The differentiation of precursor cells into mature adipocytes (adipogenesis) has been an area of increased focus, spurred by a rise in obesity rates. Though our understanding of adipogenesis and its regulation at the cellular level is growing, many questions remain, especially regarding the regulation of the metabolome. The 3T3-L1 cell...
Pathogenic mycobacteria are important agents causing human disease. Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis
(M. avium) is a species of recalcitrant environmental pathogen. The bacterium forms robust biofilms that allow it to
colonize and persist in austere environments, such as residential and commercial water systems. M. avium is also an
opportunistic pathogen...
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...
Water bodies act as chemical data loggers that contain tens of thousands of molecules that represent the sum of the biological, chemical, and physical processes occurring within a watershed. We hypothesize that unique chemical signatures present within a water sample can be informative of upstream processes. By extracting non-polar organic...
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...
Met is a prognostic indicator of colorectal cancer patient survival. Therapies that target Met may therefore have beneficial outcomes in the clinic. Recently, EGCG was reported to suppress Met activation, although the mechanisms were not elucidated. HCT116 and HT29 human colon cancer cells were used to examine the relationships between...
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,...
The development of analytical methods for emerging contaminants creates many unique challenges for analytical chemists. By their nature, emerging contaminants have inherent data gaps related to their environmental occurrence, fate, and impact. This dissertation is a compilation of three studies related to method development for the structural identification of emerging...
Research and public concern of poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) as environmental contaminants has increased significantly due to the increasing number of reports of their detection in humans and wildlife. PFASs have a number of commercial applications including surfactants, coatings, polymers, and levelers, which are used on consumer products like...
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...