Global ETD Search

11	Towards a Formal Total Synthesis of Triptolide Via a Gold-catalyzed Cyclization Cascade Schwantje, Travis R. January 2013 (has links) This thesis discusses the progress made towards a formal total synthesis of triptolide, a naturally occurring diterpenoid triepoxide molecule. Isolated from a Chinese vine, triptolide features some interesting structural characteristics and has demonstrated a broad range of interesting medicinal effects. It has demonstrated remarkable cytotoxicity against a number of cancer cell lines, immunosuppressive activity, and reversible male sterility. This biological activity has made it a target of a number of total syntheses spanning from 1980 to 2010. Gold-catalyzed transformations are an emerging field in synthetic organic chemistry, but their efficacy and potential uses are gaining much recognition among the synthetic organic community. Our research group is extremely interested in the applications of such gold-catalyzed organic transformations in natural product synthesis. Here, we discuss our investigations towards accessing the tetracyclic core of triptolide using a gold-catalyzed cyclization cascade reaction. We explored a number of synthetic routes towards a common linear precursor, and our successes and failures are discussed herein. We also report numerous unsuccessful efforts towards an oxidative gold-catalyzed cyclization cascade to form the tetracyclic core of triptolide. Finally, we investigated the use of a photocatalytic radical cyclization cascade to access the desired core. We report some promising preliminary results, and this study is ongoing in the Barriault group. Chemistry organic synthesis triptolide tripterygium wilfordii total synthesis gold catalysis cyclization thunder god vine natural product terpenoid gold
12	Mixture Design Response Surface Methodology Analysis of Seven Natural Bioactive Compounds to Treat Prostate Cancer Berlin, Ian Geddes 15 December 2021 (has links) Natural bioactive compounds have drawn the interest of many researchers worldwide in their effort to find novel treatments, including prostate cancer (PC) treatment which is estimated to be 13.1% of all new cancer cases in the U.S. in 2021. Many of these bioactive compounds have been identified from treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), that often have multiple bioactive compounds present. However, in vitro studies frequently focus on the compounds in isolation, or in simple combinations of two compounds. We used mixture design response surface methodology (MDRSM) to assess changes in PC cell viability after 48 hours of treatment to identify the optimal mixture of all 35 three-compound combinations of seven bioactive compounds from TCM. We used Berberine, Wogonin, Shikonin, Curcumin, Triptolide, Emodin, and Silybin to treat PC-3, DU145, and LNCaP human PC cells, and a drug-resistant PC-3 cell line. Berberine and Wogonin most frequently contributed to the optimal combination to reduce cell viability in PC-3 and LNCaP cells; DU145 cells more frequently responded best to a single compound. prostate cancer berberine wogonin shikonin curcumin triptolide emodin silybin traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Life Sciences
13	Building the Interphase Nucleus: A study on the kinetics of 3D chromosome formation, temporal relation to active transcription, and the role of nuclear RNAs Abramo, Kristin N. 28 July 2020 (has links) Following the discovery of the one-dimensional sequence of human DNA, much focus has been directed on microscopy and molecular techniques to learn about the spatial organization of chromatin in a 3D cell. The development of these powerful tools has enabled high-resolution, genome-wide analysis of chromosome structure under many different conditions. In this thesis, I focus on how the organization of interphase chromatin is established and maintained following mitosis. Mitotic chromosomes are folded into helical loop arrays creating short and condensed chromosomes, while interphase chromosomes are decondensed and folded into a number of structures at different length scales ranging from loops between CTCF sites, enhancers and promoters to topologically associating domains (TADs), and larger compartments. While the chromatin organization at these two very different states is well defined, the transition from a mitotic to interphase chromatin state is not well understood. The aim of this thesis is to determine how interphase chromatin is organized following mitotic chromosome decondensation and to interrogate factors potentially responsible for driving the transition. First, I determine the temporal order with which CTCF-loops, TADs, and compartments reform as cells exit mitosis, revealing a unique structure at the anaphase-telophase transition never observed before. Second, I test the role of transcription in reformation of 3D chromosome structure and show that active transcription is not required for the formation of most interphase chromatin features; instead, I propose that transcription relies on the proper formation of these structures. Finally, I show that RNA in the interphase nucleus can be degraded with only slight consequences on the overall chromatin organization, suggesting that once interphase chromatin structures are achieved, the structures are stable and RNA is only required to reduce the mixing of active and inactive compartments. Together, these studies further our understanding of how interphase structures form, how these structures relate to functional activities of the interphase cell, and the stability of chromatin structures over time. chromatin Hi-C transcription RNA telophase kinetics cell cycle mitosis interphase chromosome conformation capture CTCF condensin cohesin TAD topologically associated domain loop extrusion microphase separation NCAPH Rad21 NCAPH2 synchronization G1 entry triptolide DRB RNase A Bioinformatics Cell Biology Computational Biology Genomics Laboratory and Basic Science Research Molecular Biology Molecular Genetics Systems Biology

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