Biology

Alternative splicing is crucial for the genetic complexity of mammalian systems, allowing for the creation of numerous mRNA sequences and therefore protein isoforms from a single transcript. While introns are typically excluded from the final sequence, they may be dynamically retained to facilitate intron-mediated gene expression via protein production and RNA stability. In mouse embryonic cells, retained intron regulatory schemes ... Read More

The purpose of gene editing is to manipulate the expression levels of a gene of interest. The focus of this experiment was to manipulate TP63 expression levels between proximal and distal epithelial airway cells. Gene cloning was performed through restriction enzyme digest cloning, in which the non-region of interest is cut off and substituted with the gene sequence of interest ... Read More

This study analyzes the connections between reported diet, in terms of fruit and vegetable (FAV) intake, observed serum carotenoid values, and kidney function in people with sickle cell disease. An adequate FAV intake has a beneficial impact on kidney health, and people with sickle cell disease are at much higher risk of medical complications and early mortality if they also ... Read More

Some patients who are initially sensitive to such chemotherapy and endocrine therapy quickly develop acquired drug resistance. We aim to explore the molecular changes and potential regulatory mechanisms during the acquisition of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy resistance in breast cancer, or further to find molecular indicators that can be used to early predict the occurrence of drug resistance or efficacy ... Read More

Retroviral vectors are commonly used for generating stable cells to express transgenes. However, packaging high-titer retroviruses is technically challenging due to variations in co-transfecting the packaging cells with multiple plasmids that express genes essential for retrovirus production, leading to inefficient and inconsistent virus production and dramatic virus titer fluctuations. The objective of this study is to investigate whether or not ... Read More

Alzheimer’s disease is progressive, fatal, and the leading cause of dementia (Chang et. al, 2003). Based on the amyloid-ß oligomer (AßOs) hypothesis, the brain damage that leads to Alzheimer’s is due to soluble, ligand-like AßOs (Lambert et. al, 1998; Cline et. al, 2018). This experiment aims to understand how time affects the formation of AßOs, specifically at near- physiological concentrations. ... Read More

The gut-microbiome is a crucial part of the human digestive system, responsible for the regulation of metabolism as well as the immune system. Fiber and high fiber diets have been researched to understand their correlation with the health of the gut-microbiome. However, recent findings have shown that fiber can have additional health effects, such as inflammation, in certain populations (Wastyk ... Read More

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood. Those with high-risk (HR) disease have a long-term survival rate of approximately 60%. Patients with high-risk neuroblastoma treated with the Anti-GD2 antibody have demonstrated significant improvements in outcome. Despite these improvements, approximately 30-35% patients continue to experience poor clinical outcomes. We aim to develop a biomarker of outcome which may ... Read More

Hox genes are conserved across all eukaryotic life. Playing an integral role in limb development, Hox genes produce transcription factors that regulate gene expression within embryos, subsequently impacting morphogenesis and the location of the spine and limbs. Playing such a crucial role in developmental genetics, investigations into transcription factors within Hox genes have been a recent topic of interest in ... Read More