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- Creators: Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business
- Resource Type: Text
understanding of the disease pathology, more efficacious drug development and
regenerative medicine as a form of treatment. There are limitations with current
transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and the study of post mortem brain tissue of Alzheimer’s diseases patients. Stem cell models can overcome the lack of clinical relevance and impracticality associated with current models. Ideally, the use of stem cell models provides the foundation to study the biochemical and physiological aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, but at the cellular level. Moreover, the future of drug development and disease modeling can be improved by developing a reproducible and well-characterized model of AD that can be scaled up to meet requirements for basic and translational applications. Characterization and analysis of a heterogenic neuronal culture developed from induced pluripotent stem cells calls for the understanding of single cell identity and cell viability. A method to analyze RNA following intracellular sorting was developed in order to analyze single cell identity of a heterogenic population
of human induced pluripotent stem cells and neural progenitor cells. The population was intracellularly stained and sorted for Oct4. RNA was isolated and analyzed with qPCR, which demonstrated expected expression profiles for Oct4+ and Oct4- cells. In addition, a protocol to label cells with pO2 sensing nanoprobes was developed to assess cell viability. Non-destructive nanoprobe up-take by neural progenitor cells was assessed with fluorescent imaging and flow cytometry. Nanoprobe labeled neurons were cultured long-term and continued to fluoresce at day 28. The proof of concept experiments demonstrated will be further expanded upon and utilized in developing a more clinically relevant and cost-effective model of Alzheimer’s disease with downstream applications
in drug development and regenerative medicine.
This study highlights the significance of zoonotic diseases, which make up almost 60% of infectious diseases in humans, and their origin from animals. Among mammalian viruses, primates, bats, and rodents have been identified as high-risk carriers. Within the rodent family Cricetidae, the species complex of Peromyscus eremicus, Peromyscus californicus, Peromyscus fraterculus, and Osgoodomys banderanus have been found to play a crucial role in disease transmission. These four species are phylogenetically related and share similar physical appearances and ecological niches. They have been identified as carriers of several zoonotic diseases, including Hantavirus, Arenavirus, Yersinia pestis, and Flavivirus, with a history of spread to humans. Despite their implications for public health, many of these species remain understudied. Thus, this study aims to provide a systematic review of the existing literature on these four species to summarize the findings on virus prevalence and distribution. The review shows that sampling efforts have been uneven and recent efforts have been lacking, with potential undiscovered zoonotic diseases. The concentration of sampling efforts in California and gaps in the literature are concerning, especially with changing agriculture and climate change potentially affecting rodent communities.