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Description
Specificity and affinity towards a given ligand/epitope limit target-specific delivery. Companies can spend between $500 million to $2 billion attempting to discover a new drug or therapy; a significant portion of this expense funds high-throughput screening to find the most successful target-specific compound available. A more recent addition to discovering

Specificity and affinity towards a given ligand/epitope limit target-specific delivery. Companies can spend between $500 million to $2 billion attempting to discover a new drug or therapy; a significant portion of this expense funds high-throughput screening to find the most successful target-specific compound available. A more recent addition to discovering highly specific targets is the application of phage display utilizing single chain variable fragment antibodies (scFv). The aim of this research was to employ phage display to identify pathologies related to traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly astrogliosis. A unique biopanning method against viable astrocyte cultures activated with TGF-β achieved this aim. Four scFv clones of interest showed varying relative affinities toward astrocytes. One of those four showed the ability to identify reactive astroctyes over basal astrocytes through max signal readings, while another showed a statistical significance in max signal reading toward basal astrocytes. Future studies will include further affinity characterization assays. This work contributes to the development of targeting therapeutics and diagnostics for TBI.
ContributorsMarsh, William (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Thesis advisor) / Caplan, Michael (Committee member) / Sierks, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are the leading causes of early onset dementia. There are currently no ways to slow down progression, to prevent or cure AD and FTD. Both AD and FTD share a lot of the symptoms and pathology. Initial symptoms such as confusion, memory loss,

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are the leading causes of early onset dementia. There are currently no ways to slow down progression, to prevent or cure AD and FTD. Both AD and FTD share a lot of the symptoms and pathology. Initial symptoms such as confusion, memory loss, mood swings and behavioral changes are common in both these dementia subtypes. Neurofibrillary tau tangles and intraneuronal aggregates of TAR DNA Binding Protein 43 (TDP-43) are also observed in both AD and FTD. Hence, FTD cases are often misdiagnosed as AD due to a lack of accurate diagnostics. Prior to the formation of tau tangles and TDP-43 aggregates, tau and TDP-43 exist as intermediate protein variants which correlate with cognitive decline and progression of these neurodegenerative diseases. Effective diagnostic and therapeutic agents would selectively recognize these toxic, disease-specific variants. Antibodies or antibody fragments such as single chain antibody variable domain fragments (scFvs), with their diverse binding capabilities, can aid in developing reagents that can selectively bind these protein variants. A combination of phage display library and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)-based panning was employed to identify antibody fragments against immunoprecipitated tau and immunoprecipitated TDP-43 from human postmortem AD and FTD brain tissue respectively. Five anti-TDP scFvs and five anti-tau scFvs were selected for characterization by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) and Immunohistochemistry (IHC). The panel of scFvs, together, were able to identify distinct protein variants present in AD but not in FTD, and vice versa. Generating protein variant profiles for individuals, using the panel of scFvs, aids in developing targeted diagnostic and therapeutic plans, gearing towards personalized medicine.
ContributorsVenkataraman, Lalitha (Author) / Sierks, Michael R (Thesis advisor) / Dunckley, Travis (Committee member) / Oddo, Salvatore (Committee member) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
This project aims to address the current protocol regarding the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in medical industries around the world. Although there are various methods used to qualitatively determine if TBI has occurred to a patient, this study attempts to aid in the creation of a

This project aims to address the current protocol regarding the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in medical industries around the world. Although there are various methods used to qualitatively determine if TBI has occurred to a patient, this study attempts to aid in the creation of a system for quantitative measurement of TBI and its relative magnitude. Through a method of artificial evolution/selection called phage display, an antibody that binds highly specifically to a post-TBI upregulated brain chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan called neurocan has been identified. As TG1 Escheria Coli bacteria were infected with KM13 helper phage and M13 filamentous phage in conjunction, monovalent display of antibody fragments (ScFv) was performed. The ScFv bind directly to the neurocan and from screening, phage that produced ScFv's with higher affinity and specificity to neurocan were separated and purified. Future research aims to improve the ScFv characteristics through increased screening toward neurocan. The identification of a highly specific antibody could lead to improved targeting of neurocan post-TBI in-vivo, aiding researchers in quantitatively defining TBI by visualizing its magnitude.
ContributorsSeelig, Timothy Scott (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an injury to the head that disrupts normal brain function. TBI has been described as a disease process that can lead to an increased risk for developing chronic neurodegenerative diseases, like frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A pathological hallmark

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an injury to the head that disrupts normal brain function. TBI has been described as a disease process that can lead to an increased risk for developing chronic neurodegenerative diseases, like frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A pathological hallmark of FTLD and a hallmark of ALS is the nuclear mislocalization of TAR DNA Binding Protein 43 (TDP-43). This project aims to explore neurodegenerative effects of TBI on cortical lesion area using immunohistochemical markers of TDP-43 proteinopathies. We analyzed the total percent of NEUN positive cells displaying TDP-43 nuclear mislocalization. We found that the percent of NEUN positive cells displaying TDP-43 nuclear mislocalization was significantly higher in cortical tissue following TBI when compared to the age-matched control brains. The cortical lesion area was analyzed for each injured brain sample, with respect to days post-injury (DPI), and it was found that there were no statistically significant differences between cortical lesion areas across time points. The percent of NEUN positive cells displaying TDP-43 nuclear mislocalization was analyzed for each cortical tissue sample, with respect to cortical lesion area, and it was found that there were no statistically significant differences between the percent of NEUN positive cells displaying TDP-43 nuclear mislocalization, with respect to cortical lesion area. In conclusion, we found no correlation between the percent of cortical NEUN positive cells displaying TDP-43 nuclear mislocalization with respect to the size of the cortical lesion area.

ContributorsWong, Jennifer (Author) / Stabenfeldt, Sarah (Thesis director) / Bjorklund, Reed (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05