IVACS Poster Competition Winners

The In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Section was pleased to sponsor its second student poster competition at this year's annual meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. There were a number of participants covering a wide range of topics. Each student was asked to give a five-minute overview of their poster followed by questions from the judges and other conveners. Judges for this competition included SIVB members Cynthia Goodman, William Smith and Lia Campbell. Each winner received a cash award and certificate generously made possible by donations from Kitchen Culture Kits, Inc. (Carol Stiff).

Bryan Sansom

First Place

Comparison of Fish Cell Line Responses to Chemicals and Process-affected Waters from the Oil Sands of Alberta, Canada

The extraction of bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands of Alberta, produces large volumes of tailings and process-affected waters (OSPW) that are stored on the operators’ leases before they are reclaimed. Reclamation of the fluid tailings components of the OSPW proposes to utilize end pit lakes (EPLs) where the OSPW is isolated by a water cap in which a lake system will develop. In order to be deemed successful, this lake must be capable of supporting a fish population. However, until the lake is commissioned and allowed to undergo natural bioremediation processes over time, it is difficult to predict how various fish populations will perform with chronic exposure to OSPW. Aspects of toxicity to biota, including fish, will be part of the evaluation of this technique. Through the use of established fish cell-lines, but more importantly new cell-lines developed from native fish to the oil sands region, an economical and non-lethal bioassay is being developed and validated to support reclamation planning. This tool will aid in designing the continuous monitoring programs which will be implemented in the full-scale EPLs. Use of experimental ponds/lakes containing OSPW provides a range of water quality for testing the suitability of this in vitro cell-line approach. Because of the scale and species selectivity, such testing could circumvent the need for transporting and testing using currently available fish bioassays. The fish cell line approach could lead to a prediction of fish survival and success in a range of OSPW impacted aquatic systems without the need to perform fish lethality tests. With the fish in vitro approach, predicting performance capability within aquatic reclamation habitats and impacts of OSPW (runoff, seepage, groundwaters) to fish habitats in receiving aquatic systems (local streams, Athabasca River) could be accomplished without the need to sacrifice of large numbers of test animals. Towards this goal, the present work evaluates the sensitivity of fish cell line bioassays and end-points to detect toxicity of oils sands chemicals such as naphthenic acids (NAs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), surfactants and salts that have been shown to be the main toxic components of OSPW. Additionally, direct testing of OSPW samples on fish cells, by mixing the test waters with media salts and adding directly to the cells in culture without prior extraction procedures, and an innovative triple-cell-line assay for increased sensitivity of chemical exposures will be presented.

Bryan Sansom, Departments of Biology, University of Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, CANADA. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology, 45:S45-46, 2009

Lindsey N. Fix

Second Place

The Effect of Green Tea Polyphenon 60 Treatment on miRNA Expression in MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells.

The beneficial effect of Green Tea on breast cancer prognosis has been widely documented in Eastern Countries identified as having high tea consumption rates. The biochemical basis of the observed anti-cancer characteristic has been documented as originating from the cellular effects of polyphenols extracted from Camellia sinensis leaf. The specific biological mechanism behind these properties has yet to be elucidated but present data implicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) may contribute to this regulatory mechanism. In the present study, MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells treated with polyphenon 60 were analyzed for cellular viability under various treatment concentrations. The cytotoxic effects of polyphenon 60 indicate that the biologically active polyphenols alter the cellular environment of breast cancer cells and cause cell death even at low physiological concentrations. We are currently performing miRNA microarray and qRT-PCR analysis to test the hypothesis that polyphenol-induced modification of the miRNA expression pattern contributes to the green tea effect on breast cancer development.

Lindsey N. Fix, East Carolina University, Department of Biology, Howell Science Complex S111A Greenville, NC 27834. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology, 45:S43, 2009

Submitted by Lia H. Campbell

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