Power, Domesticity, and Insanity: Gender Roles in Mary Elizabeth Braddon\u27s Lady Audley\u27s Secret

Scholarship on Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret typically focuses on Lady Audley. This thesis adds to the scholarship by analyzing the main characters Robert, George, Alicia, and Clara through a feminist lens in order to confound contemporary notions about gender roles. I argue that Braddon gives Robert and George traits often associated with women in the Victorian period, such as intense emotions, to overturn assumptions that men should not have feminine traits. I then claim that Braddon bestows on Alicia and Clara some characteristics associated with men to suggest that women should also not have to obey all gender roles

In silico and wet lab approaches to study transcriptional regulation

Gene expression is a complicated process with multiple types of regulation, including binding of proteins termed transcription factors. This thesis looks at transcription factors and transcription factor binding site discovery through computational predictions and wet lab work to better elucidate their role in transcriptional regulation. This includes bioinformatics tools to extrapolate transcription factors common to a set of co-regulated sequences, such as genes differentially expressed in a microarray or next-generation sequencing experiment. It also includes a working pipeline to analyze next-generation sequencing data, used in the following projects: Next-generation sequencing of chromatin-immunoprecipitated CBP and p300 (two highly homologous transcription factors) bound DNA was performed to analyze their (different) roles in cell cycle regulation. Next-generation sequencing of RNA from differentiating muscle cells was also done to identify differential gene expression during myogenesis, as well as identify novel promoter regions (a common target of transcription factors). Taken together, computational and wet lab tools can enhance our knowledge of transcriptional regulation, as described by several applications to enhance our knowledge of myogenic and cell-cycle regulation in this thesis.This work was supported by the Centre for Biomedical Genetics, the Netherlands, and the Centre for Medical Systems Biology, co-funded by the Netherlands Genome Initiative, and received additional funding by a Marie Curie Fellowship.UBL - phd migration 201

Advances in Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) Sequencing

PacBio’s single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology offers important advantages over the short-read DNA sequencing technologies that currently dominate the market. This includes exceptionally long read lengths (20 kb or more), unparalleled consensus accuracy, and the ability to sequence native, non-amplified DNA molecules. From fungi to insects to humans, long reads are now used to create highly accurate reference genomes by de novo assembly of genomic DNA and to obtain a comprehensive view of transcriptomes through the sequencing of full-length cDNAs. Besides reducing biases, sequencing native DNA also permits the direct measurement of DNA base modifications. Therefore, SMRT sequencing has become an attractive technology in many fields, such as agriculture, basic science, and medical research. The boundaries of SMRT sequencing are continuously being pushed by developments in bioinformatics and sample preparation. This book contains a collection of articles showcasing the latest developments and the breadth of applications enabled by SMRT sequencing technology

The analysis of spectra of novae taken near maximum

A project to analyze ultraviolet spectra of novae obtained at or near maximum optical light is presented. These spectra are characterized by a relatively cool continuum with superimposed permitted emission lines from ions such as Fe II, Mg II, and Si II. Spectra obtained late in the outburst show only emission lines from highly ionized species and in many cases these are forbidden lines. The ultraviolet data will be used with calculations of spherical, expanding, stellar atmospheres for novae to determine elemental abundances by spectral line synthesis. This method is extremely sensitive to the abundances and completely independent of the nebular analyses usually used to obtain novae abundances