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Bae, JuYun
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Boehm, Bayli
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Boley, Patricia
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Bolterstein, Elyse
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Booth, Clarissa
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Brody, Matthew
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Bultman, JoAnna
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Desotelle, Josh
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Elmergreen, Tammy
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Hutchinson, John
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Irving, Amy
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Irving, Roy
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Johnson, Brian
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Johnson, Delinda
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Jung-Hynes, Brittney
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Kumar, Kartik
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Lee, Narae
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Lorch, Jeff
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Mehta, Vatsal
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Novick, Rachel
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Park, Heesoo
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Pham, Ly
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Rhoads, Keelia
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Rufer, Echoleah
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Sand, Jordan
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Schmit, Travis
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Shan, Weihua
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Shanle, Erin
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Shetty, Ameesha
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Syed, Deeba
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Tarapore, Rohinton
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Wiecinski, Paige
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Wong, Letitia
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Yang, Sarah
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Yu, Min
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Zhao, Yun
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Calkins, Marcus
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Bellevue, Sherly
Sherly Bellevue
Master Candidate - Graduated Summer 2007
Native of Haiti
Lab of Eric Johnson, PhD
Contact Information
Email: Sherly Bellevue
Undergraduate Work
Queens College
Bachelors of Science, Interdisciplinary Chemistry & Math (2002)
Research as of August 2005
Loch Maree is a novel Clostridium botulinum A subtype, which produces BoNT/A3. The 1st outbreak of botulism attributable to this strain occurred at Loch Maree, United Kingdom in 1922. Previous research conducted by the Johnson lab, show this strain produces very little toxic (1000 LD50s/ml) compared to other type A strains. Type A1 and A2 strains both produce 2000-fold (2x106 LD50s/ml) more toxin than Loch Maree. Preliminary data indicate different A3 colonies produce varying amounts of toxin. This suggests that an extra-chromosomal component might be involved in toxin production, such as a phage or plasmid. However, more analysis is required to support this hypothesis. Additionally, it was found that the medium normally used to increase toxin production in type A strains (Type A Toxin Producing Media, TPM) was unable to elicit a similar response in A3. After trials with various media, a much richer medium was found to similar response in A3. After trails with various media, a much richer medium was found to increase A3 toxin production by 10-fold, when compared to the other type A controls strains (ATCC3502, Hall A-hyper, and 62A). Toxin production in the type A control strains remained unchanged. This result implies that A3 toxin production may be under a different regulatory mechanism in contrast to the Clostridium botulinum type A control strains. Further research is required to elucidate the mechanism by which Loch Maree produces toxin. The overall goal of my project is characterize Loch Maree by: (1) Optimizing toxin production by alterations of culture conditions, (2) Screening of mutant high-toxin producers. (3) Determining the location of the toxin gene (i.e. plasmid or phage, or chromosomal DNA). (4) Investigate the regulatory mechanism involved in A3 toxin production.
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