Date of Award

Spring 5-4-2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department/Major

Basic Biomedical Science

First Advisor

Dr. William C.W. Chen

Second Advisor

Dr. Luye Qin

Third Advisor

Beate Wone

Keywords

ischemic stroke, inflammation, oxidation, synthetic biomarker system, genetic sensor

Subject Categories

Medical Molecular Biology

Abstract

Stroke, particularly Ischemic Stroke (IS) affects millions of individuals across the world each year . Current diagnostic methods like CT scans and MRI imaging have limitations in detecting minor IS due to the limited spatial resolution of the CT scan and the feasibility and access to MRIs warranting a more effective method of early detection. Natural biomarkers are currently ineffective in detecting IS prior to severe damage like rapid cell death (32,000 cells/sec) post arterial blockage because there is minimal amount of natural biomarkers expressed from minor cellular damage . Our proposed Synthetic Biomarker System (SBS) would solve this by enabling rapid self-tests at home so that IS patients can seek timely medical attention. The SBS consists of 2 genetic sensors—WCbp16 and WCbp39—to detect IS-induced inflammatory and oxidative cellular stress within BEND3 mouse endothelial cells. We hypothesize that once our SBS is delivered into brain cells, will be able to detect IS-induced inflammation and oxidation at differing severities. We examined the reporter expression via Green Fluorescence Protein signaling and found a correlation between IS induced cellular damage and the amount of reporter expression. Future experiment is warranted to better understand the sensitivity of the SBS.

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