Clive
Smith
Sponsor: Brie Tripp, Ph.D. Neuro Physio & Behavior Endometriosis has historically been framed as a disease of "civilization," only affecting white women of higher class. The racialization of this disease began with private patients being served, denoting the relationship of diagnosis to socioeconomic status and race. The lack of diagnosis in Black women in the mid- twentieth century resulted in an overwhelming lack of treatment for Black women with endometriosis today, with their symptoms frequently mischaracterized and dismissed. This has led to an acknowledgement and advocacy for the clinical consequences, we designed a case study exploring the lived experience of a Black woman who had a delayed endometriosis diagnosis. We will implement this case study in upper-division pre-health courses to task students with analyzing the physiological mechanisms of endometriosis in Black women in conjunction with to more fully identify causes, increase medical provider awareness of the injustice surrounding racialized care, and advocate to address endometriosis healthcare disparities. Systematic accountability in promoting ethical diagnostic protocols will improve the quality of treatment and equitability for anyone that may struggle with endometriosis. Investigation of Hyperfusion on Mitochondrial Transport by Constitutively Active Kinesin
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Authors:
Clive Smith
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Spindle positioning at the cortex in meiosis is a highly conserved process across many animal species necessary for the proper segregation of chromosomes during meiotic cell division in oocytes. Improper spindle positioning prevents polar body extrusion and can cause genetic defects in offspring. In C. elegans meiosis, it is hypothesized that inward packing of organelles by kinesin indirectly moves the spindle outward to the cortex by volume exclusion. In a kinesin-1 null mutant, the spindle is centered in the oocyte with organelles dispersed. Kinesin optogenetically fused to mitochondria in a kinesin-1 null background was sufficient to rescue spindle positioning to the cortex. An unexpected result found that the constitutively active kinesin-1 construct, K420::mkate::hingetail, was sufficient to pack yolk granules, another kinesin cargo, but not mitochondria. We hypothesized that increasing mitochondrial fusion could allow hingetail to pack mitochondria inward. To test this hypothesis, we used fluorescence microscopy to visualize fluorescently labeled mitochondria and K420::mkate::hingetail in the absence of drp-1, a mitochondrial fission protein. We found that hyperfused mitochondria were still not packed by K420::mkate::hingetail. Measurements of mitochondrial length are in progress to determine whether the drp-1 mutant had the expected effect. Earthen Materials Library Nook Kate Snyder
Source:
UC Davis / Ag Molecular & Cellular Bio / 2026
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Co-authors:
Clive Smith