APEX Presentations
March 1, 2005
The Treatment of Migraine Headaches Utilizing the Grostic Chiropractic Technique
Name: Jessica Eckman
Major: Biology
Academic & APEX Advisor: Dr. Matthew Hils
Location: Lewis Family Chiropractic
Dr. Sam Lewis
Doctor of Chiropractic
9304 S.R. 43, Aurora, OH, 44241
330.422.1551
www.onehealthyspine.com
Migraine headaches are considered a disorder of the central nervous system. They are caused by abnormal dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the occipital and temporal regions of the cranium or by referred pain from the neck. Once a migraine headache is diagnosed by a physician, medication is usually prescribed to alleviate pain and to reduce the frequency in number of attacks. This method of treatment only masks the symptoms of these maladies. The chiropractic approach to treating migraines is to find the source causing them and to correct it. Most of these headaches are caused by misalignments of the occipito-atlantoaxial vertebral region of the upper cervical spine. These subluxations can be caused by any means of stresses or trauma to the neck throughout a person’s lifetime. The subluxations can be corrected by utilizing a chiropractic technique known as the Grostic procedure; this manipulation focuses on the adjustment of the atlas, the first vertebra in the spine. When it is properly aligned pressure is released from the brain stem and a normal flow of the vascular and nervous systems into and out of the head and neck returns. This returned flow leads to the resolution of migraine headaches.
Upregulation of a Protein Phosphatase Suppresses Oncogenic Proteins Leukemogenic Nature in Blast Crisis Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
Name: Justin Kahn
Major: Biology
Academic & APEX Advisor: Dr. Dennis Taylor
Location: Ohio State University’s Oncology Research Facilities
Danilo Perrotti PhD, MD
Assistant Professor of Microbiology Immunology and Medical Genetics
2001 Polaris Parkway, Columbus, OH 43240
614.293.5739
perrotti-1@medctr.osu.edu
Source of Funding: NIH-NCI,
Dept Of The Army,
Internal OSU CCC
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia is a result of a chromosome translocation in hematopoietic stem cells that produces an oncogenic protein with tyrosine kinase activity. This protein phosphorylates other proteins of the stem cell signaling proliferation, increased survival and altered differentiation. It has been recently discovered that this oncogenic protein enhances expression of an inhibitor in cells of a tumor suppressing protein phosphatase. As the disease progresses this inhibitor is enhanced even further. Therefore, we tested the effect of up-regulating the tumor suppressing protein phosphatase. We conducted experiments initially in vitro with affected human cell lines by direct application of the protein phosphatase and in vivo with affected mice treated pharmacologically to up-regulate the protein phosphatase. We found that the tumor suppressing protein phosphatase is capable of dephosphorylating growth regulators for proliferation and survival, as well as dephosphorylation of the oncogenic protein. In addition, protein phosphatase activation leads to growth suppression, apoptosis, restored differentiation and impaired clonogenic potential. These results support the hypotheses that the oncogenic protein’s suppression of the protein phosphatase is critical for the development of the terminal phases of CML and that perhaps this protein could be used in a novel way to treat the disease.
Initiation of a Wildlife Rehabilitation Program at the James H. Barrow Field Station
Name: Laura A. Grover
Major: Biology and Psychobiology
Academic & APEX Advisor: Dr. Kimberley Phillips
Location: James H. Barrow Field Station
Janice Mock
Director of Operations and Animal Programs
11305 Wheeler Rd, Garrettsville, OH 44231
(330) 527-2141
MockJL@Hiram.edu
Source of Funding: Congressionally Directed Grant from the Department of Education to develop animal display and rehabilitation programs.
Currently, several animal programs are being initiated at the James H. Barrow Field Station, the first of which is wildlife rehabilitation. With the aid of the Lake County Metro Parks Wildlife Center at Penitentiary Glen, the program was officially approved in March 2004, and was established last summer. Penitentiary Glen will provide all of the animals and will supplement the Field Station’s equipment needs until the proper permits and equipment can be acquired. I will discuss several aspects of wildlife rehabilitation, including necessary protocols and requirements, background information, and controversial issues surrounding a novel wildlife program. I will also share a few of the animal cases I encountered during the internship.
Characterization of Paralogous Gene Clusters in the Aster Yellows isolate Witches’ Broom (AY-WB) Phytoplasma
Name: Adam Ewing
Major: Biology / Computer Science
Academic Advisor: Dr. Brad Goodner and Dr. Ellen Walker
APEX Advisor: Dr. Brad Goodner
Location: OSU OARDC
Dr. Saskia A. Hogenhout
Assistant Professor of Entomology
120 Thorne Hall
The Ohio State University-OARDC
1680 Madison Avenue
Wooster, OH 44691
330.263.3730
hogenhout.1@osu.edu
Source of Funding: Funded by the US Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, award number 2002-35600-12752.
