Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on Jan. 27, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Department of Physics, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-111). Also available on the Internet.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) hold the potential to revolutionize cardiac tissue engineering. Because of their ability to proliferate and differentiate into all cardiomyocyte subtypes they represent an opportunity to regenerate virtually any tissue lost from the over 1 million cardiac disease patients in the United States alone. Studies have shown, however, that hPSCs which are not terminally differentiated pose a variety of risks including teratoma formation and lack of appropriate cell engraftment. It is therefore important to ensure that only well characterized cardiac subtypes are implanted into patients or used for research purposes. Current differentiation protocols generate a mixture of cardiac subtypes, and research on cardiac subtype specification is hampered by the lack of a high throughput method to distinguish cardiac subtypes. This thesis establishes the ability to identify, enrich and characterize cardiac subtypes using MBs. This will provide a robust tool for clinical use of hPSCs in cardiac cell therapy and for analysis of differentiation protocol effects on cardiac subtype formation.

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Ribonuclease II (RNase II) is a bacterial enzyme responsible for 90% of the exonucleolytic degradation of mRNA in bacteria, and has bacterial homologues known to be involved in virulence. The goal of this project was to examine the structural dynamics of RNase II using fluorescence. Prior to the beginning of this project, little was known regarding the structural composition of RNase II – required information in the study of structural dynamics. Consequently, the structure of RNase II was studied by constructing a series of deletion mutants in order to map the domains. The publication of an atomic resolution structure of RNase II allowed the project to move directly into the study of RNase II structural dynamics as it degrades mRNA. As a step towards this, RNase II was fluorescently labeled, and preliminary binding studies of DNA – a competitive inhibitor – to RNase II using fluorescence were conducted. / xii, 90 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Chemistry

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

The regulatory enzyme 6-phosphofructo-l-kinase (PFK) controls the key, rate-limiting step in glycolysis. There are 3 known mammalian isoforms termed PFK-muscle (PFK-A), PFK-liver (PFK-B), and PFK-brain (PFK-C) that randomly aggregate to form active homo- and heterotetrameric isozymes with their respective frequencies and kinetic properties contingent upon the presence and concentration of individual subunits. This study utilized RT-PCR and densitometry analyses to characterize the expression patterns of the mRNA for each isoform during mouse preimplantation development. PFK-B is increasingly expressed across these stages with a significant increase in PFK-B transcript between 8-cell (0.425 ± 0.158) and morula (0.579 ± 0.197) stages (p < 0.0005). Neither PFK-A nor PFK-C mRNA was detected at any of the preimplantation stages tested. The statistically significant increase in PFK-B corresponded with the known juncture of the switch from the oxidation of maternally supplied pyruvate to a predominant glycolyticmetabolism. Such timing suggested the direct involvement of elevated PFK-B transcription with an increase in glycolysis. / Department of Biology

Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) turns out to be an increasingly important molecule in forensic analysis of biological samples. Because of the specific role of mRNA in all living cells to transfer genetic information from DNA to proteins, mRNA is able to provide cell-specific information and regulate control of gene expression. mRNA analysis performed on an extracted mRNA sample isolated from a biological stain of a crime scene can be used to identify the nature of the tissue(s) comprising the stain. In this research, the effects of a couple of mRNA storage conditions such as cold temperature and ultraviolet light exposure on mRNA integrity from human saliva have been evaluated. Human saliva samples have been sampled and exposed to UV light and freezing temperature (-20°C) for varying lengths of time. Extracted mRNA from each sample has been quantified spectrophotometrically and subjected to real time RT-PCR to evaluate stability and integrity of one of the saliva marker transcripts, KRT13 mRNA, of treated samples compared to untreated samples. The results of this study indicated that UV light and freezing temperature don’t have a significant effect on the integrity of KRT13 mRNA. There is also no apparent correlation between Ct values of treated samples and treating intervals. This research holds important implications for the use of mRNA for applications in forensic science, an area which has not been researched extensively. / Department of Biology