A significant body of research demonstrates that phytochemical intake favorably influences hepatic metabolism via a number of different biological mechanisms. Other research has shown a positive effect of certain phytochemicals on kidney health, specifically in ameliorating symptoms of kidney disease. The current research used three separate studies that tested the...
Foodborne outbreaks involving fresh produce have been on the rise since the late 1990's. Pathogens such as Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli are prevalent in agricultural environments and commonly travel between farms via irrigation water. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has placed an increased emphasis on microbiological standards of...
Analytical chemistry is an essential qualitative and quantitative tool to describe foods and biomaterials and their changes during production, processing and distribution. In this work, rapid analytical procedures for the extraction and quantification of components in fluid milk and diatom fermentation broth were developed. Analytical methods to measure the concentration...
Moderate wine consumption, particularly pigment-rich red wine, is thought by many to be beneficial for the cardiovascular system. Both ethanol and phytochemicals are thought to contribute to this cardioprotective property. Metabolic disturbances associated with overconsumption of food are related to the initiation and progression of many chronic diseases, and cardiovascular...
Metabolic improvements and changes in gene expression were measured in mice fed polyphenol-rich extracts derived from apples and sweet cherries, and the common phytochemicals, quercetin and ellagic acid. Polyphenol-rich extracts were produced by solid phase extraction and column chromatography. Extracts and purified compounds were mixed into a high-fat (HF, 60%...
The studies described in this thesis were motivated by ongoing efforts to develop lignocellulosic biomass as an efficient and practical source of renewable energy. Enormous problems complicate these efforts to reduce reliance on greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels. Simply obtaining the fermentable sugars available in the cellulose and hemicellulose components of...
Cryopreservation of adherent cells may be advantageous for cell types that are difficult to
preserve in suspension or when it is necessary to preserve characteristics of the adherent cultured cells. Vitrification is a promising procedure for the preservation of adherent cells that prevents ice crystal formation and the resulting dissociation...
The effects of oligoribonucleotides of identical or similar sequences to a
ribosomal protein binding site, specifically S8, on prokaryotic 30S ribosomal assembly
were investigated in Escherichia coli. The oligoribonucleotides were expected to bind to
the target protein S8 and block its incorporation into the 30S subunit, resulting in a nonfunctional...
The three dimensional structure of both a ligand and its cognate receptor are required for the success of structure-assisted drug design. This thesis reports the crystal structure of hectochlorin, a small, bioactive molecule, and the steps toward determining the crystal structure of an RNA molecule that is an attractive target...
Optimization of preparative nonlinear chromatography was carried out for
the first time for a biomolecule mixture. Conventional wisdom on optimization,
which roots from analytical chromatography, dictates optimizing resolution in an
analytical column and obtaining similar separation in a large column for isolation.
Such a method of optimization significantly under uses...