The long-term objective for the MBRS program is to strengthen the biomedical research at Texas A&I so that both students and faculty can better serve the health care needs of the community int he future. The MBRS faculty will continue to do biomedical research with students, publish in professional journals, and motivate students to pursue biomedically related careers. Dr. Perez and students will continue purifying hemorrhagic and antihemorrhagic factors with high performance liquid chromatography and affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibodies. Studies on the mechanism of neutralization will be published within the next funding period. Dr. Hays and his students will determine the amino acid sequence of protease in C. atrox venom. The structure/function relationship of the hemorrhagic toxin(s) will then be investigated. Several derivatization will be performed, including lysine carbamylation, lysine guanidination, and lysine dansylation. The resulting modified hemorrhagic toxins will then be tested for ability to cause hemorrhage using the rabbit skin test method. In addition, carboxymethylated proteins will be fragmented and the derivatized fragments located. These experiments are designed to determine the structure/function relationship of the toxins. Dr. Graham and students will investigate the folk medical beliefs and practices among Mexican Americans in South Texas. The project will evaluate the efficacy of the herbal herbs which are toxic. The results of this investigation will be made available to folk medicine practitioners and their prospective clientele in the region, as well as to the scientific community. Dr. Torres-Raines and her students will study the social and psychological dynamics of obesity in Mexican-American women. Obesity is prevalent in South Texas and is associated with major health problems. The major objective is to determine to what extent obesity in women is influenced by cultural, socioeconomic and generational factors.
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