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Title
Postmortem microbiome computational methods and applications
Creator
Kaszubinski, Sierra Frances
Date
2020
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Microbial communities have potential evidential utility for forensic applications. However, bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data varies widely among laboratories and can potentially affect downstream forensic analyses and data interpretations. To illustrate the importance of standardizing methodology, we compared analyses of postmortem microbiome samples using several bioinformatic pipelines, while varying minimum library size or the minimum number of sequences per sample...
Show moreMicrobial communities have potential evidential utility for forensic applications. However, bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data varies widely among laboratories and can potentially affect downstream forensic analyses and data interpretations. To illustrate the importance of standardizing methodology, we compared analyses of postmortem microbiome samples using several bioinformatic pipelines, while varying minimum library size or the minimum number of sequences per sample, and sample size. Using the same input sequence data, we found that pipeline significantly affected the microbial communities. Increasing minimum library size and sample size increased the number of low abundant and infrequent taxa detected. Our results show that bioinformatic pipeline and parameter choice significantly affect the resulting microbial communities, which is important for forensic applications. One such forensic application is the potential postmortem reflection of manner of death (MOD) and cause of death (COD). Microbial community metrics have linked the postmortem microbiome with antemortem health status. To further explore this association, we demonstrated that postmortem microbiomes could differentiate beta-dispersion among M/COD, especially for cardiovascular disease and drug-related deaths. Beta-dispersion associated with M/COD has potential forensic utility to aid certifiers of death by providing additional evidence for death determination. Additional supplemental files including tables of raw data and additional statistical tests are available in supplemental files online, denoted in the text as table 'S'.
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Title
The integration of computational methods and nonlinear multiphoton multimodal microscopy imaging for the analysis of unstained human and animal tissues
Creator
Murashova, Gabrielle Alyse
Date
2019
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Nonlinear multiphoton multimodal microscopy (NMMM) used in biological imaging is a technique that explores the combinatorial use of different multiphoton signals, or modalities, to achieve contrast in stained and unstained biological tissues. NMMM is a nonlinear laser-matter interaction (LMI), which utilizes multiple photons at once (multiphoton processes, MP). The statistical probability of multiple photons arriving at a focal point at the same time is dependent on the two-photon absorption ...
Show moreNonlinear multiphoton multimodal microscopy (NMMM) used in biological imaging is a technique that explores the combinatorial use of different multiphoton signals, or modalities, to achieve contrast in stained and unstained biological tissues. NMMM is a nonlinear laser-matter interaction (LMI), which utilizes multiple photons at once (multiphoton processes, MP). The statistical probability of multiple photons arriving at a focal point at the same time is dependent on the two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section of the molecule being studied and is incredibly difficult to satisfy using typical incoherent light, say from a light bulb. Therefore, the stimulated emission of coherent photons by pulsed lasers are used for NMMM applications in biomedical imaging and diagnostics.In this dissertation, I hypothesized that due to the near-IR wavelength of the Ytterbium(Yb)-fiber laser (1070 nm), the four MP-two-photon excited fluorescence (2PEF), second harmonic generation (SHG), three-photon excited fluorescence (3PEF) and third harmonic generation (THG), generated by focusing this ultrafast laser, will provide contrast to unstained tissues sufficient for augmenting current histological staining methods used in disease diagnostics. Additionally, I hypothesized that these NMMM images (NMMMIs) can benefit from computational methods to accurately separate their overlapping endogenous MP signals, as well as train a neural network for image classification to detect neoplastic, inflammatory, and healthy regions in the human oral mucosa. Chapter II of this dissertation explores the use of NMMM to study the effects of storage on donated red blood cells (RBCs) using non-invasive 2PEF and THG without breaching the blood storage bag. Unlike the lack of RBC fluorescence previously reported, we show that with two-photon (2P) excitation from an 800 nm source, and three-photon (3P) excitation from a 1060 nm source, there was sufficient fluorescent signal from hemoglobin as well as other endogenous fluorophores. Chapter III employs NMMM to establish the endogenous MP signals present in healthy excised and unstained mouse and Cynomolgus monkey retinas using 2PEF, 3PEF, SHG, and THG. We show the first epi-direction detected cross-section and depth-resolved images of unstained isolated retinas obtained using NMMM with an ultrafast fiber laser centered at 1070 nm and a 303038 fs pulse. Two spectrally and temporally distinct regions were shown; one from the nerve fiber layer (NFL) to the inner receptor layer (IRL), and one from the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and choroid. Chapter IV focuses on the use of minimal NMMM signals from a 1070 nm Yb-fiber laser to match and augment H&E-like contrast in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) biopsies. In addition to performing depth-resolved (DR) imaging directly from the paraffin block and matching H&E-like contrast, we showed how the combination of characteristic inflammatory 2PEF signals undetectable in H&E stained tissues and SHG signals from stromal collagen can be used to analytical distinguish healthy, mild and severe inflammatory, and neoplastic regions and determine neoplastic margins in a three-dimensional (3D) manner. Chapter V focuses on the use of computational methods to solve an inverse problem of the overlapping endogenous fluorescent and harmonic signals within mouse retinas. The least-squares fitting algorithm was most effective at accurately assigning photons from the NMMMIs to their source. This work, unlike commercial software, permits using custom signal source reference spectra from endogenous molecules, not from fluorescent tags and stains. Finally, Chapter VI explores the use of the OSCC images to train a neural network image classifier to achieve the overall goal of classifying the NMMMIs into three categories-healthy, inflammatory, and neoplastic. This work determined that even with a small dataset (< 215 images), the features present in NMMMIs in combination with tiling, transfer learning can train an image classifier to classify healthy, inflammatory, and neoplastic OSCC regions with 70% accuracy.My research successfully shows the potential of using NMMM in tandem with computational methods to augment current diagnostic protocols used by the health care system with the potential to improve patient outcomes as well as decrease pathology departmental costs. These results should facilitate the continued study and development of NMMM so that in the future, NMMM can be used for clinical applications.