Phytoplasmas are gram-positive bacteria belonging to the Class Mollicutes. They are extremely small (on the order of 0.3 to 0.5µm), lack a cell wall, and have small genomes with low G-C content. The sequence of AY-WB, a plant pathogen with an insect host vector, was recently completed by a consortium including The Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). The sequence is 723,970 bp in length containing one chromosome and four plasmids. Annotation of the putative coding regions uncovered three distinct putative gene clusters with multiple paralogs of each cluster elsewhere in the genome including on two of the plasmids. These regions were named RepA, FtsH, and Thymidylate kinase α (TMK- α) regions based on representative putative genes within the clusters. While the exact function of these regions is unknown, the RepA and ftsH regions are thought to be involved in the pathogenicity of AY-WB to the plant host
Induction of Nonribosomal Peptide/Polyketide Biosynthesis Gene Cluster in Agrobacterium tumefaciens by Plant Compounds.
Name: Daniel Ondrusek
Major: Biology
Academic Advisor: Dr. Matthew Hils
APEX Advisor: Dr. Brad Goodner
Location: Hiram College
Dr. Brad Goodner
Professor
Hiram College, Hiram, OH 44234
330.569.5260
goodnerbw@hiram.edu
Source of Funding: Howard Hughes Medical School Year Stipend
The soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 is of great interest for its unique form of plant pathogenicity. Therefore, when a plant induced gene cluster is found, the mechanism of induction and identification of inducer molecule(s) are important questions. The identification of a large gene cluster in A. tumefaciens that encodes a hybrid nonribosomal peptide/polyketide biosynthetic pathway had been previously noted (Goodner et al, 2001). A lacZ fusion was created to measure the induction of a specific gene within the operon. AGR_L_2329 expression was monitored under a variety of conditions and an aqueous radish seed extract showed consistent induction. Unfortunately, with these 100-150X fold inductions, the radish seed extract also inhibited bacterial growth. Subsequent identification of the inhibitor molecule followed—a sulforaphane derivative—sulforaphene. Identification of the inducer molecule has been a more difficult task. The molecule is extremely labile and its induction can be completely lost overnight. The mode of induction is quick—peak induction is found within 4 hours. Recent findings by researchers at University of Wisconsin indicate that iron limiting conditions cause a 3-4X fold induction of the operon; however, enrichment of radish seed
Fighting the Good Fight: Examining the Use of Antibodies as Non-Cytotoxic Chemotherapy
Name: Sarah Zilka
Major: Biology/Biochemistry
Academic Advisors: Dr. Dennis Taylor and Dr. Prudence Hall
APEX Advisor: Dr. Prudence Hall
Location: Cleveland Clinic Foundation Lerner Research Institute Department of Cancer Biology
Dr. Joseph DiDonato PhD
Primary Investigator NB4-30
9500 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44195
216.444.8178
didonaj@ccf.org
Currently most chemotherapy reagents are extremely cytotoxic to all dividing cells causing patients undergoing chemotherapy to experience a plethora of side effects. Normal chemotherapy side effects range from nausea and vomiting to anemia and immunodeficiency. In an effort to reduce cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy drugs cancer biologists have been examining the use of specific biological molecules such as vitamins and antibodies encoded in lenti-virus vectors in order to reduce the cytotoxic nature of chemotherapy. As many cancers over-express or over-activate various genes, antibodies capable of blocking the action of specific over-expressed or overactivated proteins may be a more specific chemotherapeutic reagent with cytotoxicity limited to tumor cells. Using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) various monoclonal single chain phagosomally derived antibodies were tested for their binding capablilty to various proteins involved in activating the NFκB antiapoptotic pathway. Antibodies which showed sufficient binding in the ELISA assay for one of the selected antigens were tested for efficacy and uses through western blots and immuno-precipitations. Epitopes were determined through western blots of libraries of the antigens. Bacteriophage DNA was isolated to determine antibody binding sequences. NFκB, IκBα, IκBβ, MAL, TRAM, TLR’s 1-10, MyD88, and TRiF all have at least one determined specific single chain antibody. Research is currently determining single chain antibody efficacy when encoded in lenti-virus vector.
Significance of body proportions in the transition to dorsoventral undulatory modes of swimming in archaeocete whales
Name:Amy Maas
Major: Biology
Academic & APEX Advisor: Dr. Sandy Madar
Location: Hiram College
Dr. Sandy Madar
Associate Professor of Biology
Gerstacker 214, Hiram College
330.569.5261
MadarSI@Hiram.edu
We expand upon the efforts of P.D. Gingerich (Paleobiology, 2003) to examine skeletal proportions and locomotor modes of modern semi-aquatic mammals, as a means of understanding locomotion in early whales. Utilizing the same taxonomic sample of modern semi-aquatic mammals as Gingerich, we have been able to expand the morphological scope of the data set to include eight additional metrics from the neck, sacrum and tail, using newly described fossil material from several archaeocete families. As modern cetacean locomotion is powered by muscular forces generated by the lumbar and caudal spinal segments, we seek to test the assertion that there were two stages in evolutionary transition to oscillatory swimming modes in early whales: hindlimb followed by tail domination. Newly described axial skeletal material from several early whale taxa permits this effort. Like Gingerich, we make use of a Principal Components Analysis to examine 22 linear postcranial measurements from 52 taxa. We have included the more primitive Eocene artiodactyl Diacodexis in addition to the anthracothere Elomeryx, and added Pakicetus to the original archaeocete sample that previously included Ambulocetus, Rodhocetus and Dorudon. Results emphasizing the long lumbus and tail vertebrae in early whales and modern dorsoventral undulators suggests that a specific stage of hindlimb dominance did not occur in early cetaceans.