Browsing by Subject "Biology, Molecular"
Now showing items 1-20 of 64
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A Mechanism and Pro-migratory Function for Non-canonical TGF-beta Signaling through Smad1 and Smad5
(2008-12-10)During the course of breast cancer progression, normally dormant tumor-promoting effects of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) including migration, invasion, and metastasis are unmasked. Although this switch or ... -
A Paradoxical Role for PTEN in the Cellular Response to Hypoxia
(2010)Regulation of cell growth is controlled by a variety of factors, including a number of oncogenes and tumor suppressors. PTEN is an inositol phosphatase that regulates cell growth by hydrolyzing the phospholipid products ... -
A Study of TGF‐β Signaling in B Lymphocytes and Glioblastoma
(2009)Transforming growth factor–β (TGF–β) signaling regulates a range of processes in a variety of cell types. Consequently, TGF–β plays a complex role in the progression of several types of cancers; it acts as a tumor suppressor ... -
Abl Tyrosine Kinases Mediate Intercellular Adhesion
(2008-04-24)Adherens junctions are calcium-dependent cell-cell contacts formed during epithelial morphogenesis that link neighboring cells via cadherin receptors. Coordinated regulation of the actin cytoskeleton by the Rho GTPases is ... -
Activation of developmental signaling pathways in hematopoietic stem cell regeneration
(2010)The homeostatic hematopoietic stem cell compartment is comprised of quiescent long term self renewing stem cells and cycling short term stem cells with finite renewal potential. To study the molecular mechanisms governing ... -
Affinity-Modulation Drug Delivery Using Thermosensitive Elastin-Like Polypeptide Block Copolymers
(2010)Antivascular targeting is a promising strategy for tumor therapy. This strategy overcomes many of the transport barriers and has shown efficacy in many preclinical models, but targeting epitopes on tumor vasculature can ... -
Akt, Glucose Metabolism, and the Bcl-2 Family
(2010)Normal cells require input from extrinsic growth factors to control proliferation and survival. Recent studies have demonstrated that these same extrinsic signals also regulate cellular metabolism to ensure that metabolism ... -
Analysis of the Interaction between Viruses, Mirnas and the Rnai Pathway
(2008-04-03)The microRNA (miRNA) and RNA interference (RNAi) pathways have recently emerged as an important aspect of virus-host cell interaction. This interaction can occur in several different ways and may favor either the virus or ... -
Bayesian Analysis and Computational Methods for Dynamic Modeling
(2009)Dynamic models, also termed state space models, comprise an extremely rich model class for time series analysis. This dissertation focuses on building state space models for a variety of contexts and computationally efficient ... -
Building Gene Regulatory Networks in Development: Deploying Small GTPases
(2007-02-19)GTPases are integral components of virtually every known signal transduction pathway, and mutations in GTPases frequently cause disease. A genomic analysis identified and annotated 174 GTPases in the sea urchin genome (with ... -
Cancer Stem Cells in Brain Tumors: Identification of Critical Biological Effectors
(2010)Human cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Contrary to the classical model in which tumors are homogeneously composed of malignant cells, accumulating evidence suggests that subpopulations ... -
Cellular Trafficking and Activation within Lymph Nodes: Contributions to Immunity and Pathogenic or Therapeutic Implications
(2010)Lymph nodes are organs of efficiency. Once activated, they essentially function to optimize and accelerate the production of the adaptive immune response, which has the potential to determine survival of the host during ... -
Cha-Cha-Cha: Variable Adhesive Activity of the <italic>Haemophilus</Italic> Cryptic Genospecies Trimeric Autotransporter Cha
(2009)Disease caused by the Gram-negative <italic>Haemophilus</italic> cryptic genospecies begins with colonization of the maternal genital or neonatal respiratory tract. The primary goal of this work was to identify and characterize ... -
Characterization of Drosophila Ctr1a: New Roles for Ctr1 Proteins and Copper in Physiology and Cell Signaling Pathways
(2008-10-21)Copper is an essential trace element required by all aerobic organisms as a co-factor for enzymes involved in normal growth, development and physiology. Ctr1 proteins are members of a highly conserved family of copper importers ... -
Characterization of Fxr Alpha in Medaka and Its Involvement in Hepatobiliary Injury
(2009)The liver is a primary target for toxicants and/or their metabolites. Selected fish species now serve as model organisms for laboratory investigations of toxic responses in the liver. One such model is the Japanese medaka ... -
Characterization of the Novel Telomere Associated Protein: hSnm1B
(2008-04-10)Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes which are composed of repetitive DNA sequence and telomere associated proteins. In C. elegans, the protein F39H2.5 was found to associate with the telomere, regulating both telomere ... -
Defining Ankyrin-b Syndrome: Characterization of Ankyrin-b Variants in Mice and Men and the Discovery of a Role for Ankyrin-b in Parasympathetic Control of Insulin Release
(2009)Studies in the ankyrin-B+/- mouse reveal that ankyrin-B deficiency is associated with both the benefits of enhanced cardiac contractility and the costs of arrhythmia, early senescence, reduced lifespan, and impaired glucose ... -
Development and Application of Aptamer-Based Therapeutics
(2009)Stroke is the leading cause of morbidity and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Over 80% of strokes are ischemic in nature, produced by a thrombus occluding the cerebral circulation. Currently, there ... -
Differential Angiogenic Capability and Hypoxia Responses in Glioma Stem Cells
(2009)Malignant gliomas are highly lethal cancers characterized by florid angiogenesis. Glioma stem cells (GSCs), enriched through CD133 (Prominin1) selection, are highly tumorigenic and therapy resistance. However, the mechanism ... -
Distinct Functions of POT1 in Telomere Protection and Length Regulation
(2008-12-03)Telomeres are DNA-protein structures that protect eukaryotic chromosome ends from illegitimate recombination and degradation. Telomeres become shortened with each cell division unless telomerase, a reverse transcriptase, ...
