Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2023 Erin V. Chen. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. For all other uses, please contact the copyright holder.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Engineering Department, Chemistry & Biochemistry Department

First Advisor

E. Carr Everbach

Second Advisor

Liliya A. Yatsunyk

Abstract

G-quadruplex DNA structures are highly relevant subjects of biochemical study, implicated in human diseases and cancer. Conventional methods for G-quadruplex DNA structure separation are time-consuming, environmentally unfriendly, and low throughput. Thus, there is a pressing need for alternative methods of separation to be developed for G-quadruplex DNAs. Here we present work in designing a separation method using the capillary electrophoresis instrument. Capillary electrophoresis is a highly automated, reusable, and quantitative technique that separates analytes based on their size and charge. A capillary method for G-quadruplex separation would be a valuable analytical tool to supplement the biophysical methods available by addressing the pitfalls of conventional separation techniques. Through a series of informed experiments, we attempted to design a broadly applicable capillary electrophoresis method for G-quadruplex structural separation. Although a final method was not completed, we have engineered coupled experimental techniques to aid in the overall design process. Additionally, we demonstrated the presence of multiple structures within the capillary via non-symmetric peaks in the electropherogram.

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