Pillared clays present interesting possibilities for use as acid catalysts. The present research investigated the effect that pillaring has on the physical and catalytic properties of some smectite clays. The effect of using a hydroxy-Al solution to pillar a predominantly octahedrally ,substituted clay (montmorillonite) and a tetrahedrally substituted clay (beidellite) were compared. The effects of pillaring tetrahedrally substituted clays with different swellable properties (beidellite, SMM, and Ni-SMM) were investigated. In an attempt to enhance the acidic properties of the pillars, montmorillonite was pillared with a hydroxy-Al solution containing tetraethyl orthosilicate. Montmorillonite was also pillared with a hydroxy-Ni/Al solution in an effort to produce a clay with an increased pillar density. The pillared and unpillared clays were characterised using x-ray diffraction, surface area measurements, thermogravimetric analysis and ammonia TPD. The possible shape selective properties of the different clays for the conversion of trimethylbenzene were investigated, and the catalytic activities and product selectivities of these clays for high pressure propene oligomerisation were studied.

The goal of this thesis is to extend the application for spoof effects generation into synthetic fingerprints with the possibility of generation of two new spoof effects together with annotations of generated damages. Spoof effects chosen for this thesis are areas with lower clarity and defects in spoof material. Those effects were analyzed, methods to generate those effects were designed and then implemented. According to testing, generation of two new added spoof effects led to reduction in quality of fingerprint images, as well as the value of the similarity score determined during identification. In comparison with the original solution, the quality of the fingerprints decreased more in the extended solution, the similarity score in the generation of separate spoof effect decreased overall approximately equally.

Cellular activities constantly change to precisely respond to their biological needs. In many cases, proteins carry out these activities because they can exhibit graded and dynamic responses to perform an array of cellular functions. To study these biological activities and to repurpose proteins for novel uses such as cell therapies, we must be able to control protein activity with synthetic inducers, such as chemical ligands. Multiple chemical inducers have been employed to achieve protein control, but there remains a need for inducer ligands that minimally interact with endogenous pathways, display high bioavailability, and are absent or minimally present from dietary sources. In this work, we control protein activities with the Hepatitis C virus cis-protease NS3 and its numerous clinically validated, highly specific inhibitors. First, we use NS3 to create a Ligand Inducible Connection (LInC) to chemically control gene expression, protein localization and cell signaling in mammalian cells. We then extend the use of catalytically inactive NS3 as a high affinity binder in conjunction with genetically encoded approaches to inhibit NS3, including peptides and RNA aptamers. Using catalytically inactive NS3, genetically encoded peptides, and small molecule drugs, we conditionally control peptide docking with antiviral drugs. We apply this concept to control mammalian gene expression, cell signaling, enzyme activity, and develop a new mechanism for allosteric regulation of Cre recombinase. Altogether, we have developed a new toolkit for controlling diverse protein activities with highly orthogonal, antiviral drugs. / 2023-05-15T00:00:00Z

Gene regulation in C. elegans germ cells depend on transgenerational chromatin modification and small RNA pathways. Germline silencing mechanisms evolved to repress foreign DNA from compromising the transfer of genetic information to progeny. Effective genetic tools that circumvent the silencing machinery will facilitate studies using this model organism. Specifically, translation of heat-shock inducible transgenes is inhibited in the germline making it challenging to transiently express enzymes to modify the genome. Here, we describe a genetic screen design that can be used to identify pathways that prevent germline expression of heat-shock induced transgenes. We use split-GFP (GFP1-10 and GFP11) to confine a genetic screen to germ cells. Stable transgenic lines with germline expression of single-copy integrated GFP11 were produced using MosSCI. The insertion lines will be used in RNAi or chemical mutagenesis screens for the germline de-repression of GFP1-10 expressed under heat-shock promoters. The screen is likely to identify candidate RNAi or chromatin factors involved in repressing heat-shock expression in the germline, particularly from extrachromosomal arrays. Inducible high-level expression in the germline from extrachromosomal arrays would be a valuable tool for large-scale genome engineering.

This thesis reports the development of BioMe, a co-culture microplate platform that enables high-throughput, real-time quantitative growth dynamics measurements of interacting microbial batch cultures. The primary BioMe components can be 3D-printed, allowing ease of fabrication and DIY accessibility in the microbiome community. A pairwise 3D-printed iteration of the BioMe device was used in diffusion and co-culture experiments. Genetically engineered Escherichia Coli lysine and isoleucine auxotroph strains were used to characterize the diffusion of amino acids across the porous membranes. Results demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between growth rate and pore size and also distinct diffusion behavior for lysine and isoleucine. Pairwise syntrophic co-culture experiments demonstrated synergistic but repressed interaction between these two paired auxotrophs. Investigation of the effect of varying initial amino acid conditions on growth dynamics demonstrated that small changes in initial media condition can consistently affect patterns of yield and growth rate of constituent microbial species. / 2020-08-30T00:00:00Z

