Cell Biology Commons^™

Chemoattractant Distribution In Complex Geometry Impacts The Trajectory Of Clustered Cell Migration, Naghmeh Akhavan

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis Of Mutation In Pam-1 Of Model Organism Caenorhabditis Elegans., Jessica Stein, Jessica Stein

Honors College Theses

The pam-1 gene in the model roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans governs meiotic exit and establishment of cellular polarity in the single-celled C. elegans embryo. Mutation of the pam-1 gene results in reduced fertility and fecundity in adult C. elegans and disrupts the anatomy of the germinal gonad. The aim of this study is to qualitatively and quantitatively define the changes in the germline cells associated with mutations to the pam-1 gene. Specifically, we examined the stages of germ cell development within the gonads of adult worms, both wild-type and pam-1 compromised, and identified the changes in the length of the mitotic, …

An In-Depth Study Of Border Cell Migration Within Drosophila Melanogaster, Leif R. Verace

Honors Capstones

Cell migration plays a key role in many biological processes including embryonic development, tissue morphogenesis, and the metastasis of cancer cells; thus, understanding how this behavior works is highly important. To study cell migration, we use the process of border cell (BC) migration in Drosophila melanogaster, which sees a cluster of cells migrate through a multicellular structure known as the egg chamber found in the Drosophila ovary. Here, I will describe my results in studying the role of a particular kinesin-like gene, CG14535, in BC migration. Through analysis of a mutant for this gene (labelled KC53), RNAi …

Swallowing Disrupts Tongue-Jaw Coordination During Chewing In A Rat Model Of Parkinson's Disease, Meejan Palhang, N. Charles, Francois Gould

Stratford Campus Research Day

The primary motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremor, are associated with difficulties regulating transitions between motor behaviors due to basal ganglia dysfunction. Chewing and swallowing, which are disordered in most patients with Parkinson’s disease, are two complex motor behaviors which overlap in time and share some neuromuscular components. The objective of this study is to identify how Parkinson’s disease affects the coordination of chewing and swallowing. We hypothesize that as a result of impaired regulation of shift between motor patterns, chewing cycles that occur with a swallow will be more affected that chewing cycles occurring in …

Extravasated Brain-Reactive Autoantibodies Perturb Neuronal Surface Protein Expression In Alzheimer's Pathology, Wardah Bajwa, Mary Kosciuk, Randel L. Swanson, Anuradha Krishnan, Venkat Venkataraman, Robert Nagele, Nimish Acharya

Stratford Campus Research Day

Background: Increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is reported in both the neuropathological and in vivo studies in both Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and age matched cognitively normal, no cognitive impairment (NCI), subjects. Impaired BBB allows various vascular components such as immunoglobulin G (IgG) to extravasate into the brain and specifically bind to various neuronal surface proteins (NSP), also known as brain reactive autoantibodies (BrABs). This interaction is predicted to further enhance deposition of amyloid plaques.

Hypothesis: Interaction between extravasated BrABs and its cognate NSPs lower the expression of that NSPs in AD patients.

Methods: We selected Western blotting technique to study …

The Involvement Of Ubiquitin In Med13 Cyclin C Degradation Following Cellular Stress, Ayesha Gurnani, Brittany Friedson, Katrina Cooper

Stratford Campus Research Day

The Cdk8 Kinase Module is a dissociable regulator of cellular stress response genes, with degradation of its components Med13 and cyclin C eventually determining cell fate decisions such as engaging cell survival or cell death mechanisms. We aimed to explore the roles of ubiquitin in degradation of the Cdk8 Kinase Module following nitrogen starvation, with respect to the potential involvement of deubiquitinating enzyme Doa4, lysine linkage at position K63, and E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes Ubc4 and Ubc5. We utilized Western blot analysis to observe nitrogen starvation-induced degradation of Med13-HA in wild-type, doa4 mutant, and K63R yeast strains; degradation of cyclin …

Regulation And Function Of Zeb1 Acetylation In Lung Adenocarcinoma Progression And Metastasis, Mabel Perez-Oquendo

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Lung cancer metastasis is leading the causes of cancer-related mortality in the United States and worldwide. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a model for metastasis that results in loss of specialized epithelial cell contacts and acquisition of mesenchymal invasive capacity. Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) recognizes and binds to E-boxes of epithelial gene promoters to repress its transcription. ZEB1 has inconsistent molecular weights, which have been attributed to post-translational modifications (PTMs). In the presented dissertation, I specifically addressed the gap in the molecular mechanisms by which PTMs of ZEB1 regulate its ability to induce EMT and how its activity might …

