School of Biology Theses and Dissertations
Original work in partial fulfillment of a graduate degree in the School of Biology
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Recent Submissions
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Dominance and exhibit use in captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana)
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-12-06)The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is a highly social species that typically lives in large, matrilineal family groups called herds which contain a linear dominance hierarchy between the adult females. Management ... -
Microbiome community change in the guts of marine fish: feeding and life stage transition as significant organizing factors
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-11-08)All animals harbor microbial communities (microbiomes) that play vital roles in host health, development, behavior, and evolution. Determining the processes that regulate microbiome diversity and function is therefore a ... -
Blood eQTL detection in structured populations and its application to interpretation of genetic association studies
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-11-09)Expression QTL (eQTL) detection has emerged as an important tool for unravelling the relationship between genetic risk factors and disease or clinical phenotypes. Most studies focus on analyses predicated on the assumption ... -
Genomic basis of evolutionary radiation in Lake Malawi cichlids
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-11-09)Understanding the genomic basis and origin of phenotypic variation is one of the fundamental questions of biology. Evolutionary radiations characterized by a range of natural phenotypic variants between genetically closely ... -
Effects of macroalgal versus coral reef dominance on coral survival, chemical defense, and microbiomes
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-10-24)Coral reefs are among the earth’s most biodiverse and productive ecosystems, but are undergoing precipitous decline due to coral bleaching and disease following thermal stress events, which are increasing in frequency and ... -
Regulation of the type VI secretion system in environmental isolates of vibrio cholerae
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-12-14)Vibrio cholerae is a human pathogen that causes the severe diarrheal disease cholera, but can also inhabit aquatic environments. The type-VI secretion system (T6SS) is a macromolecular contractile machine that injects ... -
Predation, competition, and facilitation on tropical reefs: implications for corals as reefs degrade
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-11-13)Tropical coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, but reefs worldwide have experienced dramatic declines in coral and often transitioned from coral- to macroalgal dominance. As local and ... -
Dissecting the role of linker histone H1 variants in embryonic stem cells
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-08-28)To further dissect the role of linker histone H1 in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), here, we have utilized a functional reconstitution approach to identify the regions of H1 proteins that are important to mediate neurite ... -
Fish response to macroalgal removal
Coral reefs are rapidly degrading into macroalgae dominated systems sustained through positive feedback loops. Macroalgae can harm corals directly via competition and indirectly via suppression of recruitment and increasing ... -
K-mer based data structures and heuristics for microbes and cancer
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-05-15)Recent technological advances allow for high throughput profiling of biological systems in a cost-efficient manner. The low cost of data generation is leading us to the “big data” era and the availability of big data ... -
Understanding pathways regulating liver versus pancreas fate decision and beta-cell regeneration
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-08-02)The liver and pancreas originate from common endodermal progenitors in early development. It has been shown that Bone morphogenetic protein 2b (Bmp2b) signaling is essential for determining the fate of these bipotential ... -
Applied bioinformatics for exploring diversity patterns in meta-omic data
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-04-25)This thesis explores the utility of applied bioinformatic approaches to better understand sequence space and phylogenetic diversity in meta-omic clinical and environmental datasets. In three chapters, the thesis describes ... -
Investigating ice slurry’s perceived mechanical abrasive quality to increase pathogen reduction on poultry during immersion chilling
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-04-26)The poultry industry is an integral part of Georgia’s economy, accounting for more than half of the state’s agricultural output. In Georgia, more than 20 million pounds of broiler meat are produced daily. Poultry processing ... -
Individualization of the pubic hair/pubic area microbiome and its potential as an indicator of sexual contact
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-03-29)The microbiome, specifically the human microbiome, is an area of intense research with potential forensic applications. If the microbiome of a given body area is individualizing, then the transfer of microbiomes between ... -
Understanding the mechanisms and consequences of DSB induced by palindromic DNA sequences
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-04-07)Palindromic DNA sequences, capable of forming hairpin or cruciform structures, are often a potent sources of genome instability by inducing double strand breakage (DSB). Studies on palindrome-induced instability have ... -
Discovery, characterization and mechanism of RNA and CDNA-mediated DNA double-strand break repair
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-04-06)A double-strand break (DSB) is one of the most deleterious DNA lesions and its repair is crucial for genome stability. Even if a single DSB is not repaired precisely, this could cause mutations, chromosomal rearrangements, ... -
Genetics of type VI secretion and natural transformation in Vibrio cholerae
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-01-13)The facultative waterborne pathogen Vibrio cholerae transitions between its human host and the environment where it colonizes chitinous surfaces in aquatic settings. Growth on chitin coordinates the induction of sets of ... -
Structural analysis of virus assembly by cryo-electron tomography: Measles virus and respiratory syncytial virus
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-03-27)Viruses, are such efficient nano-machines that they can pack all the genomic materials in a confined space essential for self-replication; and yet they are the smallest of living entities among all life forms. When studied ... -
Transposable element polymorphisms and human genome regulation
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-11-13)Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences that are capable of moving from one genomic location to another. A large proportion of the human genome is derived from TEs, and TE-derived sequences have been shown to contribute ... -
Population genetics and genomics of eusocial animals
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-11-09)Major evolutionary transitions have been associated with increases in organismal complexity. One of the latest evolutionary transitions is from solitary life to eusociality. This transition led to a reproductive division ...
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