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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Anupam Aich-</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> PhD Defense Announcement<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">DATE:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> Thursday, April 16, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">TIME:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> 10:00 a.m.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.1in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">PLACE:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> Mechanical Engineering Conference Room (Small)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">DISSERTATION CHAIR:
</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Dr. Peter Vekilov<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="margin-right:.1in"><div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><hr size="2" width="100%" align="center"></span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">TITLE: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:.1in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">A Free Heme Perspective to Sickle Hemoglobin Polymerization<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Abstract<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">Sickle cell hemoglobin (HbS) polymerization is considered to be the primary pathogenic event in the sickle cell anemia. Many cellular and molecular factors have been identified
so far as contributor towards the polymerization event. The free heme, prosthetic group of hemoglobin, is one such small molecule which has been previously shown to enhance the polymerization by orders of magnitude and removal of free heme from the supersaturated
HbS solution stops the polymerization completely. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">In the present study we set out to investigate the free heme concentration in normal adult and sickle cell erythrocytes. We used an enzymatic chemiluminescence assay for the
determination of free heme in erythrocytes. The average free heme concentration in sickle cell patients is 44±9
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; ">m</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">M, in sickle trait individuals—33±4
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; ">m</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">M, and in healthy adults—20±2
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; ">m</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">M. We also found that heme release is autocatalytic and results from spectral determination
of methemoglobin percentages over time indicate towards well known higher susceptibility of sickle hemoglobin to autoxidation as mechanism for the release. We propose a link between physiological oxidative stress and autocatalytic heme release through imbalance
in the reductase homeostasis in the erythrocytes. Inherent kinetic instability of autocatalytic processes may contribute to the known variability of the patients. Looking at the previous polymerization experiments and combining the current results we propose
free heme and its release factors to be new targets for therapeutic and drug discovery for sickle cell anemia disease. We also provide a preliminary design of a cell separation device based on deformability induced margination flow for fractionating sickled
and unsickled cells in 100% deoxygenated condition. If completed in future, this device promises a biomarker detection platform for sickle cell disease.
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