The proposed MBRS program is designed to address the professional growth needs of faculty to remain or become active in basic research and to contribute valid, original data which (as a long-term goal) can be integrated with the data of others, refined, and used by health-providers in prophylactic and/or therapeutic practices. The program intimately involves student participants who are provided the basis for graduate school in a biomedical science area. The projects are in biochemistry, gerontology, immunology, and psychology. In biochemistry, the project should provide data regarding gene organization and transcription in the eukaryote using a fungal system. In addition to information on discontinuous genes, it may provide unique information regarding the fungal genome that could be used in the management of fungal infections in mammals. The gerontological project is expected to provide insight into special nutritional needs of the aged population by defining the relationship between energy production-changes in mitochondria as a function of aging. The substrate preference of mitochondria in aged animal models will be explored in addition to the quantity and quality of enzymes in specific tissues and those changes that are detectable as the animal ages. The project in immunology proposes to determine the level of macrophage activation in animals immunized with the neoantigen generated on cell membranes by glutaraldehyde and to investigate the possibility that such immunizations could safely be used as a prophylactic or therapeutic tool in tumor management. The problem in psychology seeks to clarify the nature of intermodal organization in the sighted as compared with the visually impaired. Date obtained should result in the development of improved methods of educating the visually impaired. Such improvements should result in a better state of emotional health of such individuals. The conduct of the proposed research will increase the research capabilities of our institution by providing well-equipped and utilized laboratories in which the scientific curiosity of both faculty and students can be addressed.
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