Demographic diversity is not represented in the HIV/AIDS workforce. Engagement of underrepresented trainees as early as high school may address this disparity.
We established the Penn Center for AIDS ...Research (CFAR) Scholars Program, a mentored research experience for underrepresented minority (URM) trainees spanning educational stages from high school to medical school. The program provides participants with tailored educational programming, professional skill building, and mentored research experiences. We conducted qualitative interviews with scholar, mentor, and leadership groups to evaluate the program's impact.
Eleven participants were selected to partake in 1 of 5 existing mentored research programs as CFAR scholars. Scholars attended an 8-week HIV Seminar Series that covered concepts in the basic, clinical, behavioral, and community-based HIV/AIDS research. Program evaluation revealed that scholars' knowledge of HIV pathophysiology and community impact increased because of these seminars. In addition, they developed tangible skills in literature review, bench techniques, qualitative assessment, data analysis, and professional network building. Scholars reported improved academic self-efficacy and achieved greater career goal clarity. Areas for improvement included clarification of mentor-mentee roles, expectations for longitudinal mentorship, and long-term engagement between scholars. Financial stressors, lack of social capital, and structural racism were identified as barriers to success for URM trainees.
The Penn CFAR Scholars Program is a novel mentored research program that successfully engaged URM trainees from early educational stages. Barriers and facilitators to sustained efforts of diversifying the HIV/AIDS workforce were identified and will inform future program planning.
Understanding the impact of viral pathogens on the human central nervous system (CNS) has been challenging due to the lack of viable human CNS models for controlled experiments to determine the ...causal factors underlying pathogenesis. Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and, more recently, cellular reprogramming of adult somatic cells to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide opportunities for directed differentiation to neural cells that can be used to evaluate the impact of known and emerging viruses on neural cell types. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can be induced to neural lineages in either two- (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) cultures, each bearing distinct advantages and limitations for modeling viral pathogenesis and evaluating effective therapeutics. Here we review the current state of technology in stem cell-based modeling of the CNS and how these models can be used to determine viral tropism and identify cellular phenotypes to investigate virus-host interactions and facilitate drug screening. We focus on several viruses (e.g., human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Zika virus (ZIKV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), SARS-CoV-2, West Nile virus (WNV)) to illustrate key advantages, as well as challenges, of PSC-based models. We also discuss how human PSC-based models can be used to evaluate the safety and efficacy of therapeutic drugs by generating data that are complementary to existing preclinical models. Ultimately, these efforts could facilitate the movement towards personalized medicine and provide patients and physicians with an additional source of information to consider when evaluating available treatment strategies.
Cell‐free protein expression, also known as in vitro protein synthesis is a convenient and fast method for protein production. It bypasses the need to culture living cells, which can be time and ...resource consuming. Among multiple cell‐free protein expression systems available, the wheat germ extract system has become a popular choice for producing eukaryotic proteins due to high yields and commercial availability. The goal of this work was to generate a fluorescence‐based reporter plasmid to be used in wheat germ based cell‐free protein expression system. Because of its unique optical properties, the Green Fluorescent Protein (deGFP) can be used as a positive control during high‐throughput synthesis of proteins by a cell‐free system. To construct the reporter plasmid, Gibson Assembly strategy was used to clone a deGFP gene in a wheat germ extract compatible plasmid. The deGFP gene was successfully cloned in two plasmids, bearing a hexahistidine tag on either the N‐, or C‐terminus of GFP. The clones were validated by Sanger DNA sequencing. After validation, protein expression was confirmed by western blotting using an anti‐His antibody. The reporter plasmid will be used as a positive control during high‐throughput production of eukaryotic transcription factors by wheat germ cell free protein synthesis.
Support or Funding Information
Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE), GRANT 5R25GM061151‐17
This is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this published in The FASEB Journal.
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