Design and development of small molecule based biosensors for detection of pathogens

Glycans are present on the cell surface of mammalian cells. In Dr. Iyer’s laboratories, we aim to understand the interactions of cell surface glycans with toxins and pathogens at a molecular level and use that information to develop a point of care diagnostics. The focus is on the development of a novel electrochemical assay that uses repurposed glucose meters for the detection of different analytes. The released glucose can be detected using personal glucose meters. One major concern is that of background glucose present in blood and other matrices. To eliminate the effect of background glucose, we have developed an electrochemical assay to detect other molecules such as paracetamol or catechol in the presence of large amounts of glucose. The strips used for the assay were devoid of glucose oxidase or glucose dehydrogenase, and hence, glucose cannot get oxidized and will not pose a problem. The paracetamol/catechol gets oxidized directly on the surface of the strips and can be detected directly. This assay was used to detect enzymes, influenza viruses, S. pneumoniae, and E. coli. We further worked on an immunoassay-based detection method for influenza virus. Biotinylated bivalent Zanamivir analogs as probes for influenza viruses were designed and synthesized. The compound was used in a “glycan” based sandwich assay; where glycans were immobilized on glass slides to capture strains of Influenza A H1N1, A/Brisbane/59/2007 virus and the biotinylated bivalent Zanamivir analog-labeled streptavidin complex was used as a reporter. This study indicated that glycans could be used for capturing and reporting influenza viruses and the biotinylated compounds could be used as probes for capturing and isolating influenza viruses from complex mixtures. We next expanded the innovative concept to develop assays for blood disorders. We synthesized of peptide substrates bearing electrochemically inactive molecules are required. We have designed a substrate that can directly measure the amount of thrombin in blood and the doctors can use this to adjust the dosage of anti-coagulants prescribed for high-risk patients. These compounds will be eventually used to develop assays that could potentially be used to monitor oral anticoagulant therapies and patients taking recombinant blood coagulation factors

Global Health and Politics: Julia Alvarez’ \u3cem\u3eSaving the World\u3c/em\u3e

Julia Alvarez’ novel Saving the World (2006) is a comment on the politics of Global Health. Alvarez reconstructs the tale of Isabel Sendales y Gomez, the lone female participant in the early 19th century’s Spanish Royal Expedition to eradicate smallpox around the world, mainly in the Spanish colonies. The historical narrative is paralleled by the tale of Alma Rodríguez, a 21st Century Dominican American author who is faced with a similar situation, aiding in an idealistic project to eradicate AIDS in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez’ work throws into sharp relief what happens when the philanthropic ideals of healing the world clashes with local politics and foreign policies. It also questions the ethical issues behind the use of third world volunteers in the testing of medicines manufactured by the first world pharmaceutical companies

The Emergence of New Woman in Toru Dutt’s Savitri

The New Woman is a modern term that opens its door ajar for penetration of those women, who have been acquiring the submissive position throughout the decade, to transform themselves anew. This 19th century’s ray of hope radiates everywhere and Indian culture is not also exceptional. The idea of the modern women receives its content into the pens of Indo-Anglican writers and the purpose of this paper is to present this concept of new woman through the poem of Toru Dutt

Gaze of the Outsider/Insider: US Latino Authors Writing of Latin America

A growing number of US Latino authors—born or raised primarily in the United States— are finding new locales for their narratives, which draw attention to serious socio-political problems of these countries. These countries happen to be either their birth country or their parents’ native homeland. This article is a preliminary observation of an exciting new area of literature based on the texts of three US Latino authors, namely Julia Alvarez, Achy Obejas, and Daniel Alarcón. Furthermore, it is a study of the possible ramifications of such a body of literature—both its problems and positive effects

Cofinite Graphs and their Profinite Completions

We generalize the idea of cofinite groups, due to B. Hartley. First we define cofinite spaces in general. Then, as a special situation, we study cofinite graphs and their uniform completions. The idea of constructing a cofinite graph starts with defining a uniform topological graph Gamma, in an appropriate fashion. We endow abstract graphs with uniformities corresponding to separating filter bases of equivalence relations with finitely many equivalence classes over Gamma. It is established that for any cofinite graph there exists a unique cofinite completion

Vaccine Development Against Leishmania donovani

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum/chagasi represents the second most challenging infectious disease worldwide, leading to nearly 500,000 new cases and 60,000 deaths annually. Zoonotic VL caused by L. infantum is a re-emergent canid zoonoses which represents a complex epidemiological cycle in the New world where domestic dogs serve as a reservoir host responsible for potentially fatal human infection and where dog culling is the only measure for reservoir control. Life-long immunity to VL has motivated development of prophylactic vaccines against the disease but very few have progressed beyond the experimental stage. No licensed vaccine is available till date against any form of leishmaniasis. High toxicity and increasing resistance to the current chemotherapeutic regimens have further complicated the situation in VL endemic regions of the world. Advances in vaccinology, including recombinant proteins, novel antigen-delivery systems/adjuvants, heterologous prime-boost regimens and strategies for intracellular antigen presentation, have contributed to recent advances in vaccine development against VL. Attempts to develop an effective vaccine for use in domestic dogs in areas of canine VL should be pursued for preventing human infection. Studies in animal models and human patients have revealed the pathogenic mechanisms of disease progression and features of protective immunity. This review will summarize the accumulated knowledge of pathogenesis, immune response, and prerequisites for protective immunity against human VL. Authors will discuss promising vaccine candidates, their developmental status and future prospects in a quest for rational vaccine development against the disease. In addition, several challenges such as safety issues, renewed and coordinated commitment to basic research, preclinical studies and trial design will be addressed to overcome the problems faced in developing prophylactic strategies for protection against this lethal infection

Carbide Formation in Nickel-Base Superalloy MAR-M247 Processed Through Scanning Laser Epitaxy (SLE)

Nickel-base superalloys develop high-temperature strength primarily due to the solid-solution-strengthening and the precipitation-strengthening mechanisms typically through cobalt/chromium and aluminum/titanium respectively. Certain other elements such as boron and zirconium are chosen for grain boundary strengthening. Such elements tend to segregate to the grain boundaries reducing the grain boundary energy and resulting in better grain boundary cohesion and ductility. Another form of grain boundary strengthening is achieved through the addition of carbon and various carbide formers. The carbide formers are responsible for driving precipitation of carbides at grain boundaries and thereby reducing grain boundary sliding. Various types of carbides such as blocky, elongated, and Chinese-script are possible in the microstructures of nickel-base superalloys depending on the composition of the superalloy and processing conditions. However, in the SLE fabricated MAR-M247, only blocky carbides were predominantly observed. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy investigations were carried out and the carbides were found to be tantalum-rich.This work is sponsored by the ONR through grant N00014-14-1-0658.Mechanical Engineerin