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The 5-year survival rate for late-stage metastatic melanoma is only ~30%. A major reason for this low survival rate is that one of the most commonly mutated genes in melanoma, NRAS, has no FDA-approved targeted therapies. Because the RAS protein does not have any targeted therapies, patients with RAS mutant tumors have an ongoing need for treatments that indirectly target RAS. This thesis project aims to identify expression and phosphorylation levels of proteins downstream of RAS in melanoma cell lines with the most common driver mutations. By analyzing the protein-level differences between these genetic mutants, we hope to identify additional indirect RAS protein targets for the treatment of NRAS mutant melanoma. RAS has several downstream effector proteins involved in oncogenic signaling pathways including FAK, Paxillin, AKT, and ERK. 5 melanoma cell lines (2 BRAF mutant, 2 NRAS mutant, and 1 designated wildtype) were analyzed using western bloting for FAK, Paxillin, AKT, and ERK phosphorylation and total expression levels. The results of western blot analysis showed that NRAS mutant cell lines had increased expression of phosphorylated Paxillin. Increased Paxillin phosphorylation corresponds to increased Paxillin binding at the FAT domain of FAK. Therefore, cell lines with increased FAK FAT – Paxillin interaction would be more sensitive to FAK FAT domain inhibition. The data presented provide an an explanation for the reduction in cell viability in NRAS mutant cell lines infected with Ad-FRNK. This information also has significant clinical relevance as researchers work to develop synthetic FAK FAT domain inhibitors, such as cyclic peptides. Additionally, cell lines with high levels of phosphorylated AKT showed a significant reduction in the amount of phosphorylated ERK. The identification of this inverse relationship may help to explain why BRAF and NRAS mutations are mutually exclusive. To conclude, NRAS mutant cell lines have increased expression of phosphorylated Paxillin and AKT which may explain why NRAS mutant cell lines are more sensitive to FAK FAT domain inhibition.
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My thesis, Design of Hierarchically Porous Materials Containing Covalent Organic Frameworks, focuses on testing the validity of incorporating nanoporous organic materials into macroporous scaffolding to improve the functionality of covalent organic frameworks as materials for filtration applications. The macroporous scaffold was based off of a material recently described in literature and the bulk of the experimentation was focused on the effects of the necessary processing for the creation of the macroporous material on the structure of the covalent organic frameworks. The property primarily investigated was the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, as the applicability of the frameworks is largely determined by their nanoporous surface area.
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The recent discoveries of 2D van der Waals (vdW) materials have led to the realization of 2D magnetic crystals. Previously debated and thought impossible, transition metal halides (TMH) have given rise to layer dependent magnetism. Using these TMH as a basis, an alloy composing of Fe1-xNixCl2 (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 1) was grown using chemical vapor transport. The intrigue for this alloy composition stems from the interest in spin canting and magnet moment behavior since NiCl2 has in-plane ferromagnetism whereas FeCl2 has out-of-plane ferromagnetism. While in its infancy, this project lays out a foundation to fully develop and characterize this TMH via cationic alloying. To study the magnetic properties of this alloy system, Vibrating Sample Magnetometry was employed extensively to measure the magnetism as a function of temperature as well as applied magnetic field. Future work with use a combination of X-Ray Diffraction, Raman, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy Mapping to verify homogeneous alloying rather than phase separation. Additionally, ellipsometry will be used with Kramer-Kronig relations to extract the dielectric constant from Fe1-xNixCl2. This work lays the foundation for future, fruitful work to prepare this vdW cationic alloy for eventual device applications.