Liver transplantation remains the standard of care for liver failure but is constrained by a shortage of organs. Fetal hepatic cell transplantation (HCT) offers a …
Immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) show great promise as more efficacious treatments for various cancers compared to current methods like chemotherapy. However, preclinical …
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms, and forces, underlying cell migration holds the promise of effective approaches for treating diseases and promoting cellular transplantation. One such disease …
Just as the phenotypically different cells that make up multicellular organisms are distributed in tissues with structures that embody specific functions, microbial cells with different …
Background: Chronic alcoholic liver disease is associated with hepatic insulin resistance, inflammation, oxidative and ER stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and DNA damage. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor …
The work in this dissertation develops two different biomaterial approaches towards advancing our understanding of how neural cell behavior, specifically migration and proliferation, can respond …
Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace metal but is toxic in excess. Mn excess typically manifests as a Parkinson’s-like disorder known as manganism. Therefore, levels …
The therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) lies mainly in their immunomodulatory activity, which can be used to effect overall changes in the body’s …
The pulmonary vascular system facilitates the movement of deoxygenated blood away from the right ventricle of the heart, through the lungs and oxygenated blood from …
Candida albicans causes the majority of invasive candidiasis in immunocompromised adults while Candida parapsilosis is a leading cause of neonatal candidiasis. While considerable study has …
Neutrophils are critical to the innate immune system's defense against pathogen invasion. In response to insult, neutrophils are recruited in large quantities to employ their …
The etiologies for adverse pregnancy outcomes such as recurrent spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia, preterm birth and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are multi-factorial and remain poorly understood. …
The studies presented in this thesis investigated innate immune events in the liver during acute infection with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). While many responses that occur …
The Src homology 2 (SH2) domain-containing inositol-5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP-1) plays a critical role in regulating the phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) signaling pathway. PI3Ks are important for …
The mechanical interaction of neutrophils with the extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential in regulating neutrophil migration to sites of inflammation, a process known as chemotaxis. …
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Chronic …
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. The five-year survival rate of women diagnosed with stage IV high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer …
The mechanisms by which steatohepatitis in alcoholic (ALD) or non-alcoholic (NAFLD) fatty liver disease becomes progressive and advances to stages of fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver …