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  1. Levy, Yaakov Koby (Ed.)

    Co-assembling peptides can be crafted into supramolecular biomaterials for use in biotechnological applications, such as cell culture scaffolds, drug delivery, biosensors, and tissue engineering. Peptide co-assembly refers to the spontaneous organization of two different peptides into a supramolecular architecture. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to quantify the effect of anionic amino acid type on co-assembly dynamics and nanofiber structure in binary CATCH(+/-) peptide systems. CATCH peptide sequences follow a general pattern: CQCFCFCFCQC, where all C’s are either a positively charged or a negatively charged amino acid. Specifically, we investigate the effect of substituting aspartic acid residues for the glutamic acid residues in the established CATCH(6E-) molecule, while keeping CATCH(6K+) unchanged. Our results show that structures consisting of CATCH(6K+) and CATCH(6D-) form flatter β-sheets, have stronger interactions between charged residues on opposing β-sheet faces, and have slower co-assembly kinetics than structures consisting of CATCH(6K+) and CATCH(6E-). Knowledge of the effect of sidechain type on assembly dynamics and fibrillar structure can help guide the development of advanced biomaterials and grant insight into sequence-to-structure relationships.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 4, 2024
  2. Abstract Results are reported for Mn intercalated Zr 2 Te 2 P, where x-ray diffraction , energy dispersive spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal that the van der Waals bonded Te–Te layers are partially filled by Zr and Mn ions. This leads to the chemical formulas Zr 0.07 Zr 2 Te 2 P and Mn 0.06 Zr 0.03 Zr 2 Te 2 P for the parent and substituted compounds, respectively. The impact of the Mn ions is seen in the anisotropic magnetic susceptibility, where Curie–Weiss fits to the data indicate that the Mn ions are in the divalent state. Heat capacity and electrical transport measurements reveal metallic behavior, but the electronic coefficient of the heat capacity ( γ Mn ≈ 36.6 mJ (mol·K 2 ) −1 ) is enhanced by comparison to that of the parent compound. Magnetic ordering is seen at T M ≈ 4  K, where heat capacity measurements additionally show that the phase transition is broad, likely due to the disordered Mn distribution. This transition also strongly reduces the electronic scattering seen in the normalized electrical resistance. These results show that Mn substitution simultaneously introduces magnetic interactions and tunes the electronic state, which improves prospects for inducing novel behavior in Zr 2 Te 2 P and the broader family of ternary tetradymites. 
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  3. Chinn, C. ; Tan, E. ; Chan, C. ; Kali, Y. (Ed.)
    Computational thinking (CT) is ubiquitous in modern science, yet rarely integrated at the elementary school level. Moreover, access to computer science education at the PK-12 level is inequitably distributed. We believe that access to CT must be available earlier and implemented with the support of an equitable pedagogical framework. Our poster will describe our Accessible Computational Thinking (ACT) research project exploring professional development with elementary teachers on integrating computational thinking with Culturally Responsive Teaching practices. 
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  4. Chinn, C. ; Tan, E. ; & Kali, Y. (Ed.)
    Computational thinking (CT) is ubiquitous in modern science, yet rarely integrated at the elementary school level. Moreover, access to computer science education at the PK-12 level is inequitably distributed. We believe that access to CT must be available earlier and implemented with the support of an equitable pedagogical framework. Our poster will describe our Accessible Computational Thinking (ACT) research project exploring professional development with elementary teachers on integrating computational thinking with Culturally Responsive Teaching practices. 
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  5. The transitions between epithelial (E) and mesenchymal (M) cell phenotypes are essential in many biological processes like tissue development and cancer metastasis. Previous studies, both modeling and experimental, suggested that in addition to E and M states, the network responsible for these phenotypes exhibits intermediate phenotypes between E and M states. The number and importance of such states is subject to intense discussion in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) community. Previous modeling efforts used traditional bifurcation analysis to explore the number of the steady states that correspond to E, M and intermediate states by varying one or two parameters at a time. Since the system has dozens of parameters that are largely unknown, it remains a challenging problem to fully describe the potential set of states and their relationship across all parameters. We use the computational tool DSGRN (Dynamic Signatures Generated by Regulatory Networks) to explore the intermediate states of an EMT model network by computing summaries of the dynamics across all of parameter space. We find that the only attractors in the system are equilibria, that E and M states dominate across parameter space, but that bistability and multistability are common. Even at extreme levels of some of the known inducers of the transition, there is a certain proportion of the parameter space at which an E or an M state co-exists with other stable steady states. Our results suggest that the multistability is broadly present in the EMT network across parameters and thus response of cells to signals may strongly depend on the particular cell line and genetic background. 
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