Browsing by Department "Biology and Biochemistry, Department of"
Now showing items 1-20 of 177
-
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 Genome-Wide Search for Tumor Suppressor MicroRNAs in Ovarian Cancer
(2014-08)Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal cancers among women. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a collaborative effort, which seeks to characterize the complete set of molecular changes associated with cancer and provide ... -
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 Novel Role of Fascin in Carcinoma Cells
(2018-12)Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second deadliest cancer in the US according to the 2014 National Cancer Institute data. Despite recent academic and medical advances, our understanding of the progression of CRC and, therefore, ... -
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
(May 2018)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 ... -
Aberrant Expression of Embryonic Mesendoderm Factor MESP1 Promotes Tumorigenesis
(2019-08)Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with KRAS and EGFR known as driver oncogenes for the disease. Adding to these are “lineage-survival oncogenes” where tumor survival depends ... -
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
(August 201)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 ... -
Are Parallel and Convergent Changes in Proteins Indicative of Adaptive Evolution?
(2018-12)The independent evolution of identical or similar phenotypical traits in different lineages is referred to as convergent evolution. At the phenotypic level, convergent changes are usually regarded as evidence for adaptation ...