Opioid use disorder is a widespread issue in the United States in need of immediate attention. Over 11.5 million Americans reported having misused opioids in 2016, typically to alleviate chronic pain. By misuse or submission to said pain, people are suffering. Misuse causes addiction, and treatments are sparse, expensive, and sometimes dangerous. It is imperative […]
A13: Over Expressing and Purifying Proteins
Purity is a measurement used to describe a wide variety of things from jewelry, to drinking water. Purity is also involved in biochemistry, specifically when studying the behavior of biological mechanisms. The mechanism of interest for the Dabney-Smith lab is the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway that moves proteins around the cell. To effectively study this […]
C14: Expanding upon the potential of a common breathalyzer sensor
The tin oxide electrochemical sensor is the active component in the personal breathalyzer used for ethanol detection. The sensor works by ethanol vapor reacting with oxygen species adsorbed to the SnO2 surface, then releasing trapped electrons back into the conduction band which changes the output voltage. However, to the best of our knowledge, the analytical […]
B26: Controlling the Twist Sense of ortho-Phenylene Foldamers
In nature, oligomers and polymers fold to generate intricate three-dimensional structures, yielding macromolecules with diverse functions including transport, catalysis, signal-recognition, and charge- and energy-transfer. Over the years, a wide variety of abiotic foldamers have been developed, ranging from non-natural peptides to aromatics. The ortho-phenylenes represent a recent addition to the family of aromatic foldamers. Systematic […]
B27: Synthetic Food Additives: Chemistry, Health Effects, and the Societal Dilemma
Have you ever been puzzled by complex-sounding ingredients on your food label, wondering why they are used and what they do? Synthetic additives are ubiquitous in today’s commercial food products, and their definitions, uses, and regulation are surprisingly complex. Today, many categories of synthetic additives exist, designed to improve food’s characteristics or manufacturing processes. Various […]
C97: The transient assembly of supramolecular hosts of tetraethylene glycol and pentaethylene glycol diacids fueled by EDC
A dissipative system is a thermodynamically open system which is operated out-of thermodynamic equilibrium in an environment with which it exchanges energy and matter. which is characterized by the spontaneous appearance of symmetry breaking and the formation of complex, sometimes chaotic, structures where interacting particles exhibit long-range correlations. As stated in the BESAC report Challenges […]
B28: Separation and Characterization of Polyphenols in Salix Pulchra for Future Isotopic Studies
The availability of C13 labeled willow tissue (Salix pulchra) has pushed the need for extraction and characterization of polyphenolic compounds within the plant. A method of separation and purification of tannin from the willow plant has been established, but the identity of the extractable non-tannin polyphenols present in willow is not currently known. In order […]
A12: Investigation of Effects of Salicylic Acid on Mitochondrial TatC Expression in Arabidopsis thaliana
The Twin Arginine Translocation pathway (TAT) is a protein pathway that is fueled only by the proton motive force, can transport fully folded proteins, and is present in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic organelles such as the chloroplast and mitochondria. It is well known as to the function of this pathway in bacteria and chloroplasts, though […]
B94: Novel Developments In Cancer Treatment
Cancer is a disease caused by mutations in the DNA and is the second leading cause of death in the United States. There are a variety of different treatments, including radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and surgery that are currently being used to eradicate this disease. The current treatments have many societal issues that are […]
B21: Evolutionary Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance: VIM – 4 Metallo-β-lactamases
Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) are a class of proteins contributing to the ongoing but often unrecognized antibiotic resistance crisis, in which many current and most past antibiotics are less effective than when first introduced. These proteins protect bacteria by destroying manmade antibiotics, and have spread worldwide in part due to the selective pressure of antibiotic overprescription. To […]
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