Review Of Biomedical Applications Of Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering, Natalie M. Howard

Honors College Theses

Tissue engineering can be defined as processes that aim to generate three-dimensional functional tissues in vitrothat have been favorably altered according to the structural, biochemical, electrophysiological, and biomechanical properties of the desired tissue before implantation into the human body. In relation to cardiac tissues, these properties would include the ability to conduct action potentials, withstand systolic pressure, permit sufficient O₂ and CO₂penetration, sufficient vascularization to supply nutrients for cellular activity, surface topology that enables cellular communication, and more. As heart diseases and instances of myocardial infarction continue to rise worldwide, there is an increasing need for …

Mitochondrial Roles In Developmentally Programmed Heart Disease, Eli John Louwagie

Dissertations and Theses

Offspring of diabetic and obese mothers (ODOM) have greater risks of heart disease at birth and later in life. However, prevention is hindered because underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Mounting studies in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease field suggest that mitochondria play key roles in developmentally programmed heart disease similar to the roles they play in cardiomyopathy in adults with diabetes and obesity. However, whether mitochondria are responsible for the short[1]and long-term cardiac disease seen in ODOM remains unknown. Here, we sought to delineate the roles of mitochondria in the hearts of ODOM, determine whether mitochondria are playing …

Regulation Of De Novo And Maintenance Dna Methylation By Dnmt3a And Dnmt3b, Yang Zeng

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine, 5mC) is essential for the regulation of gene expression and integrity of the mammalian genome. It occurs predominantly in the context of CpG dinucleotides to form a symmetrical pattern on both DNA strands, which allows DNA methylation patterns to be semi-conservatively maintained during DNA replication. There are two classes of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs): DNMT3A and DNMT3B function primarily as de novo methyltransferases that establish DNA methylation patterns, whereas DNMT1 is the major enzyme responsible for maintaining DNA methylation patterns by converting hemi-methylated CpGs to fully methylated CpGs during DNA replication. Two accessory factors also play critical regulatory …

The Effects Of Salt And Temperature On Three Methanogen Species: Implications For Mars, Katy Dunlap

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The question of whether life has ever existed on Mars – either in the past or currently – has been pursued for decades. This debate has been prompted by a variety of discoveries regarding similarities between Mars and Earth and more recently concerns over human extinction. Mars, like Earth, once had large amounts of water, a key ingredient for life. H₂O exists on Mars in various forms now, and it is theorized that there is liquid water beneath the surface as well. Mars also contains salt and is very cold at its surface, pointing researchers towards the idea …

Minimal Carbon Requirements For Potential Colonizers Of Other Planets, Benjamin Tan

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The NASA Office of Planetary Protection regulates the safe scientific exploration of other planets. Specifically, the office enacts rules to discourage interplanetary mission practices that would lead to the contamination of Earth-originating microbial life on other planets. Interplanetary contamination jeopardizes the potential to obtain reliable scientific evidence for extraterrestrial life. In coordination with this office, the biosignatures of potential colonizers of other celestials bodies are studied. Several organisms of Earth qualify as potential colonizers of other planets.

This experiment focused on the environment of Mars in particular. Two organisms were tested: Desulfovibrio arcticus and Desulfotalea psychrophila. Both are psychrotolerant or …

Effects Of Sow Vocalization And Scent On Complete Blood Cell Count During Early Weaning Period, Mason Paladino

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Piglets are deprived of their sows’ touch, sound, and smell after weaning which results in biological stress. The present study investigated continuing exposure of sow vocalization and scent during the early weaning period on complete blood cell count. A total of 12 litters, 8 piglets (4 male and 4 female) per litter were selected at weaning and assigned to 1 of 4 experimental treatments: control, O (olfactory group with scent and no vocal stimulation), V (non-olfactory with vocal stimulation), VO (vocal stimulation and olfactory stimulation) as a 2x2 factorial arrangement. Vocal stimulation was emulated by an audio recording of the …

Understanding The Expression And Role Of Pros-1 In The Male Gonad Of C. Elegans, Jack Bozik

