The forewings and hindwings of an insect often have different structural and functional identities. In beetles, forewings (called elytra) act as protective shields, while the hindwings are used for flight. The Hox gene, Ultrabithorax (Ubx), has a major role in forewing/hindwing differentiation during insect development. Removal of Ubx function causes a homeotic transformation of the […]
BRIII-03: The Effect of Argon Plasma Irradiation on 3D Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering
Tissue engineering using 3D scaffolds is an alternative to bone repair techniques that are currently used, such as autografts or allografts for bone non-union. Plasma irradiation is used as a sterilization method and can alter the surface topography of the scaffolds. We have prepared 3D scaffolds composed of poly(lactic-co-glycolic)acid (PLGA) and nanohydroxyapatite (nHA) using thermally […]
A58: 3D Printing Silk for Biomedical Applications
Natural silk has incredible mechanical properties of strength, elasticity, and durability. For this reason it is being utilized for 3D printing in hopes to optimize these properties. In addition to its mechanical properties, extracted silk possesses excellent biocompatibility and therefore it has many possible applications in medicine such as in bone graft surgeries, drug delivery, […]
B17: What prevents the wing master gene, vestigial, from making wings everywhere?
During organismal development, some genes occupy the top of a gene regulatory network, orchestrating the development of a certain tissue type or organ. These genes are often called “master regulator genes”. One such gene is vestigial (vg), which is often considered ‘necessary’ and ‘sufficient’ to orchestrate the formation of wings (i.e. wing master gene). When […]
B23: Ecological Resource Sharing Between Deer Species Evaluated by Tannin Diets
Tannins are polyphenolic compounds which are plentiful in herbivore plants. The ability of tannins to precipitate proteins has been of interest to biochemists , ecologists, and animal physiologists for years. The impact of condensed tannin on protein digestibility is evaluated with in vivo digestion trials with White-Tailed Deer and Mule Deer. The digestion trials are […]
C20: Observing Polymer Wrapping in Bioconjugates by Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement
The properties of proteins can be improved by covalent conjugation with polymers. Rational design of these bioconjugates is obstructed by a lack of mechanistic understanding because of the absence of data on interactions between the protein and polymer. Does an attached polymer behave like a random coil or interact with the protein such that it […]
C25: The Study of the Structural Topology and Dynamic Properties of Pinholin S21 Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Membrane proteins are essential in biological process for the survival of living organisms. The bacteriophage infection cycle ends cell death through membrane lysis. The precise timing of infected host cell lysis is crucial for the phage life cycle. A small membrane protein called holin plays is crucial to define the time length of phage infection […]
B29: Copper-Catalyzed Deaminative Difluoromethylation
A difluoromethyl group (CF2H) is considered to be a lipophilic and metabolically stable bioisostere of an amino (NH2) group. Therefore, methods that can directly convert a NH2 group into a CF2H group would be of great value to medicinal chemistry. We report an efficient Cu-catalyzed approach for the conversion of alkyl pyridinium salts, which can […]
C66: Isolation and Characterization of Mycoplasma penetrans from the Urine of Immunocompetent Urethritis Patients
Since the discovery in 1991 of the bacterium M. penetrans in immunocompromised patients, including HIV-positive patients, this organism has been described as a potential cofactor in AIDS, helping advance the progression of the disease (Lo et al., 1992, 1993), and unlikely to be able to infect immunocompetent individuals. However, the recent detection of M. penetrans […]
C96: Eukaryotic Diversity In Perennially Ice-Covered Lakes
Studying organisms that live and thrive in perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valley of Antarctica is the primary focus of Dr. Morgan-Kiss’s lab. Dr. Morgan-Kiss finds it important to compare her findings with other researchers around the world who study similar lakes. Key characteristics these lakes need to share to be included in […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.