Through mutations and horizontal transfer, bacteria has been able to acquire different forms of antibiotic resistance. In particular, bacteria that produce β-lactamases as a result of mutated or acquired genes have the ability to break down the β-lactam ring structure in many common classes of antibiotics (penicillins, carbapenems, monobactams, and cephalosporins). Metallo-β-lactamases, enzymes that confer […]
C22: Investigating How the Presence of Cholesterol Impacts Membrane Protein KCNE4 Dynamic
KCNE4, a transmembrane protein, is an accessory subunit belonging to the KCNE family. It functions as a modulator of voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels such as Kv7.1 (KCNQ1). KCNE4 is unique in the KCNE family as it is known to inhibit Kv current. Incorrect modulation of current through these channels has been linked to several diseases […]
C23: Testing Temperature-Dependent Reversible Aggregation of Elastin-Like-Peptides Expressed on T7 Phages
Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is a potential solution for treating antibiotic-resistant infections7. Since bacteriophages are bacterial in origin and are ‘expressed’ in bacteria, it is paramount that endotoxins are removed before delivery to avoid immunogenic shock. Traditionally, the purification process requires chromatography and is a bottleneck in the industrial-scale production of bacteriophage therapies. Elastin-like peptides (ELPs) […]
C26: Best of the Best? How Most Viewed Enthalpy Chemistry Education Videos Stand up to Mayer’s Multimedia Learning Principles
This presentation focuses on identifying trends related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic writing on topics in music. Looking at these trends creates a greater understanding of how musicological societies and their associated journals, specifically the Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS) and the Journal of the Society for American Music (JSAM), interact […]
C69: Uncovering Protein Misfolding: Structural changes for UbcH5b mutants to study the complex CHIP-E2-Ub for the ubiquitination pathway
In this research, we delved into the intricate interactions within the CHIP-mediated ubiquitination pathway, focusing on the interplay among E1-ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E2-ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UbcH5b), and E3-ubiquitin ligase (CHIP) with Ubiquitin. The absence of available structures for CHIP in complexes with an E2~ubiquitin conjugate spurred our investigation, aiming to unravel the mechanistic insights and structure of […]
C34: Development of a Bacteria Biosensor for Herbicide Detection
Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been used as a biosensor for detection of a wide range of analytes such as TNT, insecticides or lead. Glyphosate is a widely-used herbicide in US agriculture that can pose harms to marine life, mammals and endangered species. Due to the structural similarities between glycine, an amino acid that has […]
C41: Thermal Stability of Yeast Alcohol Dehydrogenase in the Undergraduate Teaching Lab
The enzyme yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (YADH) is used in the undergraduate biochemistry lab class at Miami University to teach students essential biochemical methods and concepts. Specifically, the students compare the wild type enzyme to overexpressed His-tagged YADH. An experiment was designed for students to monitor protein stability over time using recently “upcycled” HP 8453 UV/Vis […]
C38: The Effect of the Network Properties on a Dissociative Dynamic Covalent Bond System
For our project, we are making polymers using thiol adduct. Crosslinked polymers were made using post polymerization modification process with thiol monomers with different chain lengths and different crosslinking densities to find out the activation energy of each system. And in our project, we used GPC and rheometer to analyze our material to make sure […]
C36: Virus hopping between animal and human: Structural characterization of equine G14P[12] rotavirus via X-ray crystallography
Rotavirus is a virus that infects both humans and animals. Group A Rotaviruses are comprised of five genogroups P[1] through P[V], which are further organized into 37 genotypes P[1] through P[37]. These categorizations are based on sequence comparisons of spike proteins VP4 and VP7. As a general rule, P[I] RV’s infect animals, and P[II] infect […]
C33: Engineering Auto-catalytic CRISPR-Cas Sensors for Ultra-sensitive Lead Detection
Lead is an industrially useful element, but too much exposure is known to be extremely dangerous to human health. Toxicity and poisoning can result with symptoms such as anemia, kidney and brain damage, and death. A particular concern is lead toxicity in children due to the irreversible neurological damage and developmental defects that can occur. […]