Date on Senior Honors Thesis

3-2024

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.S.

Department

Biology

Degree Program

College of Arts and Sciences

Committee Chair

Demarco, Rafael

Committee Member

Thompson, Lee

Committee Member

Hwangbo, Dae-Sung

Author's Keywords

stem cells; lipids; lip3; spartin; lipophagy

Abstract

With an increase in the average age of the American population, incidents of age-related diseases and illnesses are rising across healthcare communities. Addressing these pathologies with a focus towards novel treatments warrants further research into their mechanistic origins. Lipid build up within cells has been correlated with increased risk for certain pathologies, namely Alzheimer's disease and type-2 diabetes (Demarco, 2020). In this study I aimed to investigate the origin of the increase in lipids, specifically we consider the effects of lipid build up on the maintenance of stem cell populations.

Lay Summary

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to maintain our tissues and organs by giving rise to specialized functional cells. Stem cells give rise to the many types of cells and continue to replenish the damaged and dying cells within our bodies.

Age-related disorders are often associated with depleted stem cell populations, which promote the accumulation of damaged cells. One cause related to the loss of a stem cell population is the accumulation of lipids (fat) where they should not be. When cells are unable to breakdown lipids they build up and cause cellular malfunctions, which may result in human diseases. In this thesis I investigate the role of genes involved in the breakdown of fat. By silencing genes that participate in the breakdown of lipids in stem cells, one can understand the role of such gene in fat metabolism and stem cell behavior.

Genes associated with a recycling of fate process called "lipophagy" were found to control stem cell behavior. When these lipophagy-asscociated genes were silenced, I observed a decrease in germline stem cell maintenance. Current research is focusing on understanding through which mechanisms lipophagy act to control stem cell behavior.

Download

Share

COinS