School of Science Division of Life Science 17 Understanding the Key Elements of Nucleosome/Chromatin Dynamics Supervisor: ISHIBASHI Toyotaka / LIFS Student: HUSEIN Thomson Christian / BIOT Course: UROP 1100, Fall UROP 2100, Spring The estrogen receptor (ER) is a protein crucial in estrogen signaling which has 2 isoforms, ERα and Erβ. ERα is coded by a gene containing 8 exons denoted ESRI. In normal breast, ERα is estimated to be expressed in 7-10% of breast epithelial cells which fluctuates during the menstrual cycle. Breast cancer was found to alter ERα expression, resulting in high or low expression of ERα in more of the cells. Dysregulation of ERα signaling results in pathway dysregulation important for cancer development and progression. A splice variant of ERα denoted as ERαΔ7 was especially concerning as it is prevalent in more than half of luminal breast cancer cases. This variant skips exon 7 and is followed by the truncation of exon 8 at the C terminal due to the frameshift. While the functionality of ERαΔ7 has not been clearly studied, it is speculated that this splicing variant causes structural changes to the estrogen receptor, impacting its function. The alteration to its functionality has been confirmed by bioinformatic studies to result in higher fatalities. To study the functionality of this variant, CRISPR is being used to generate mcf7 cells expressing ERαΔ7. Receptor Based Drug Development from Chinese Herbal Medicine Supervisor: LI Ning / LIFS Co-supervisor: XUE Hong / LIFS Student: KOT Yung Kei / BIBU Course: UROP 4100, Fall Scutellaria baicalensis is an indispensable Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which has numerous pharmacological functions. Baicalein, Wogonin and Rudon 482 are the major bioactive compounds extracted from Scutellaria baicalensis. In this report, the phytochemistry and anxiolytic effect of Baicalein and Wogonin are to be discussed. The anxiolytic effect of Baicalein, Wogonin and Rudon 482 is demonstrated through various animal behavioral tests: elevated plus-maze test, locomotor activity test and tail suspension test; the drug’s effect on memory and motor coordination are demonstrated by Y-maze test and rotarod test using male C57BL/6 mice. Research literature has been suggested that the aforementioned bioactive compounds are potential anti-cancer drug candidate which requires further cell culture research. Chinese Herbal Medicine for General Health Supervisor: LIANG Chun / LIFS Student: CHAN Yik / BIOT Course: UROP 1100, Summer This report aims to introduce the emerging discipline of network pharmacology, the mechanism and symptoms of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the characteristics of HepG2 cells and its applications. We also investigated the effects of Erchen Decoction on treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This report records the methodology including the cell culture, immunoblotting, and the results of the cell subculture. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the common diseases in the global world and poses a great potential risk on general health. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has been confirmed that it is not only related to liver disorder, but also related to other body systems, which indicates it is a multisystem disease.
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