Browsing by Department "Biology and Biochemistry, Department of"
Now showing items 1-20 of 121
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A Black Death: Can Relic Oysters Be Used in Restoration Efforts?
(2018)The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, plays an important role in estuarine ecosystems, but populations have been decimated compared to historic levels. Large storm events, including hurricanes, periodically eliminate ... -
A Novel Function for Juvenile Hormone in Male Courtship Behavior of Drosophila melanogaster
(2013-08)Juvenile hormone is a significant insect hormone controlling development as well as reproduction, migration, and social behavior. Juvenile hormone-binding proteins of many insects are similar to Drosophila melanogaster ... -
A Proteomic Signature of Dormancy in an Actinobacterium: Micrococcus luteus
(2017)This project was completed with contributions from Arshad Khan from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UT Health Science Center, Houston. -
A Proteomic Signature of Dormancy in the Actinobacterium: Micrococcus luteus
(2018-05-02)Dormancy is a protective state in which diverse pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria curtail metabolic activity to survive external stresses, including antibiotics. Evidence suggests dormancy consists of a continuum of ... -
A Requirement for the Lysine Methyl Transferase SMYD1 in Myoblast Differentiation
(December 2)The SMYD (SET and MYND domain) family of lysine methyltransferases harbors a unique structure in which the methyltransferase (SET) domain is intervened by a zinc finger protein-protein interaction (MYND) domain. SMYD ... -
A Role for the Histone Chaperone Hira in Muscle Hypertrophy, Cellular Stress Responses, and Developmental Gene Expression
(2016-12)Chromatin modifications play a pivotal role in regulating gene expression. The deposition of histone variants by histone chaperones into the nucleosome plays a large role in influencing gene expression. Histone incorporation ... -
A test of the Snowball model
(2016-12)Genetic incompatibilities can emerge as a by-product of genetic divergence. According to Dobzhansky and Muller, alleles at different loci that have fixed in different genetic backgrounds may be incompatible when brought ... -
Alignment- and Alignment-refining Algorithms: Effects on Branch-length Estimation and Selection Pattern Analyses
(2015-05)This dissertation consists of a study of the effects of multiple-alignment method on phylogenetic analyses. First, I investigated the effects of multiple-sequence alignment quality on branch-length estimation, which can ... -
Altered Glucose Metabolism in Cancer Metastasis and Drug Resistance
(2013-08)Glucose, one of the most important energy sources for living organisms, is first broken down through glycolysis then either undergoes oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondrion or fermentation in the cytosol. Abnormal ... -
An Account of Chemical and Mechanical Regulation of TRPC6 Channels in Podocytes
(2013-05)Podocytes play a dynamic role in regulating glomerular filtration. The focus here is on the regulatory mechanisms of podocyte expressed transient receptor potential 6 (TRPC6) channels, an ion channel implicated in certain ... -
An Exploration of Fitness Landscapes: Theory and Experiments
(2018-07-30)Genotypes, phenotypes, and fitness are the ultimate determinants of evolution. The relationship between these three components is collectively referred to as the fitness landscape. Evolutionary biologists have been working ... -
An Investigation into Patterns of Scaling Among Morphological Traits
(2018)Proper scaling of morphological traits to body size is necessary for ecological function. Individuals with better nutrition grow larger body sizes and traits, whereas individuals with poor nutrition develop smaller body ... -
Analysis of Early Myelin Development in the Central Nervous System
(2018)Myelin, produced by oligodendrocytes (OLGs), is the major factor for the stability of neural transmission in the central nervous system (CNS). The interaction between axons and OLGs has been of interest in determining ... -
Antibody-Functionalized Nanophosphor Particles for Use as Reporters in Lateral Flow Assays
(2017)The main goal of this project was to identify important buffer components that improve the performance of nanophosphor reporters in a lateral flow assay. A model system based on the capture of the human chorionic gonadotropin ... -
Antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic actions of Estrogen receptor β in prostate cancer
(2013-05)High Gleason grade prostate cancers are aggressive. Currently, the major target for treatment is the androgen receptor. Recent literature points towards a tumor suppressive role of estrogen receptor β (ERβ), which has a ... -
Aptamers and Phage as Tools for the Development of Novel and Sensitive Point-of-Care Diagnostics
(2014-08)Immunochromatographic lateral flow assays (LFAs) represent a well-established point-of-care diagnostic analytical method for the primary testing of diverse samples. The sensitivity of conventional LFAs that use the standard ... -
Aspects Affecting the Expression of Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Cardiomyocytes
(2018)By comparing the immunofluorescent images of each of the wells containing cells in different conditions, we can compare signals that are relevant to diabetic cardiomyopathy change HIF expression, activity, or localization. ... -
Assessing the Function and Control of miR-322(424)/503 on Skeletal Muscle
(2018)Muscle atrophy, a common complication of many diseases such as cancer, COPD, and heart failure, has no effective treatment approaches to date. Recently, we identified miR-322/503 as a significant regulator of muscle ... -
Bioinformatic Studies on Selection in Protein-Coding- and RNA-Specifying Genes
(2014-05)During my dissertation I used a combination of comparative and phylogenetic approaches to test for selection on genic regions. Specifically, I tested for mutational and environmental robustness in Drosophila pre-miRNAs, ... -
Biophysical Feedbacks Mediate Tidal Creek Formation in Salt Marshes
(2016-08-04)How organisms and ecological systems respond to global change is of great interest to ecologists. These responses may or may not be beneficial because there might be positive or negative feedbacks that would make the impacts ...