High Throughput Cell Viability Screening of Novel Small Molecule Inhibitors of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

High Throughput Cell Viability Screening of Novel Small Molecule Inhibitors of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

Mentor(s): Feng-Song Wang

Graduate

Poster Presentation

Alzheimer's disease is the most fatal neurodegenerative disease and affects over 5 million Americans. It is a progressive brain disease that destroys neurons leading to the degradation of memory and cognitive skills. A key hallmark of Alzheimer’s is the amyloid precursor protein being cleaved into toxic oligomers of amyloid-beta plaques. This amyloidogenesis induces a stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resulting in calcium dyshomeostasis and eventually cell death. In this study, BGMK cells were cultured and maintained for high throughput cell viability screening. A method was derived to simulate the ER stress of Alzheimer’s disease, using the stress inducers thapsigargin and hydrogen peroxide. Initial screenings were performed using trypan blue. Subsequent protocols were experimentally modified, using a low cytotoxicity, water-soluble, tetrazolium salt formazan dye. Unlike most viability screenings, this analysis allowed for the continued use of the cells post staining. This method was then applied to initial screenings of potential therapeutic small molecules that would reduce ER stress by restoring calcium homeostasis. After narrowing the molecules down to prospective targets, the assay was utilized for the dose response analysis while monitoring cell cytotoxicity. This protocol exhibits promise in cell-based, dose-dependent studies on the cytoprotective effects of ER stress inhibitors for the therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Optimization of Pilot Overhead in Two-way Communication over Time-variant Fading Channels

Mentor(s): Besma Smida

Graduate

Poster Presentation

Inserting training symbols throughout the transmission rather than a long training sequence at the beginning is particularly suitable for transmissions over rapidly fading time varying channels. In this paper, our objective is to find out a throughput expression and estimate the channel state information for equi-powered transmitted pilot and data symbols with special Doppler spectra. We consider a two node system where we wish to exchange data over, a frequency division duplex, wireless additive white Gaussian noise with time selective fading channel. The data and resources allocated to feedback and channel estimation may share the same link, leading to interesting trade off. An expression that captures the tradeoffs between allocation resources for feedback (which combines limited CSI feedback and ARQ), channel estimation on the overall achievable throughput in each direction considering ideal low pass Doppler spectrum along with optimal spacing of pilot symbols is numerically evaluated. In particular, we obtain the optimal resource allocations corresponding to different channel conditions, transmitter protocols and receiver feedback protocols. How the error in channel estimation in re-transmission attempts due to past memory of pilot and previous transmissions, affect the performance of two-way communication is another major discussion in this paper.

Index Terms: Pilot symbol assisted modulation, Doppler spectra, bi-directional communications, throughput, ARQ, CSI.

Test-bed: Backscatter Modulation for Full-duplex Wireless Sensors

Elijah Wilson

Mentor(s): Besma Smida

Graduate

Poster Presentation

Backscatter modulation has been used for radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for many years and has made creating identification tags very economical for industry. Although the primary usage for backscatter modulation has been for RFID systems, the goal of this research is to test the feasibility of implementing backscatter modulation as a method of information transfer. In order to conduct this research, a modified backscatter system must be designed and constructed. The system must consist of 3 separate units. Two units are for the primary transmitter and receiver, while the third unit will be constructed to have backscatter modulation capability including the ability to demodulate the received signal. The use of GNU Radio, which is a free and open-source software development toolkit, and Ettus Research USRP boards allow for the implementation and testing of different modulation techniques along with a range of frequencies to transmit and receive data for the two-way backscatter modulation system. The characteristics of the communication system will be measured and evaluated relative to other investigations performed involving backscatter modulated communication systems through a series of tests.

2015 RASC-AL (Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Exploration) Robo-Ops Competition Controlling and Communication Part

Wenjie Lin and Ke Shi

Mentor(s): Donald Gray

Undergraduate

Oral Presentation

The current system of the rover will be achieved by implementing a system using the dc motors, motor controllers, microcontroller, onboard router, WI-FI (Wireless Fidelity) module, cameras, and computers. This system will allow riders to see the view of the rover in real time, to control the rover from distance through the internet, via the wireless communication, and to make reservations using a robotic arm to pick rocks. The completed system will make the rover able to travel through different terrains in any place covered by WI-FI, following the instruction of drivers who are located remotely. With four DCMs (Direct Current Motor), an electronic steering differential control system was used in controlling module. The instruction signal received by the STC89C52RC microcontroller via the Wi-Fi module. The microcontroller drives four DCMs with four motor controllers in the test. Communication system is separated in two individual parts. One is the channel for transmitting the instruction signal from campus computers to the server, and then to the rover through the Wi-Fi module. The other one is the channel for sending the visual information from cameras to the server via the on-board mini router, which has a static IP (Internet Protocol) address distributed by a host router in test. The microcontroller will changed into Beagle Bone Black Board module with a Linux programming environment in the competition, and it’s capable to process some data, which collected from cameras, and send it to the server via the Wi-Fi module.

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