ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst
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Please see our ScholarWorks guide for more information about submitting your work to ScholarWorks.
Recent Submissions
Publication Promoter Frame Position Affects Strength and Nature of Circadian Oscillations in hPER2 Luciferase Reporters(2025)The PER2 gene is a crucial component responsible for the proper functioning of the mammalian core circadian clock. The circadian nature of the murine Per2 (mPer2) promoter’s activity has been thoroughly investigated to identify important elements re-sponsible for its oscillatory behavior; however, its human counterpart has not. While there are similarities between murine and human core clocks, there are differences and unconserved elements between their promoter sequences that may influence the nature of rhythms. Further, most studies to date have used murine-based sequences in human cell lines. To fully understand the role(s) of and factors involved in the human PER2 (hPER2) gene, human-derived sequences should be used. To this end, we developed two lentiviral luciferase reporters in well-established, circadian model U2OS cells using different hPER2 promoter regions. Their rhythmic nature was compared to the standard mPer2 promoter reporter. We found that hPER2 reporters exhibited stronger oscillations than the mPer2 reporter, and that the frame of the hPER2 promoter affected the period and phase. This work introduces a human sequence-based PER2 promoter in U2OS cells, which should be used for further in vitro tracking of hPER2 activity and to understand PER2 gene dynamics, in lieu of the murine iteration.Publication Hybrid alternative protein-based foods: designing a healthier and more sustainable food supply(2025)The industrial scale use of animals to produce food for humans, such as meat, egg, and dairy products, has serious environmental, health, and ethical implications. Livestock production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and drives soil depletion, water pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. There are also concerns about its negative impacts on human health and animal welfare. To feed future generations, it will be important to produce nutritious foods in a more sustainable, ethical, and environmentally friendly manner. In this article, we examine several protein-rich food sources as alternatives to traditional animal proteins, including plants, insects, mycelia, cultured animal cells, and microbial fermentation products. Each of these alternative protein sources has advantages and disadvantages in terms of their organoleptic properties, nutritional profile, consumer acceptance, affordability, and scalability. We then consider combining different alternative protein sources to form affordable, scalable, delicious, nutritious, and sustainable hybrid foods that may compete with conventional meat products, including meat–plant, cultivated meat–plant, mycelium–plant, and insect–plant foods. However, these hybrid products are still relatively new, and significant challenges, including cost reduction, scalability, regulatory approval, and consumer acceptance, need to be addressed before they become commercially viable. Future research should therefore focus on optimizing protein sources, developing scalable production methods, conducting environmental and economic analyses, and leveraging artificial intelligence for innovation. To make hybrid food products viable and sustainable, more efficient collaboration across academia, industry, and regulatory bodies is urgently needed.Publication Constructing artificial neurons with functional parameters comprehensively matching biological values(2025)The efficient signal processing in biosystems is largely attributed to the powerful constituent unit of a neuron, which encodes and decodes spatiotemporal information using spiking action potentials of ultralow amplitude and energy. Constructing devices that can emulate neuronal functions is thus considered a promising step toward advancing neuromorphic electronics and enhancing signal flow in bioelectronic interfaces. However, existent artificial neurons often have functional parameters that are distinctly mismatched with their biological counterparts, including signal amplitude and energy levels that are typically an order of magnitude larger. Here, we demonstrate artificial neurons that not only closely emulate biological neurons in functions but also match their parameters in key aspects such as signal amplitude, spiking energy, temporal features, and frequency response. Moreover, these artificial neurons can be modulated by extracellular chemical species in a manner consistent with neuromodulation in biological neurons. We further show that an artificial neuron can connect to a biological cell to process cellular signals in real-time and interpret cell states. These results advance the potential for constructing bio-emulated electronics to improve bioelectronic interface and neuromorphic integration.Publication Immunogenetic diversity and transcriptomic response to fibropapillomatosis in Hawaiian green sea turtles(2025)Sea turtles are one taxon of high conservation concern that encounter many pathogens, but their disease ecology is understudied, hindering our ability to predict impacts of disease on population viability. Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic tumor-forming disease that has been documented in all sea turtle species, with an especially high prevalence in green turtles Chelonia mydas. Here, we use Hawaiian green turtles (honu) as a study system to examine the roles of immunogenetic diversity and transcriptional modulation in sea turtle disease responses. Specifically, we quantified gene expression profiles associated with FP and characterized host diversity of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) immune loci. We found 65 genes differentially expressed in blood between clinically healthy (n = 5) and FP-afflicted turtles (n = 5) with enriched biological processes of the innate immune system, aligned with expectations of reptilian immune systems and active disease resistance. Our results also suggest a role for disease tolerance in response to FP, as evidenced by enriched biological processes related to regulation of immune and metabolic homeostasis, increase in cellular detoxification, and increased tissue repair mechanisms. Honu (n = 89) had 23 unique MHCI alleles belonging to 3 distinct functional supertypes, but none were significantly associated with FP; this could be a result of intrinsic demographic properties of the population or reflect a lesser/differing role of the reptilian adaptive immune system. Our study advances the understanding of reptilian disease response and evolutionary mechanisms underlying immunogenetic diversity, both of which are important for promoting the adaptive potential of species vulnerable to extinction.
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