Undergraduate Theses

The gene pros-1 is a transcription factor that is highly expressed within neuronal sheath cells, glial cells, and excretory canal cells. pros-1 plays a role in cell determination of those cell types in the nematode C. elegans, which promotes organismal development. But the degree to which pros-1 presence is important is still not fully understood, because there are many genes involved in development that when mutated or damaged can result in unexpected phenotypes or even total loss of function to a certain developmental mechanism. What makes pros-1 valuable to research is that it is a functional homologue to a …

Distribution Of Micropredators In The Longleaf Pine Soil Microbiome, Faith Arends, Eithar Mirghani

Symposium of Student Scholars

Bacterial micropredators of the soil, like their larger-scale counterparts, play a key role in shaping their ecosystem and are thus of particular interest from an ecological standpoint. An important micropredator to study are Myxobacteria. Myxobacteria are gram-negative rod-shaped social bacteria that hunt in wolf packs to lyse their prey and facilitate their growth. Myxobacteria are a potential source of novel antibiotics, therefore, the isolation of new strains is of great interest. We investigated longleaf pine soil as a source of novel isolates. The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem is an endangered ecosystem that is of crucial importance due to its ability to …

Characterization Of Toxoplasma Gondii Calcium Regulator Proteins Tggt1_253640 And Tggt1_222060 For Toxoplasma Gondii Growth And Invasion, Abigail Delapenha

Student Research Submissions

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic apicomplexan parasite infecting humans and livestock. Infection in immunocompromised individuals can cause neurological damage and infection during pregnancy can lead to fetal death. These parasites engage in a complex life cycle, involving repeated invasion of the host cell and egress from the host cell. Calcium signaling is an important regulatory mechanism for many essential processes in the parasite, including gliding motility (actomyosin-dependent mode of motion), invasion, and egress. Our work here focuses on two previously uncharacterized calcium regulator proteins (TGGT1_253640 and TGGT1_222060). To characterize the role of these proteins in parasite viability and calcium regulation, …

Uncovering Genes Involved In Non-Npc-Associated Dbp5 Function, Jonah Hooks, Rebecca Adams

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

During an mRNA’s lifecycle, RNA-binding proteins (RBP) are added and removed in order to facilitate export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm through the nuclear pore complex (NPC). During the RNA export process, a class of proteins termed Dead-box proteins (Dbps) are strategically located at the cytoplasmic face of the NPC to remove mRNPs from the mRNA-protein complex, providing one way directionality for export in the process termed mRNA-protein (mRNP) remodeling. Specifically, Mex67 is an RBP which ferries the transcript through the nuclear pore complex and is removed by Dbp5, which is located at the cytoplasmic …

Effects Of Ginseng Supplements On Human Cervical Cancer Cells (Hela), Amber Intanavong, Courtney Mensah

Research and Scholarship Symposium Posters

Ginseng is a herbal supplement that helps support the body’s immune system, which can be promoted to help improve physical performance and in combination with anticancer drugs (1). Ginseng contains many different active components including ginsenosides and ginseng polysaccharides which have contributed to anticancer effects (2). It was hypothesized that more concentration added to HeLa cells, will result in a decrease of cell viability and proliferation showing that Ginseng is effective against cancer. Three trials of CellTiter cytotoxicity screening assays were conducted to discover the cell viability for each of the four concentrations. Our results after the experiment supported that …

The Effect Of Vitamin C On Hela Cell Proliferation, James D. Dinger, Allysa C. Steinhaus, Anna Charleen Horn, Isabella Mc Dory

Research and Scholarship Symposium Posters

In this study, we investigated the impact of vitamin C on cervical cancer cells at varying concentrations. After adding vitamin C reagent to plated HeLa cells, we performed cytotoxicity assays to measure cell viability. We hypothesized that higher concentrations of vitamin C would lead to lower cell viability, as vitamin C is predicted to cause cell death in cancer cells. Our results indicated that higher concentrations of vitamin C do not necessarily correlate with lower cell viability of cervical cancer cells.

Transcriptional Silencing Of Cdk18 And Its Role In Lung Carcinogenesis Of Brg1-Mutant Lung Cancers, Loryn M. Phillips

Biology ETDs

BRG1 is mutated in 10% of lung cancers, making this mutation clinically relevant. The downstream effects of BRG1 included significantly affecting the cell cycle control and chromosomal replication pathway. CDK18, a cyclin-dependent kinase, was determined to be the gene with significantly decreased expression (p