Biology Speaker

David Donley | Harding University

“I’ve got iron on my mind: Exploring factors that shape the neuroinflammatory response of microglia”

1:30 PM Friday – Graduate Hotel

Microglia are highly plastic immune cells in the central nervous system that have multi-faceted responses to damage-associated signals. Chronic microglial activation and subsequent inflammation is linked to the progression of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by potentiating rather suppressing damage. Despite a well characterized phenotype of microglia, mechanism(s) that control their dynamic responses in disease are still poorly understood. To advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying microglial activation in disease, we stimulate cultured microglia with iron and amyloid-beta due to their correlation with pathological inflammation and neurological disease progression. Amyloid-beta and iron accumulate concurrent with AD progression and are associated with detrimental inflammatory responses from microglia. However, the mechanism of how amyloid-beta and iron converge to induce microglial dysfunction remains elusive. The Normal Mucosa of Esophagus-Specific gene 1 (NMES1) protein and its gene, C15orf48, appear to be an intersection point of iron and amyloid-beta. Intriguingly, a proteomics analysis showed amyloid-beta stimulation increased expression of NMES1 while the addition of iron suppressed this effect in microglia. Further, we found that suppression of NMES1 leads to hyperactivation of microglia stimulated with amyloid-beta, suggesting that iron suppresses the ability of microglia to regulate inflammation downstream of amyloid-beta. These results indicate that NMES1 may be a critical regulator of inflammation in AD but more work is needed to elucidate how iron disrupts C15orf48/NMES1 function during disease. Our data expands on the emerging understanding of the impact of iron dysregulation on the inflammatory response of microglia to disease stimuli such as amyloid-beta. Broadly our work contributes to a better understanding of mechanisms underlying chronic microglial inflammation in the context of AD, and other neurological diseases.

Chemistry Speaker

Sharon Hamilton | Ouachita Baptist University

“Developing Modern Materials for Biomedical Applications”

2:00 PM Friday – Graduate Hotel

Recent evolutions in the field of biomaterials have focused on developing materials that can facilely interface with biological systems to treat or replace tissues or functions of the body. Natural polymers including polysaccharides have been investigated as suitable biomaterials to mimic the environment of body tissues and facilitate tissue regeneration. Chitosan, collagen, and sodium alginate are water-soluble, natural macromolecules that have been used in applications such as cell scaffolding, drug delivery, and wound healing. Additionally, biocompatible synthetic polymers, such as poly(acrylic acid) and polylactones, are of significant importance within the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biomedical implants. Both natural and synthetic polymers can be modified to attach biomimetic and bioactive moieties to further enhance the final macromolecular product. Electrospinning polymers yields nanofibers that have shown promise in a variety of biomedical applications, including tissue scaffolds. Modern wound healing treatments have capabilities including preventing infection and encouraging cell growth; however, little research has been published on the development of synthetic analogs to costly biomolecules. Dr. Hamilton’s lab investigates the development of biomimetic polymers through the modification of commercially available polymeric backbones as well as the polymerization of functionalized monomers. It is anticipated that these biomimics will prove to be suitable materials for use in a variety of applications including wound healing.

Physics Speaker

Hiro Nakamura | University of Arkansas – Fayetteville

“Towards Quantum Frequency Conversion in 2D Materials”

2:30 PM Friday – Graduate Hotel

Many modern optical technologies such as lasers and optical modulators have one component in common, which is called nonlinear optical materials. Recently, atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials were found to possess extremely large nonlinear optical properties, together with the ability to interact with light significantly despite being so thin. In this talk, first I will introduce the concept of nonlinearity in optics and some of the wonders of 2D materials focusing on strong light-matter interactions. Next, I will share ongoing efforts in our group to (1) explore nonlinear frequency conversion in various types of ultrathin materials and (2) develop unique experimental probe (laser ARPES) to uncover how light interacts with materials in ultrafast time scales. Our vision is that these fundamental insights will pave the way to quantum frequency conversion, a key element to build future quantum applications such as quantum computing in a scalable manner.