Modern synthetic gene regulatory networks emerge from iterative design-build-test cycles that encompass the decisions and actions necessary to design, build, and test target genetic systems. Historically, such cycles have been performed manually, with limited formal problem-definition and progress-tracking. In recent years, researchers have devoted substantial effort to define and automate many sub-problems of these cycles and create systems for data management and documentation that result in useful tools for solving portions of certain workflows. However, biologists generally must still manually transfer information between tools, a process that frequently results in information loss. Furthermore, since each tool applies to a different workflow, tools often will not fit together in a closed-loop and, typically, additional outstanding sub-problems still require manual solutions. This thesis describes an attempt to create a tool that harnesses many smaller tools to automate a fully closed-loop decision-making process to design, build, and test synthetic biology networks and use the outcomes to inform redesigns. This tool, called Phoenix, inputs a performance-constrained signal-temporal-logic (STL) equation and an abstract genetic-element structural description to specify a design and then returns iterative sets of building and testing instructions. The user executes the instructions and returns the data to Phoenix, which then processes it and uses it to parameterize models for simulation of the behavior of compositional designs. A model-checking algorithm then evaluates these simulations, and returns to the user a new set of instructions for building and testing the next set of constructs. In cases where experimental results disagree with simulations, Phoenix uses grammars to determine where likely points of design failure might have occurred and instructs the building and testing of an intermediate composition to test where failures occurred. A design tree represents the design hierarchy displayed in the user interface where progress can be tracked and electronic datasheets generated to review results. Users can validate the computations performed by Phoenix by using them to create sets of classic and novel temporal synthetic genetic regulatory functions in E. coli. / 2016-12-31T00:00:00Z

The co-abuse of alcohol and marijuana is widespread, although the mechanisms underlying this behavior are unclear. There is some evidence of a relationship between the neural processes that mediate the effects of ethanol and marijuana. For example, research has shown that exposure to marijuana increases responding for, and intake of, ethanol. The alcohol deprivation effect is an anima l model of alcoholism that suggests that the reinforcing efficacy of ethanol, as measured by intake, increases following a period of deprivation. Recent research indicates that rats chronically exposed to marijuana during periods of alcohol deprivation consume ethanol above and beyond deprivation alone. It is unclear, however, whether the marijuana exposure or the repeated deprivations increased motivation to consume ethanol. In the present experiment, rats were trained to self-administer ethanol on a progressive ratio schedule and subjected to two separate periods of deprivation during which either drug or saline was chronically administered for 7 days. Breakpoint (i.e., last ratio completed) was recorded as a measure of the reinforcing efficacy of ethanol. Following deprivations, breakpoint was initially lower than baseline, regardless of whether the drug or saline was administered. Breakpoint recovered to, but did not exceed, baseline levels following both deprivations, indicating a lack of increased reinforcing efficacy of ethanol after repeated deprivation or chronic exposure to marijuana. The lack of an expression of an alcohol deprivation effect following deprivation may have been due to the length and number of deprivations employed. Furthermore, lowered breakpoint recorded following chronic drug administration during deprivation may have been due to the dose administered or stress generated by chronic injections . Further investigation is necessary to separate and clarify the variables responsible for the present results.

The most efficient and stereoselective total synthesis of (+/-) lausbine II to date has been achieved. The key steps in this are the copper-mediated conjugate addition reaction of the Grignard reagent of 1-bromo-4-chlorobutane to a dihydropyridone and a stereoselective reduction of a quinolizidinone. Methodology has been developed for the convenient synthesis of 1-acyl-2-substituted-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines. This was accomplished by adding novel alkylzinc iodides to the 1-acyliminium ion derived from Nphenoxycarbonyl-4-methoxy-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyridine.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Clinical studies on composite resins in Class II Resotrations place in adults indicate that wear is the predominant problem. However, little has been published on the use of composites for such restorations in primary teeth. The purpose of this study was to compare amalgam to composite resins in such restorations. Two composite resins (Adaptic and Radio-opaque Adaptic) served as the Experiemental material and amalgam, (Dispersalloy) was the control . One operator placed 57 sets, one restoration of each of the three materials per set, in 50 patients at the Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. Evaluations were made at baseline, six months, one year, two years, and three years using the Ryge-USPHS criteria and by means of casts poured from elastomeric impressions. Results of the Ryge-USPHS criteria indicated no wear or color change of the composites after two years (p=N.S.). However, of the 49 sets that returned at one year, two composites had caries around the restoration. This particular observation was monitored at the three-year time interval and found not to increase around any other composite restorations. Composite restorations in posterior primary teeth compared equally to amalgam (Dispersalloy) for the first two years of the project. The loss of anatomic form was significant after three years (p=.05).

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