of the current research focuses on treatments for advanced PC, which is problematic due to the rapid evolution of tumors and development of treatment resistance. Cancer early detection presents a better approach to control and treat patients before they acquire an incurable disease. Earlier diagnosis of patients leads to better prognosis and a more comfortable treatment process (Etzioni et al., 2003). However, we currently lack molecular markers to stratify PC during its early stages. …

Longitudinal Clonal Lineage Dynamics And Functional Characterization Of Pancreatic Cancer Chemo-Resistance And Metastasization, Chieh-Yuan Li

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

In recent years, technological advancements, such as next-generation sequencing and single-cell interrogation techniques, have enriched our understanding in tumor heterogeneity. By dissecting tumors and characterizing clonal lineages, we are better understanding the intricacies of tumor evolution. Tumors are represented by the presence of and dynamic interactions amongst clonal lineages. Each lineage and each cell contributes to tumor dynamics through intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms, and the variable responses of clones to perturbations in the environment, especially therapeutics, underlie disease progression and relapse. Thus, there exists a pressing need to understand the molecular mechanisms that determine the functional heterogeneity of tumor sub-clones …

Modeling And Analyzing An Optogenetic System For Photoactivatable Protein Dissociation, Anvin Thomas, James Schaff

Honors Scholar Theses

Computational modeling of cell-cell interactions can grant clues and can answer questions about an experiment, especially for observations about binding interactions and kinetics. This approach was used to investigate an interaction between a light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain and an engineered protein called Zdark (Zdk). The LOV domain is membrane-bound while Zdk is cytosolic. The LOV domain and Zdk bind strongly in dark (K_d 26.2 nM), and weakly upon exposure to blue light (K_d > 4 μM). Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) images are acquired of Zdk, the fluorescent species bound to a mCherry tag, and the loss of fluorescence is …

Micro-Spectroscopy Of Bio-Assemblies At The Single Cell Level, Jeslin Kera

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis, we investigate biological molecules on a micron scale in the ultraviolet spectral region through the non-destructive confocal absorption microscopy. The setup involves a combination of confocal microscope with a UV light excitation beam to measure the optical absorption spectra with spatial resolution of 1.4 μm in the lateral and 3.6 μm in the axial direction. Confocal absorption microscopy has the benefits of requiring no labels and only low light intensity for excitation while providing a strong signal from the contrast generated by the attenuation of propagating light due to absorption. This enables spatially resolved measurements of single …

Genome Engineering To Create Dominant Alleles In Caenorhabditis Elegans Using Crispr-Cas9 Technology, Abrar Sulaimani

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Many investigators have being using CRISPR-Cas9 as a method of genome engineering because it is easy, accurate and fast. This technique has been used to modify the genomes of a wide variety of organisms, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The short life cycle and ease of introducing exogenous plasmids make C. elegans an ideal system for advancing this technique. My thesis had two aims that focused on developing methods to create dominant alleles in C. elegans. Genetic modifications like precise deletion and insertions into a locus of chromosome are technically challenging. Additionally, although there are several ways of …

Sex Determination Using Discriminant Function Analysis In Hispanic Children And Adolescents: A Lateral Cephalometric Study, Alyssa E. Sprowl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lateral cephalometric radiographs have been used for years to help diagnose skeletal and dental patterns in Orthodontics. Within the last decade, these radiographs have caught the interest of the department of Anthropology for the identification of gender within the adult and adolescent population. Numerous publications have been made but failed to identify sexual dimorphism in the pre-adolescent population. 303 lateral cephalograms of pre and post Latino adolescence age ranging from 6.5 to 17.9 years old were obtained from University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) digital database. 25 variables were identified and plotted with all linear and angular measurements transferred into …

A Simple Method For Generating Full Length Cdna From Low Abundance Partial Genomic Clones, Yongxin Wang, Joseph M. Fugaro, Fauzia Siddiq, Chandra Mouli V. Goparaju, Fulvio Lonardo, Anil Wali, John F. Lechner, Harvey I. Pass

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

PCR amplification of target molecules involves sequence specific primers that flank the region to be amplified. While this technique is generally routine, its applicability may not be sufficient to generate a desired target molecule from two separate regions involving intron /exon boundaries. For these situations, the generation of full-length complementary DNAs from two partial genomic clones becomes necessary for the family of low abundance genes.

Results

The first approach we used for the isolation of full-length cDNA from two known genomic clones of Hox genes was based on fusion PCR. Here we describe a simple and efficient method …

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Mrsa): Molecular Detection And Dna Fingerprinting, Leslie Cotter

Theses

Throughout the 1990s, the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has increased in many health care areas including acute and chronic care facilities, outpatient clinics and in the community. Once introduced into a health care environment, this nosocomial pathogen can spread rapidly and as MRSA are resistant to multiple antibiotics, treatment is often difficult. Therefore effective infection control measures are required to prevent cross-infection and further spread of endemic strains.

In this study, a sensitive and specific triplex-PCR assay was designed for MRSA detection, wherein three genes, the methicillin resistance gene (mecA). femA and the extracellular thermonuclease gene (rmc) were simultaneously …