Let’s play #Church: gamifying church revitalization in New England Black churches

This project bridges the gap between the culture of stagnation in New England Black congregations and the history of vibrant creativity in Black culture and churches by crafting an engaging teaching resource in the form of a digital application, built on the core fundamentals of gamification. As such, this project weaves gamification, technology, the Black church, and cross generational ministry together in order to assist in the renewal of New England Black churches. Positioning gamification in conversation with practical theology with a focus on Black church history and culture, the project confronts matters related to gender, age, and social location in Black churches. The project argues that we are in the midst of the “#Church,” which should be embraced by the dying Black church, in the midst of a crisis, as a legitimate mechanism for revitalization and relevancy in this hashtag (#) culture. On social media, the hashtag (#) denotes a trending topic, word, phrase and is a form of grouping like topics together for search parameters as well as social interaction and affiliation. The project leverages this hashtag culture by presenting a three-year revitalization project in the form of a web-based game addressing matters of project design and implications, implementation strategy, and evaluative measures

From ab initio quantum mechanics to molecular neurobiology: A cation-pi binding site in the nicotinic receptor

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the prototype ligand-gated ion channel. A number of aromatic amino acids have been identified as contributing to the agonist binding site, suggesting that cation-pi interactions may be involved in binding the quaternary ammonium group of the agonist, acetylcholine. Here we show a compelling correlation between: (i) ab initio quantum mechanical predictions of cation-pi binding abilities and (ii) EC50 values for acetylcholine at the receptor for a series of tryptophan derivatives that were incorporated into the receptor by using the in vivo nonsense-suppression method for unnatural amino acid incorporation. Such a correlation is seen at one, and only one, of the aromatic residues-tryptophan-149 of the alpha subunit. This finding indicates that, on binding, the cationic, quaternary ammonium group of acetylcholine makes van der Waals contact with the indole side chain of alpha tryptophan-149, providing the most precise structural information to date on this receptor. Consistent with this model, a tethered quaternary ammonium group emanating from position alpha 149 produces a constitutively active receptor

The Promethean: Fall 2011

Fall 2011 edition of The Promethean. Contents: From The Director 2, Dr. Banerjee Returns 5, Summer of Beekeeping 7, What’s In Your Food? 8, Mentor vs. Mentee Experiences 9, Art and Poetry 11.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/promethean/1010/thumbnail.jp

The Promethean: Spring 2012

Spring 2012 edition of The Promethean. Contents: From the Director 2 Editors Farewell 4 Alumnus Looks Back 6 “Why I Teach Honors” 7 “I Love the 90s” Party 8 Art and Poetry 9https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/promethean/1008/thumbnail.jp

Site-specific incorporation of biotinylated amino acids to identify surface-exposed residues in integral membrane proteins

AbstractBackground: A key structural issue for all integral membrane proteins is the exposure of individual residues to the intracellular or extracellular media. This issue involves the basic transmembrane topology as well as more subtle variations in surface accessibility. Direct methods to evaluate the degree of exposure for residues in functional proteins expressed in living cells would be highly valuable. We sought to develop a new experimental method to determine highly surface-exposed residues, and thus transmembrane topology, of membrane proteins expressed in Xenopus oocytes.Results: We have used the in vivo nonsense suppression technique to incorporate biotinylated unnatural amino acids into functional ion channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Binding of 125I-streptavidin to biotinylated receptors was used to determine the surface exposure of individual amino acids. In particular, we studied the main immunogenic region of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. The biotin-containing amino acid biocytin was efficiently incorporated into five sites in the main immunogenic region and extracellular streptavidin bound to one residue in particular, α70. The position of α70 as highly exposed on the receptor surface was thus established.Conclusions: The in vivo nonsense suppression technique has been extended to provide the first in a potential series of methods to identify exposed residues and to assess their relative exposure in functional proteins expressed in Xenopus oocytes

Faculty Jazz Parliament, The Parliament Goes to Broadway

Kennesaw State University presents Faculty Jazz Parliament, The Parliament Goes to Broadway.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1381/thumbnail.jp

Faculty Jazz Parliament, Our Favorite Tunes!

KSU Jazz Faculty performing some of their favorite tunes.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1017/thumbnail.jp

Faculty Jazz Parliament performs the Music of Chick Corea

KSU School of Music presents Faculty Jazz Parliament performing the music of Chick Corea.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1185/thumbnail.jp

Faculty Jazz Parliament Celebrating the Music of Wayne Shorter, Happy Birthday Wayne Shorter

KSU School of Music presents Happy Birthday Wayne Shorter, Celebrating the Music of Wayne Shorter performed by Faculty Jazz Parliament.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1285/thumbnail.jp