RSS 1.0School of Biological Sciences (UMKC)
The School of Biological Sciences was established (originally as the School of Basic Life Sciences) in 1985. The School's vision is "to better the quality of life through excellence in education and research." This vision is realized through the provision of quality education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the expansion of knowledge through scientific research, and the application of scientific information for the advancement of human welfare. The School has been designated as an eminence program by the curators of the University of Missouri, and as such is a unit targeted for expansion and development.
Research by faculty, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, is focused on cellular and molecular aspects of modern biology, with emphases in molecular genetics, cell biology and structural biology. Advances in these areas will provide fundamental knowledge for biotechnology, molecular medicine, environmental remediation and computational biology. Students are encouraged to gain hands-on research experience, involving them in the process of creating knowledge and equipping them to shape the future.
Items in MOspace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Sub-communities within this community
Recent Submissions
-
Exploiting the Power of Sleep to Rescue Long-Term Memory Defects in a Drosophila Memory Mutant
(2024)Sleep is a behavior indispensable for life that is evolutionarily conserved throughout the animal kingdom, signifying its importance. Investigations into the function(s) of sleep reveal a vast array of processes influenced ... -
Pregnancy outcomes in females with hidradenitis suppurativa
(2024)A pregnancy datamart was constructed from Cerner Health Facts EMR data using pypreg, a python package developed by the author based on a validated pregnancy identification algorithm by Keran Moll. The demographics of the ... -
Regulation of the development and regeneration of the zebrafish posterior lateral line
(2024)Mechanosensory hair cells located in the inner ear mediate the sensations of hearing and balance. If damaged, mammalian inner ear hair cells are unable to regenerate, resulting in permanent sensory deficits. Damage to hair ... -
The Clinical Associations and Physiological Mechanisms Linking Bone and Cardiac Health
(2024)Osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease represent two significant clinical burdens worldwide, which have been found to be clinically intertwined. The skeleton is highly sensitive to mechanical stimuli with osteocytes/osteoblasts ... -
Discovery of IKBKE and CD24 siRNAs for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer
(2023)Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents approximately 10-20% of all newly diagnosed breast cancers and is classified as a subtype with the absence of ER, PR, and HER2 expression. TNBC displays high aggressiveness, ... -
Identification and Characterization of Two Novel Sleep Promoting Neurons Located in the Ventral Nerve Cord of Drosophila Melanogaster
(2023)Sleep is a phenomenon that is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom and can be found in nearly every evolutionary niche that has come about. Humans cannot live without it, and it is required for optimal physical and mental ... -
Functional Analysis of TET-Family 5-Methylcytosine Dioxygenases in Non-CpG DNA Demethylation
(2023)One of the most widely studied epigenetic marks in DNA is 5-methylcytosine (5mC). Research has indicated that in the mammalian genome around 5-6% of all cytosines are methylated (5mC), with a strong preference for the CpG ... -
Development of Resistance to Antifungal Agents in Common Yeast Species
(2018)Pathogenic fungi are responsible for several serious diseases in both plants and animals with severe consequences in both medicine and agriculture. This makes treatment of fungal infections a prime concern for both economic ... -
The Ins and Outs and ABCs of Antifungal Drug Transport: Characterizing the Role of Membrane Transporters in Pathogenic Fungi
(2016)Pathogenic fungi cause serious disease and even death in humans, animals and plants. In medicine and agriculture alike, fungal infections are widespread and represent a significant threat to global public health. The ... -
The Molecular Mechanisms of Antifungal Drug Resistance In Pathogenic Fungi
(2016)Pathogenic fungi including Candida albicans, cause oral, systemic, and vaginal infections, mostly in immune-compromised individuals. Azoles are the most common antifungals used in treating these infections. The most ... -
Expression Pattern of Drug-Resistance Genes in Matched Clinical Isolates of Candida albicans at Variable Fluconazole Exposure Times
(2016)Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungus that exists naturally in the vaginal, urinary, and gastrointestinal tracts of humans. Typically, this yeast remains balanced with the body’s other natural microbial flora and the ... -
Alterations in cardiac contractility and heart rate mediated by bone loading
(2022)The skeleton is a dynamic organ in complex interplay with the other systems of the body and is highly responsive to input from the external environment. Increasingly, evidence is mounting that the skeleton is the source ... -
Bugs, Drugs and Data: Antibiotic Resistance, Prevalence and Prediction of Bug-Drug Mismatch using Electronic Health Records (EHR) Data
(2021)Bug-Drug Mismatch (BDM) occurrences are an important and modifiable category of inappropriate antibiotic therapy (IAAT) that increases adverse outcomes for patients and drives overall antibiotic resistance (AR). Surveillance ... -
A single molecule study on the structural basis of ion selective permeation in voltage-gated sodium channels
(2021)High resolution studies of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) can not reveal the dynamic nature of the channel structures, especially in lipid environments, which are vital for rational drug design. The bacterial NavAb ... -
Effects of Light on BDBT Puncta Formation in the Drosophila Eye Reveal Involvement of BDBT with Color Preference Behavior and Distinct Nuclear Localization Pathways for DBT and PER
(2021)In this dissertation, the research focus is on elucidating the mechanism behind BRIDE OF DOUBLETIME (BDBT) puncta/foci formation. During this process it was discovered that both the circadian and visual photoreceptors ... -
The canonical Wnt signaling pathway affects regeneration of mechanosensory hair cells in Danio Rerio
(2020)In vertebrates, mechanosensory hair cells are located in the inner ear and mediate hearing. When damage to these specialized cells occur, it leads to irreversible hearing loss. Not only do aquatic vertebrates have inner ... -
APP∙CNTN Complex Architecture is Conserved Throughout the Vertebrate Lineage
(2020)Contactins (CNTNs) are a group of up to six cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) of the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily found throughout the metazoan lineage. CNTN architecture is broadly conserved, and these proteins are composed ... -
Investigation of functional domains of drosophilia tribbles protein in the insulin signaling pathway
(2020)In this dissertation, I examined the function of the Drosophila melanogaster protein Tribbles (Trbl) within the insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway. Trbl was initially discovered as a regulator of mitosis during ... -
Structure-Function Analysis of the Tribbles Pseudokinase
(2020)Members of the Tribbles (Trb) family of pseudokinases have roles in development, cell cycle control, insulin signaling, and the immune response and have been linked to many human diseases. The structure of Drosophila ... -
Non-genomic control of neuronal calcium signaling by the steroid hormone estrogen leads to neuroprotective effects
(2020)It has been well documented that the onset of menopause correlates with an increase in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Estrogen supplementation was used as treatment/prevention for a ...