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Title
Novel computational approaches to investigate microbial diversity
Creator
Zhang, Qingpeng
Date
2015
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
Species diversity is an important measurement of ecological communities.Scientists believe that there is a strong relationship between speciesdiversity and ecosystem processes. However efforts to investigate microbialdiversity using whole genome shotgun reads data are still scarce. With novel applications of data structuresand the development of novel algorithms, firstly we developed an efficient k-mer countingapproach and approaches to enable scalable streaming analysis of large and error...
Show moreSpecies diversity is an important measurement of ecological communities.Scientists believe that there is a strong relationship between speciesdiversity and ecosystem processes. However efforts to investigate microbialdiversity using whole genome shotgun reads data are still scarce. With novel applications of data structuresand the development of novel algorithms, firstly we developed an efficient k-mer countingapproach and approaches to enable scalable streaming analysis of large and error-prone short-read shotgun data sets. Then based on these efforts, we developed a statistical framework allowing for scalable diversity analysis of large,complex metagenomes without the need for assembly or reference sequences. Thismethod is evaluated on multiple large metagenomes from differentenvironments, such as seawater, human microbiome, soil. Given the velocity ingrowth of sequencing data, this method is promising for analyzing highlydiverse samples with relatively low computational requirements. Further, as themethod does not depend on reference genomes, it also provides opportunities totackle the large amounts of unknowns we find in metagenomicdatasets.
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Title
Reprogramming to the nervous system : a computational and candidate gene approach
Creator
Alicea, Bradly John
Date
2013
Collection
Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description
The creation of stem-like cells, neuronal cells, and skeletal muscle fibers from a generic somatic precursor phenotype has many potential applications. These uses range from cell therapy to disease modeling. The enabling methodology for these applications is known as direct cellular reprogramming. While the biological underpinnings of cellular reprogramming go back to the work of Gurdon and other developmental biologists, the direct approach is a rather recent development. Therefore, our...
Show moreThe creation of stem-like cells, neuronal cells, and skeletal muscle fibers from a generic somatic precursor phenotype has many potential applications. These uses range from cell therapy to disease modeling. The enabling methodology for these applications is known as direct cellular reprogramming. While the biological underpinnings of cellular reprogramming go back to the work of Gurdon and other developmental biologists, the direct approach is a rather recent development. Therefore, our understanding of the reprogramming process is largely based on isolated findings and interesting results. A true synthesis, particularly from a systems perspective, is lacking. In this dissertation, I will attempt to build toward an intellectual synthesis of direct reprogramming by critically examining four types of phenotypic conversion that result in production of nervous system components: induced pluripotency (iPS), induced neuronal (iN), induced skeletal muscle (iSM), and induced cardiomyocyte (iCM). Since potential applications range from tools for basic science to disease modeling and bionic technologies, the need for a common context is essential.This intellectual synthesis will be defined through several research endeavors. The first investigation introduces a set of experiments in which multiple fibroblast cell lines are converted to two terminal phenotypes: iN and iSM. The efficiency and infectability of cells subjected to each reprogramming regimen are then compared both statistically and quantitatively. This set of experiments also resulted in the development of novel analytical methods for measuring reprogramming efficiency and infectability. The second investigation features a critical review and statistical analysis of iPS reprogramming, specifically when compared to indirect reprogramming (SCNT-ES) and related stem-like cells. The third investigation is a review and theoretical synthesis which stakes out new directions in our understanding of the direct reprogramming process, including recent computational modeling endeavors and results from the iPS, iN and induced cardiomyocyte (iCM) experiments. To further unify the outcomes of these studies, additional results related to Chapter 2 and directions for future research will be presented. The additional results will allow for further interpretation and insight into the role of diversity in direct reprogramming. These future directions include both experimental approaches (a technique called mechanism disruption) and computational approaches (preliminary results for an agent-based population-level approximation of direct reprogramming). The insights provided here will hopefully provide a framework for theoretical development and a guide for traditional biologists and systems biologists alike.
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