Biochemistry

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 23
  • Item
    Observing the Effects of the Protein HE4 on Ovarian Cancer Progression in Danio rerio Embryos
    (Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.), 2023) Eller, Madeline
    Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death for females in the United States. Epithelial ovarian carcinomas, the most common type of ovarian cancer, are difficult to diagnose in the early stages of the disease. One of the tests used to diagnose ovarian cancer, the HE4 test, measures the amount of the human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) present. HE4 is a secretory protein shown to be overexpressed in patients with ovarian cancer and has been shown to potentially be involved in promoting cancer proliferation. This study attempted to test the following hypothesis: if HE4 promotes cancer progression, then cells that express higher levels of HE4 should cause increased tumor growth in and lower relative survival rate of zebrafish embryos because HE4 is upregulated in ovarian cancer cells. Zebrafish embryos were injected with either OVCAR8 HE4-overexpressing GFP cells or OVCAR8 wild-type cells, followed by imaging of injected embryos 2 and 3 days-post-injections and measurement of survival rate through 6 days-post-fertilization. Over the course of experimentation, however, this study turned into a methods paper due to the amount of troubleshooting that needed to be done. This paper thus details the method that should be used in the future to test this hypothesis.
  • Item
    Removal of Iron (II) ions from wastewater using Black, Green and White Tea waste
    (Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.), 2022-05-16) Karambizi Gihozo, Kellia
    Due to their toxicity, heavy metal ion like Fe2+ are a category of contaminants that should be avoided in the aquatic environment. The necessity to develop a low-cost, efficient technology for removing heavy metals from water is inescapable. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the adsorption efficiency and capacity of black, green and white Twinings tea waste in removing Fe2+(aq). The impact of changing several factors such as the starting concentration of Fe2+ in solution, the physical texture of the adsorbent used, and the contact duration was studied. Solutions were made in two categories: sonicated and non-sonicated. Each category had a set of both fine and regular tea leaves. Both sonicated and non-sonicated samples were made with increasing amounts of Fe2+(aq). All solutions were treated with 0.025 g of tea waste for 90 minutes. Both sonicated regular and fine black tea samples showed a high adsorption efficiency of 100% while the non-sonicated samples varied with 72.4% as the highest efficiency. Sonicated tea samples yielded a higher adsorption capacity of 4.5 mg/g compared to 3.5 mg/g of non-sonicated tea samples. Based on these calculated adsorption efficiencies and capacities, the experiment demonstrated that sonicated tea samples are the most effective at removing iron contamination in water. This study also showed black tea to be most efficient compared to green and white tea. However, further research is necessary to determine the most efficient tea between green and white tea.
  • Item
    Studies toward a greener chemical synthesis for l-arginine.
    (Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.), 2022-05-16) Riveros, Jillian.
    L-arginine is a conditional amino acid that has been shown to benefit through supplementation, which has led to the mass production of L-arginine. Most industrial syntheses have been through keratin hydrolysis, which is harmful to the environment. While there are some green biosyntheses, the chemical industry tends not to use them because of their lower yields. This investigation aims to synthesize L-arginine using new, greener chemical methods. The formation of the first intermediate product, an enamide ester, was successfully completed. This method consisted of a three-step synthesis using hippuric acid to form azlactone, which then reacted with 3-[(Benzyloxycarbonyl)amino]-propionaldehyde to form a believed to be a new compound, 2-phenyl-4-(3-benzyloxy carbonyl amino) propylidene-oxazol-5-one. Through an acid/base reaction, the azlactone group of the compound opened to properly synthesize the enamide ester. Future investigations would be to complete the synthesis to form L-arginine.
  • Item
    Vapor Pressure Measurements of Pentane at Low Temperatures (-160 ºC to -50 ºC) using Cost-Effective Equipment
    (Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.), 2022-05-16) Madan, Ishaan
    Certain extraterrestrial environments like ocean worlds and icy satellites, are promising astrobiological places that can host a plethora of organic compounds trapped in their ices. The vapor pressure curves derived from theoretical calculations and experimental measurements aid in the construction of phase diagrams, which can help us better understand the behavior of organic molecules under the extraterrestrial conditions that aren’t found on Earth. In this work, a novel method was developed to measure vapor pressures at low temperatures (-160 ºC to -50 ºC) using cost-effective instrumentation. Following the development of the approach, vapor pressure of n-pentane was measured at temperatures ranging from -160 ºC to -50 ºC. Very few experimental measurements exist for n-pentane and for many other organics, especially at low temperatures. Vapor pressure measurements from the novel experimental procedure were difficult to compare to theoretical n-pentane phase diagrams; but, were comparable to past experimental measurements for n-pentane. The calculated enthalpy of fusion value from experimental run 1 was almost one order of magnitude lower as compared to literature value. The calculated enthalpy of vaporization value from experimental run 1 was about one and half orders of magnitude lower than the literature value. The development of this approach to measure vapor pressures at low temperatures is a first step to design a system that can be used for organic liquids samples (like n-pentane) using cost-effective equipment. It also has the potential to be further modified and enhanced to also measure vapor pressure of gaseous organics at low temperatures.
  • Item
    Tea Waste as a Green Method in Removing Aluminum from Drinking Water
    (Wheaton College (Norton, Mass)., 2022-05-16) Calkins, Sarah
    The goal of this study was to determine how different types of tea waste (green, black, and white) interact with aluminum ions, Al3+ (aq), to remove this toxic heavy metal from solution as efficiently as possible. The Molecular Operating Environment computer program was used to predict the electrostatic interaction energies and bond lengths between aluminum ions and tea waste components. The amount of aluminum removed from a pH 5 buffer solution after interacting with various types of tea waste was determined using a UV-Visible absorption spectrophotometer. Acquired absorption spectra were used to assess aluminum concentration in four situations for each tea (regular, fine, regular ultrasonicated, fine ultrasonicated). Each condition had five vials with increasing concentrations of Al3+ (aq). After 90 minutes of reaction between tea waste and aluminum ions, the absorption spectra of the five runs (four conditions and one control) were collected for each tea sample. Ultrasonication of samples generated increased interactions between Al3+ (aq) ions and tea waste that resulted in increased adsorption capacity (from 1.59 mg/g for fine green tea to 2.40 mg/g for the same tea ultrasonicated) and removal efficiency (from 36.8% for fine green tea to 55.7% for the same tea ultrasonicated). Thus, higher agitation of tea waste solutions containing aluminum may aid in more efficiently filtering aluminum out of drinking water. However, there was no discernible differences in removal efficiency between regular and fine tea waste samples. FTIR spectra of black, green, and white tea waste leaves were recorded using an ATR-FTIR spectrometer before and after aluminum adsorption. The intensities of the FTIR spectra diminished in the presence of aluminum ions due to their interactions with tea waste, but there was no significant spectral shift in the FTIR peak positions of the tea waste after aluminum addition, suggesting that the adsorption process was a physical change.