Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item The clinical nurse leader role in accreditation of a rural stem cell transplant center(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2021) Huleatt-Baer, Rachel Erin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Denise RiveraIn 2020 the National Cancer Institute's annual estimation of newly diagnosed cancer cases was reported at 1,806,590, with 606,520 people expected to die from cancer during the year. In 2017, cancer was the second leading cause of death in the United States. Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant is an intervention used to manage and cure hematologic malignancies, extend life, and improve quality of life. A microsystem assessment was completed for a rural stem cell transplant center located in the western United States to better understand factors associated with deficiencies cited during accreditation renewal process. A Clinical Nurse Leader, certified in oncology nursing, is uniquely positioned to act as an expert clinician within the stem cell transplant center and support attainment of accreditation renewal. Eight accreditation priorities were identified through the microsystem assessment that fall within the expertise of the Clinical Nurse Leader. A color-coded scorecard was investigated, and a draft tool was adapted to link CNL competencies with accreditation standards and deficiencies. The proposed scorecard will help monitor client-based improvement measures and guide accreditation success.Item Complexation of lipids with cyclodextrin carriers for fully defined supplementation of cell culture(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Corbin, Elizabeth Dale; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Edward Dratz and Renee Reijo Pera (co-chair)Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for revolutionizing medicine and research. Scientists are currently able to reprogram adult cells of almost any type to a genetically 'open' state, pluripotency, wherein they lose the characteristics of their original cell type, and revert to a state that can reproduce indefinitely, and can be differentiated to many different cell types. IPSCs are currently grown in 'chemically defined' media that contains no animal derived components. This media eliminates animal and human sera because these tend to be quite variable and confound the reprogramming process, but the chemically defined media in use has almost no lipid content. The central goal of this project was to develop methods for chemically defined addition of lipids to cell culture media. The methods developed promise to be an advance in stem cell and general cell culture methodology, providing more reproducible experimental results, and supporting cells in culture with optimized lipid contents. In order to facilitate the addition of lipids to cell culture media without animal serum or serum albumin, complexation of individual lipids with a methyl beta-cyclodextrin starch was accomplished without addition of other molecules or oxidation of delicate lipids at a 1:1 stoichiometry. The lipid/MBCD complexes are soluble in aqueous media, and can be added individually or as a mixture to cell cultures. Application of complexed lipids to stem cells and fibroblasts revealed significant differences in lipid responses. Supplementation of human fibroblasts with a mixture of complexed lipids and other elements caused a 60% increase in proliferation over a 10 day period. Supplementation of stem cells with complexed lipids significantly increased proliferation, without reduction of pluripotency. Differences in lipid responses were also found between iPSC and embryonic stem cells, that may help elucidate differences between genetic or metabolic states which may point the way for more effective reprogramming of adult cells to pluripotency.Item Hyper-spectral microscope: auto-focusing(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2018) Lozano, Kora Michelle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ross K. SniderThis thesis is part of a larger project to develop a hyper-spectral microscope, to be used to find the optimal growing conditions for human inducible pluripotent stem cells. The hyper-spectral microscope is being developed by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana State University (MSU). Specifically, the hyper-spectral microscope is being developed to aide in live cell imaging, reduce cell stress from laser excitation, increase the number of markers possible at once, and keep costs down compared to non-hyper-spectral set-ups of similar capability. To the knowledge of those involved in this project it is the first of its kind. The scope of this thesis centers on implementing an auto-focusing algorithm for the hyper-spectral imager.Item Mouse and stem cell models of frontotemporal dementia(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2012) Orr, Miranda Ethel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: George A. Carlson; Frances Lefcort (co-chair)Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent brain disease in the United States, and an escalating health concern. AD patient brains acquire hallmark protein aggregates, referred to as senile A beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), that coincide with brain cell loss and dementia. A subset of AD patients carry mutant genes. Our understanding of AD largely relies on model systems that express these gene variants. Mice engineered to express AD-mutant human genes develop A beta plaques, but fail to develop the tau-containing NFTs or cell loss. Mutant tau variants are required to induce NFTs and neuronal loss in mice, but AD patients carry normal tau genes. The inability of mouse tau to become a pathogenic protein in the presence of AD-mutant gene variants, and the general insufficiency of the current systems to recapitulate AD, inspired the research described here. To determine if species differences between mouse and human tau inhibit the progression of AD in mice, I utilized a well-characterized mouse model of a related disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD). FTD mice carry mutant human tau and develop NFTs and cell loss. I ablated mouse tau in FTD mice and looked for signs of more severe pathology. I compared the FTD mice, with and without mouse tau, to FTD mice with and without wild type human tau to investigate potential tau species-specific differences. My studies indicated that wild type tau, mouse or human, dampened the pathological effects of FTD tau implying a general, not mouse-specific, effect of normal tau protein. Our data suggest that unknown factors, distinct from endogenous mouse tau, contribute to the inability of mice to model AD. The recent interest in patient-specific stem cell (SC) models to study disease necessitates a thorough evaluation of their ability to recapitulate key characteristics of disease, reproducibility, and longevity. I generated and characterized brain SC cultures from FTD fetal mice and compared them to those generated from mice with normal human tau. Significant genotype associated differences were discovered in the SC system and later verified in adult mice to reinforce the potential of patient-specific SC models to study disease.Item The pose of neutrality in social documentary films(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Van Laanen, Michael Whitney; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias.From the outset, documentary filmmakers have sought to achieve the unobtainable goal of re-presenting reality in a purely objective manner. What began with an attempt to document a dying/evolving culture in Flaherty's Nanook of the North led to a century of debate about how closely documentary film could come to achieving the ultimate goal of representing our historical and social world accurately, objectively, and truthfully. The stem cell research debate has produced three documentaries that illustrate two models of filmmaking process: engaged filmmaking and non-engaged filmmaking. Within these two models, the filmmaker may utilize certain aesthetic techniques of vision and voice that reveal subjective manipulation. I intend to show how the rhetoric of the filmmaker presides over the content even when he presumes to maintain an objective stance.