Browsing by Subject "identification"
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Item Approaches to Cloning and Identification of the Ligand for Natural Cytotoxicity Receptor NKp44(2008-07-01) Horton, Nathan C.; Harlan Jones; Stanley Stevens; Raghu KrishnamoorthyHorton, Nathan C., Approaches to Cloning and Identification of the Ligand for the Natural Cytotoxicity Receptor, NKp44. Masters of Science (Microbiology & Immunology), July 2008, 64 pp., 22 illustrations, 37 titles. Natural Killer (NK) cells represent a specialized lymphoid population that mediate innate immune responses against tumor or virally infected cells. NK cell cytotoxicity is regulated by inhibitory and activating receptors. Activating receptors include the Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors (NCRs), 2B4, and NKG2D. The NCRs play a key role in recognition and killing of tumor cells and include the receptors NKp30, NKp46, and NKp44. The ligands for the NCRs are not yet known. NKp44 is of particular interest because it is only expressed on activated NK cells, and is implicated in increased cytotoxicity and HIV infection. To identify and clone the ligand for NKp44, a recombinant fusion protein containing the extracellular domain of NKp44 was constructed and used to identify a cell line, DB, expressing a ligand for NKp44. A directional complimentary DNA (cDNA) library was constructed from this cell line and screened by mammalian expression cloning, resulting in the isolation of several putative cDNA clones of NKp44 ligands.Item Identification of Novel Genes Involved in Escherichia coli Biofilm Formation(2003-05-01) DesPlas, Rebecca L.; Jerry Simecka; Ming-Chi WuDesPlas, Rebecca L., Identification of Novel Genes Involved in Escherichia coli Biofilm Formation. Master of Science (Microbiology), May 2003, 77 pp., 6 tables, 11 figures, references, 55 titles. Transposon mutagenesis using a miniTn10::camR transposon generated 800 random insertion mutants displaying altered biofilm phenotypes as compared to the parent strain, TRMG F/M. Transduction of the resistance marker confirmed approximately 150 biofilm mutants. Amplifications of the insertion sites, nucleotide sequencing and BLAST searches against E. coli K-12 genomic databases, identified118 of these sites. Many of the interrupted genes are not known to be associated with biofilm formation. Four mutations were transduced into E. coli K-12 MG1655, creating altered biofilm phenotypes. A plasmid clone of the nhaAR operon complemented the corresponding mutations. Results indicate that the genes identified in this study influence biofilm formation. However, further studies are needed to determine the degree of impact in a wild type strain background.Item Validation of the Laboratory Information Systems Applications (LISA): Kinship Analysis Module(2008-11-01) Escobedo, IsraelEscobedo, Israel, Validation of the Laboratory Information Systems Applications (LISA): Kinship Analysis Module. Master of Science (Biomedical Sciences), December 2008, 155 pp., 10 tables, 21 figures, references, 34 titles. The Laboratory Information Systems Applications (LISA) is a LIMS system designed for the management and analysis of genetic data from large scale investigations of human identification. The validation study evaluated the pedigree construction and analytical tools of the Kinship Analysis module. The genetic data from old paternity cases was used to construct pedigrees under several scenarios that stimulate situations involving a missing child/parent. Each pedigree was analyzed to obtain a KI that measures the strength of the observed genetic evidence for an association made between a missing/deceased individual and a family reference pedigree to make identification. A common distribution of the number of observations per range of the 1n KI was observed in all scenarios. A concordance and reproducibility study was conducted for eight families using a validated kinship analytical program. LISA has the potential of becoming an efficient tool for human identification despite the limitations of the software.