Tailocins are antibacterial proteins produced by some bacteria to kill closely related bacterial strains. In nature, this benefits the microbe by offering a way for them to control the bacterial composition of their environments. However, in a lab setting, researchers can use these tailocins to treat against unwanted bacteria. The purpose of this research project …
Background The Nelder-Mead algorithm is used to find the smallest value of a function. The algorithm first evaluates the function at a set of points, called the simplex. Then the algorithm replaces the worst point with a new point generated via a geometric reflection of the worst point through the simplex. The most basic movement …
An effective virus must successfully attach to a receptor on a host cell and inject its genetic material into the cell so that new viruses can be produced. Its ability to infect the host cell is highly dependent on both the binding capability of its capsid proteins as well their ability to modify their conformation …
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability characterized by sensory and communication deficits. Recently, diagnosis of ASD has increased, and it is now estimated to affect 1 in 68 children. The symptoms of autism begin to appear during the first three years of life, which coincides with the development of learning ability and a …
Abstract The distribution of vector-borne diseases such as Zika virus continues to expand, leading to epidemics across a variety of geographical locations, but monitoring the spread of these diseases for public health purposes is made difficult by a lack of instrumentation. With the assay we are developing and testing, there is no need for special …
Observations of exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system, have exploded in the last 20 years, to the point where we know now of thousands of exoplanet systems. One of the great mysteries to come out of these discoveries has been the great diversity in types of planetary systems seen. Up until we started discovering …
The Galápagos Islands are home to many diverse species, but not all have diverged as extensively as Darwin’s finches. What could be preventing diversification in the Succinea land snails?
The initial discovery We are investigating the potential of protein toxins naturally produced by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Brewer’s/Baker’s yeast) to inhibit the growth of the human pathogen Candida glabrata. These toxin producers are known as killer yeasts to those who study them. We have tested over 15,0000 interactions between our killer yeasts and 130 isolates of …
