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General Information

Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement

FIU MBRS RISE MINI-SYMPOSIUM

was held October 4, 2008

9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Wertheim Conservatory (WC 130)

University Park Campus

Program 2008

9:00 am           Welcome
                        Charles H. Bigger, Ph.D., FIU MBRS Program Director

9:25 am           Analysis of the ribosomal RNA genes indicate diverse respiratory fungal infections in south Florida cystic fibrosis patients
                        Melissa Doud1***, Nabil Baker1, Michael Light2 Lisa Schneper1,3, and Kalai Mathee1,3
1Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Fl 33199; 2Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Fl 33136, 3Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Florida   International University, Miami, Fl 33199

9:40 am           Computer-assisted bacterial identification using 16S rRNA sequence data
                        Gisela Gonzalez* and Giri Narasimhan
Bioinformatics Research Group (BioRG), School of Computing and Information Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

9:55 am           Mapping a mutation responsible for nonmucoid reversion phenotype of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa
1Camila Ceballos*, 2Robert J. Smiddy, 2Robert T. Sautter, 3Marios Stylianou, 3Lisa Schneper, and 3Kalai Mathee
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing, 2Department of Biological Sciences, 3Department of Molecular Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199         

10:10 am         RNA synthesis and aging in the silk moth Bombyx mori
Rosa Rodriguez*, Rene J. Herrera, Sheyla Mirabal and Jason A. Somarelli
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

10:25 am         Refreshment Break

10:40 am         The role of U1 snRNA variants in the formation of non-canonical spliceosomes
                        Carol E. Rodriguez*, Rene J. Herrera, Jason A. Somarelli and Annia Mesa
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

10:55 am         Spectral and Visual studies of DN Diane Alvarez1***, Hao Shen2, Hongxing Xu2, Jiandi Zhang1. 1Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199. 2Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

11:10 am         Affect-object relations in infancy: The role of contingency perception
                        Mariana Vaillant-Molina*** and Lorraine Bahrick
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

11:25 am         The development of face perception from infancy to young childhood
Melissa A. Argumosa*** and Lorraine E. Bahrick
                        Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

11:40 am         Infants’ looking patterns towards social stimuli in the first six months of life
Barbara M. Sorondo***, Lorraine Bahrick, Irina Castellanos, James T. Todd, Mariana Vaillant-Molina and Melissa Shuman
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

11:55 am         The effects of educating attention to amodal properties on infants' eye tracking of speaking faces
                        Irina Castellanos*** and Lorraine E. Bahrick
                        Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

12:10 pm         LUNCH

1:15 pm           Cardiotoxicity assessment of chemotherapy agents and development of a fluorescent multiple indicator dilution technique to measure cardiac capillary permeability
Alicia Fernandez-Fernandez*** and Anthony J. McGoron
Biomedical Engineering Department, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

1:30 pm           Detection of modality-specific properties in unimodal and bimodal events
                        Jimena Vaillant** and Robert Lickliter
                        Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199 

1:45 pm           Interaction between the transcription factor, Sox10, and Endothelin receptor B in the melanocyte lineage
                        Marcy Lowenstein***, Lidia Kos, Denisse Diaz
                        Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33139

2:00 pm         Ednrb expression pattern and role in the developing murine brain and spinal cord
                        Amy Saldana Tavares*** and Lidia Kos
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

2:15 pm           MPL1 is essential for proper ERK2 phosphorylation and cell motility
Marbelys Rodriguez***, Bohye Kim, Nam-Sihk Lee, Sudhakar Veeranki and Leung Kim
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199

2:30 pm           Refreshment Break

2:45 pm           Estrogen and lithium alter NMDAR subunit NR1 mRNA and cell viability in cortical and hippocampal brain cell cultures
James J. Valdes*** and Ophelia I. Weeks
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199

3:00 pm           The effects of mTOR-driven ER stress on cell survival
                        Vanessa A. Scagliati*, Brendan D. Manning, and Katrin Duevel.
                        Department of Biological Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health

3:15 pm           Determination of arsenic species in grape-based beverages
                        Leilani M. Chirino*, Tielian Xu and Kevin O’Shea
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199

3:30 pm           Synthesis of 3'-azido-3'deoxyadenosine
                        Jessica Zayas*, Stanislaw Wnuk, Thao Dang
                        Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Florida International                                            University, Miami, Florida 33199     

3:45 pm           The effects of endothelin on cardiac Purkinje fiber development
            Natasha Fernandez and Lidia Kos
            Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University,
            Miami, Florida 33199

4:00 pm           Closing Remarks      
                        Charles H. Bigger, Ph.D., FIU MBRS RISE Program Director
           

* FIU MBRS RISE Undergraduate Fellow
**FIU MBRS RISE Master's Fellow
***FIU MBRS RISE Ph.D. Fellow

Abstracts

Eligibility
Prospective student presenters must satisfy the following criteria:

• Must be a member of either MBRS RISE or MBRS SCORE programs.

