A yearly breast contrast-MR scan is recommended to high-risk women because of MR's high sensitivity to breast tumors. However, breast contrast-MR yields a high number of false positives that lead to expensive and sometimes unnecessary biopsy...
Continual improvements to clinical breast imaging technologies have led to ever earlier detections and increasingly accurate localizations of female breast cancers. While these advancements have certainly improved the prognoses of many patients,...
Magnetic nanoparticle-based hyperthermia for cancer treatment is a promising technology, particularly when applied as part of an adjuvant strategy with established cancer therapies (chemotherapy, radiation and surgery). In Europe, early clinical...
Estradiol is a key regulator of immune protection in the female reproductive tract (FRT). Its concentration varies during the menstrual cycle, leading to changes in innate immune protection. In this thesis, I demonstrate the multiple levels at...
Accurate chromosome segregation in human oocytes requires that meiotic sister chromatid cohesion remain intact for decades and work in model organisms indicates that deterioration of meiotic cohesion over time may be a major determinant of...
Many protocols for adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) include preparative conditioning strategies to deplete host lymphocytes prior to T cell infusion. Total body irradiation and high-dose chemotherapy regimens not only relieve immunosuppression, but...
The purpose of this thesis is to describe methods for detecting hidden crevasses on glaciers in Polar regions. Crevasses form in ice sheets as a result of forces imposed upon the brittle ice. The crevasses are hidden from view by bridges of soft...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of acquired disability in children, yet innate repair mechanisms are incompletely understood. A possible innate mechanism to repair injury after insult is neurogenesis - the birth, migration,...
Many organisms recognize and respond to categories: predator, prey, rival, or juvenile. Organisms recognize these ecologically-important categories by assessing diverse sensory stimuli. A primary focus of my research has been understanding how...
Si/SiGe quantum dots (QDs) are promising candidates for spin-based quantum bits (qubits) as a result of the reduced spin-orbit coupling as well as the Si isotopes with zero nuclear spin. Meanwhile qubit readout is a challenge related to...
Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their associated cyclins are key regulators of cell cycle progression. Caenorhabditis elegans has two predicted A- type cyclins, encoded by the genes cya-1 and cya-2. Cyclin A has been shown to be required for...
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are susceptible to respiratory tract infections at an early age; with the most frequent initial isolate being the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Subsequently, these patients become chronically...
The processes affecting gas transport through the firn column are important to understand in order to accurately interpret climate records from ice cores. Historically, density measurements have been used to estimate open and closed porosity in the...
Prion diseases are progressive disorders that affect the central nervous system leading to memory loss, personality changes, ataxia and neurodegeneration. In humans, these disorders include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru and...
Fluorescence molecular imaging will have an important clinical impact in the area of guided oncology surgery, where emerging technologies are poised to provide the surgeon with real-time molecular information to guide resection, using targeted...
Loss of vascular smooth muscle cell function is a hallmark of vascular disease. Vascular smooth muscle cells become increasingly resistant to phenotypic modulation, apoptotic and senescent. Sirtuin 1 (SirT1) is a deactylase that regulates...
Leukemia represents a small percentage of human cancer, accounting for about 5% of all cases of cancer in adults, but, interestingly, for about 50% of all cases of cancer in children. The behavior of leukemia is often regulated by the chromosomal...
Annual screening mammograms are recommended for all women above 40 years of age for early detection of breast cancer, and are known to improve cancer mortality rates. However, mammography is hampered by low sensitivity and a high rate of false...
Studies presented in this dissertation focus on the transcriptional targets and cellular functions of [Delta]Np63[alpha], the predominant TP63 isoform expressed in epithelial stem cell compartments. TP63, a member of the p53 family of...
Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) remains the most common bearing material for total joint arthroplasty. Advances in radiation cross-linking and other post-consolidation treatments have led to a rapid differentiation of polyethylene...
Casimir effect. Zero-point field. Electric conductivity. Quantum electrodynamics.
The Casimir force arises from an alteration of boundary condition in vacuum and is often regarded as a manifestation of quantum zero point energy. Considerable progress has been made in the last decade with an impressive achievement of experimental...
Epilepsy is associated with cognitive impairments which often manifest as a higher prevalence of memory impairments. Memory impairments in patients with epilepsy may persist even with sufficient control of seizures, suggesting other factors may...
Despite the array of targeted therapeutics that currently exist to combat breast cancer, disease progression leading to metastasis, and tumor recurrence still remains a significant clinical challenge. Efforts to identify novel pathways and...
The need for social connection is a pervasive and powerful human drive. When this fundamental need is not fulfilled, people place greater emphasis on forming social bonds and are motivated to behave in ways consistent with accomplishing these...
Nerve growth factor (NGF), the prototypic neurotrophin, is well characterized for its pro-survival and growth effects in sympathetic and sensory neurons. Acting as a target-derived factor, NGF regulates the maturation of innervating neurons, and...
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is a major positive regulator of the PI3K signaling pathway that regulates many important cellular functions including growth, proliferation, survival, metabolism, and angiogenesis. The PIK3CA gene, encoding the...
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is responding sensitively to climate change and its meltwater has the potential to influence global sea level. Recently, large changes in the GrIS have occurred including increased velocities of outlet glaciers and...
The auroral zone is a rich source of natural radio emissions that can be observed in space and at ground-level. By studying these waves, scientists can gain insight into the plasma processes that generate them and use the near-Earth space...
The coordination and coupling of the several steps in mRNA biogenesis helps to ensure proper regulation of gene expression. The DEAD-box helicase Dbp5/Rat8 is an essential mRNA export factor that has also been implicated in other steps of mRNA...
Despite the recent FDA approval of the potentiator drug Kalydeco for treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF), only a small (3-5%) portion of patients benefit from this drug. Other functional classes of drugs including correctors are under clinical...
It has been well established that physical exercise has broad impacts across the lifespan, including improved cognition, brain function, and mental health. Studies investigating the mechanism underlying the cognitive enhancing effect of exercise...
A fundamental question in decision neuroscience is how cognitive processes underlying decision-making give rise to efficient decisions, especially in complex situations with multiple choice options, and each option consisting of multiple attributes...
Molecular imaging of cancer features is a critical part of advancing better tools for oncology management and drug discovery, yet it is still evolving as a useful tool. Diffuse Fluorescence Tomography (FT) is one approach to molecular imaging, used...
In the nervous system, neuronal communication relies critically on the function of membrane ion channels. One of these is the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC), which is essential for the generation and propagation of action potentials in...
Candida albicans is a fungal species that naturally exists as a commensal member of the human microbiota, but can assume a pathogenic lifestyle and subsequently induce life-threatening systemic infections. The ability of the fungus to grow in...
Visual searches for a conjunction of features (e.g., a particular combination of color and shape) are ordinarily slow and difficult. However, search efficiency for a particular conjunction can improve dramatically within a few hundred practice...
From deciding what to eat first or what stock to invest in, the order in which we prefer to experience events and the amount of risk we are willing to undertake are factors that influence our choices. However, the mechanisms underlying order and...