Mitochondria provide energy for biological cells to function, but this process is also a source of oxygen radicals that are capable of damaging nearby proteins. Mitochondrial protein damage can eventually lead to cell death, especially in the case of heart cells, where mitochondria are present in the highest concentrations. As...
Oxidative stress is recognized as an important underlying factor in the
pathogenesis of many degenerative diseases as well as normal senescence. The
free radicals, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and electrophiles produced during
oxidative stress are capable of modifying nucleic acids, lipids and proteins. There
are a variety of oxidative modifications...
The adduction of proteins and other biomolecules by electrophilic lipid peroxidation products such as 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), 4-oxo-2-nonenal (ONE), malondialdehyde (MDA) or acrolein (ACR) is thought to be an initiating and/or propagating factor in the pathophysiology of several diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other age-related disorders. The identification...
This research was undertaken to develop a sensitive, selective, and rapid analytical method to measure ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) in urine as urinary biomarkers of alcohol exposure. Large-volume injection (LVI) coupled with liquid chromatography / electrospray tandem mass spectrometry was used to eliminate the need for either...
Over the last decade, the use of highly branched macromolecules, called dendrimers, is emerging. Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers, in particular, have attracted high interest due to their unique properties, such as well-defined size, shape, and solubility in water. Our group, as part of an interdisciplinary team, is currently working on developing...
This thesis details my investigations of marine cyanobacterial natural products that resulted in the discovery of eighteen new secondary metabolites. Isolation and characterization of these unique molecules were carried out using different chromatographic techniques and by careful analyses of 1D and 2D NMR data, respectively. Preliminary bioassays of the crude...
Over the last decade, the miniaturization of analytical systems has become an increasingly important and interesting research area. Miniaturized systems offer many advantages, including reduced reagent and sample consumption, shorter analysis times, portability and disposability. This dissertation describes novel approaches in this direction, focusing on two areas: the miniaturization of...
The concept of reducing laboratory operations in scale such that they fit on a microfluidic chip has been met with great enthusiasm. Lab-on-a-chip devices promise to be cost effective to operate due to reduced reagent consumption, have the potential to offer shorter analysis times due to their short path lengths,...
Phospholipase C-β (PLC-β) isozymes are key effectors in G protein-coupled
signaling pathways. Prior research suggested that some isoforms of PLC-β may exist
and function as dimers, but little is known about dimerization of PLC-β. Data from coimmunoprecipitation
assays of differentially-tagged PLC-β constructs and sizeexclusion
chromatography of native PLC-β support homodimerization...
Molecular genetic and enzymological techniques have been employed to study antibiotic biosynthesis. The nonproteinogenic amino acid capreomycidine is the signature residue found in the tuberactinomycin family of antitubercular peptide antibiotics and an important element of the pharmacophore. Recombinant VioG, a single module peptide synthetase from the viomycin gene cluster cloned...