College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Colloquium
February 22, 2009
PAD 308
2:30 Refreshments
3:00 Mary Craig (Biomedical Sciences) “The Engineering of Plant-Based Bioscaffolds
for Bone Graft Purposes.”
At first glance at cross-sections through wood and long bone one might think they have
little in common. However, they both enlarge in girth by the laying down of growth rings
and equally so, any force or load that is placed on the organism is transmitted through
these rings, and their constituent fibrils. It is truly a marvel how the plant kingdom and
animal kingdom share this common “skeleton” / structural hierarchy. An international and
interdisciplinary collaboration was proposed to study the evolution and development of
these two load-bearing systems between myself (a biomedical engineer), and Dr. Mike
Jarvis (a wood cellulose specialist) and Dr. Anwesha Fernandes (a nanoparticle
physicist) both of the WESTChem Environmental Chemistry Laboratories at the
University of Glasgow. This study has taken on clinical implications as an article was
found that attests to a wood penetrating injury which healed with no complications;
rejection as a foreign tissue. Preliminary experiments with promising results were
performed in August 2008. We are now poised to perform a detailed comparative
quantification and characterization of wood cellulose and bone collagen with a view
toward engineering “natural” scaffolds for cell seeding and bone graft purposes. We
believe “natural” scaffolds and implants have the potential to outperform other materials
(ceramic, glass, and metal) currently in use as they are likely to be more biocompatible
having similar anisotropy (different properties along different axes), water retention
properties, and interface biophysics characteristics.
3:20 Shannon Biros (Chemistry) “Molecular Recognition in Water: The Influence of
Hydration and Hydrophobicity.”
The synthesis and characterization of a molecular receptor that forms kinetically stable
host-guest complexes in water will be described. This cavitand-based host is composed
of a pre-organized aromatic pocket whose rim is decorated with four negatively charged
carboxylate groups. 1H NMR has been used to characterize the behavior of the resulting
complexes in response to changes in pH, buffer identity, salt concentration and in the
presence of SDS micelles. This cavitand has also been employed as a reverse phasetransfer catalyst to carry out the biphasic Michael addition of a water-soluble thiol to a
series of hydrophobic maleimides.
3:40 Andrew Spear (Philosophy) “Information Ontology: At the Intersection of
Philosophy, Computer Science and the Biomedical Sciences.”
Ontology, the philosophical study of existence and of the categories of being, has
recently found new application as a tool in the attempt to create logically structured,
reusable and integratable computer representations of information, especially in the
biological and medical sciences. The talk will be a brief overview of philosophical
ontology and of its role and relevance in the
interdisciplinary field of information ontology.
4:00 Osman Patel (Biology) “The physiological price of a visit to International Space
Station.”
Prolactin (PRL) is a protein hormone that is predominantly synthesized and secreted by
the pituitary gland. It is linked to a multitude of biological functions in vertebrates
including metabolism. The PRL pleiotropic effects are mediated by membrane-anchored
receptors (PRLR) which have multiple forms. The principal transducers of PRL are the
long form (PRLR-L) and the short form (PRLR-S) of receptors. Chronic centrifugation
studies in the last decade have shown diverse effects of altered gravity on mammalian
metabolism, reproduction and mammary gland development. Perturbations in PRL
concentration has been suggested as a trigger for the above biological effects linked to
altered gravity. However, our recent study revealed that supplementation with PRL did
not abrogate the altered gravity induced physiological defects. These results led us to
hypothesize that downregulation of PRLR in periparturient (period close to birth) dams
exposed to altered gravity precipitate the aberrant phenotype. Therefore, our objective
was to compare the distribution pattern of PRLR-L and PRLR-S transcripts in key
metabolic (adipose, liver, mammary) tissues and pituitary gland of stationary control and
hypergravity exposed periparturient rats. (Supported by NASA NNA05CP91A).