General Rules and Guidelines
The following rules and guidelines must be reviewed prior to submitting an abstract to the symposium:

• The ONLY METHOD of submitting an abstract is via E-mail.  Paper submissions will not be accepted.  Abstract must be sent to MBRS at mbrs@fiu.edu.
• All submissions must be received by September 22, 2008. Late submissions will not be accepted.
• ONLY STUDENTS can be presenting authors.
• At least two authors must be listed in the author block in the following order:      1st: student presenting author; research mentor, and any additional authors may also be included (e.g., coauthors).

Content of Abstract
All abstract submissions are reviewed according to the criteria outlined below.  Your abstract should be informative, containing the following in specific order:

• A short, specific title followed by the list of all authors.
• A sentence statement of the paper’s hypothesis or proposition.
• A brief synopsis of the content, or statement of the methods, whichever is pertinent.
• A summary of the results obtained, if applicable.
• A general statement of conclusion, if possible.
• A maximum of one full page (approximately 700 words) in length. 
• A brief statement of what impact the presentation or research findings will have on the Biomedical Sciences and/or humanity.
• Abstracts should not be written in the first person.
• Acknowledgement to respective program (MBRS RISE, MBRS SCORE, etc).  For example, for RISE state: A.L. supported by NIH/NIGMS R25 GM061347 (use your initials).

Format of Abstract

Your abstract must be written in complete sentences and abbreviations should be avoided as much as possible.  The abstract should present to the reader a comprehensive gist of your study.  If references are used in the abstract they must include the author(s), journal title, volume number, page span, and year.  Submit your abstract in the format following the instructions provided below:

• The title, names of authors and addresses must be stated.  Indicate with an asterisk (*) who will be presenting.
• Type abstract single spaced, 11 point type size, Arial font.
• Sample abstract is shown below:

Sample Abstract

Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ampG involved in β-lactamase expression

            Kok-Fai Kong*, Kalai Mathee, Suriya Ravi Jayawardena, Josh Bushwacker  Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199.

            Background/Specific Aim: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an ubiquitous Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen, is strongly associated with the morbidity and mortality among patients with cystic fibrosis.  This is due to the development of antibiotic resistance and conversion to a mucoid phenotype.  The mucoid phenotype is due to overproduction of alginate, as a result of mutations in mucA allele, encoding an anti-sigma factor.  The failure of □-lactam antibiotic treatment appears to be mediated by de-repression of AmpC □-lactamase.  The genes responsible for □-lactamase expression in Enterobacteriacea are ampC, ampR, ampD, and ampG.  AmpC encodes □-lactamase, ampR is a positive regulator, ampD is a negative regulator, and ampG is a permease.  The AmpG permease is known to be involved in the regulation of ampC expression.  The objective of this study is to ascertain the role of P. aeruginosa AmpG that shares 45% homology to Escherichia coli AmpG.  Methods: We generated ampG deletion mutations in the in the nonmucoid PAO1 and its isogenic mucoid variant, PDO300 (mucA22).  We determined the effect of this mutation on the growth rate, the production of extracellular virulence factors and antibiotic sensitivity.  Results: Compared to the parental strain, the PAO1□ampG showed no changes, but PDO300□ampG, continued to be Alg+, had a higher growth rate, produced elevated levels of pyocyanin, and increased LasA elastase and LasB staphylolytic elastase activities.  However, both mutant derivatives did not show any significant alteration in □-lactam antibiotic sensitivity.  This unexpected outcome led us to the discovery of another ampG homolog in PAO1 genome.  This newly discovered ampG homolog in PAO1genome shares 41% homology to E. coli ampG. We named the homologue ampG-like.  Conclusion: Our results suggest that AmpG plays a role in the expression of virulence factors in the alginate overproducing strains.  The antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa, especially to □-lactams, appears to be more complex and requires further investigation.  Perhaps higher intrinsic resistance of P. aeruginosa can be attributed to the increase in the ampG copy number.

This work has been supported by NIH-MBRS SCORE (S06 GM08205; KM), NIGMS-RISE (R25 GM61347; JB) and Florida International University Teaching Assistantships (KFK and SRJ).

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