QSpace

Queen's Scholarship & Digital Collections

QSpace is an open access repository for scholarship and research produced at Queen's University. QSpace offers faculty, students, staff, and researchers a free and secure home to preserve and present their scholarship.

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Digital Collections 5940
This community includes digital collections produced by members of the Queen’s community, as well as digital special collections made available via W.D. Jordan Rare Books & Special Collections.
Exams & Syllabi 0
This community provides access for staff and students at Queen’s University to degree examination papers and syllabi. To access Exams & Syllabi off campus please login using your Queen's NetID and password.
Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects 10245
This community includes graduate theses, dissertations and projects produced by students at Queen’s University.
McGill-Queen's University Press 10
Scholarly Contributions 14587
This community includes Queen’s peer-reviewed research publications, including journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and more.

Recent Submissions

Access status: Embargo ,
Investigating the Role of Subcellular RET Receptor Localization in Tumorigenesis
Walker, Timothy Joseph; Pathology and Molecular Medicine; Mulligan, Lois
The REarranged during Transfection (RET) receptor tyrosine kinase is essential for normal development and has well-established roles in oncogenesis. The internalization and subcellular trafficking of RET is critical to the regulation of RET signalling, thus disruptions in these processes promotes aberrant localization, modified signals, and cell transformation. RET contributes to several cancers either through overexpression of the wildtype (WT) receptor or through gain-of-function mutation. Overexpression of WT-RET has been shown to stimulate the growth and spread of cancers such as breast and pancreatic, while activating RET point mutations are known to drive development of the cancer syndrome multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2). MEN2 is characterized by the development of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and the adrenal medullary tumour pheochromocytoma (PCC). WT-RET overexpression has been observed in PCC, however, no role for WT-RET has yet been established. Here we showed that, in a PCC model lacking the PCC-associated tumour suppressor TMEM127, clathrin-mediated endocytosis was impaired, and RET internalization was reduced. Reduced internalization led to an overexpression of RET protein on the plasma membrane (PM), which stimulated constitutive signalling and cell proliferation. Given the effect that mis-localization had on the activity of the autoinhibited WT-RET receptor, it was of great interest to assess the role that localization played in modifying the activity of RET mutants. The MEN2A and MEN2B subtypes have distinct phenotypes and are driven by different mutations that constitutively activate RET through different mechanisms. Here, we show that MEN2-RET mutants constitutively internalize and recycle back to the PM, which increases cell surface abundance and delays degradation. We observed that RET mutants at the PM had reduced localization within lipid rafts, which modified the signalling pathways they stimulated, including a significant increase in STAT3 phosphorylation. Additionally, we showed differences in the trafficking and signalling of 2A- and 2B-RET, which may contribute to their distinct disease phenotypes. Together, our data revealed RET as a potential therapeutic target against TMEM127-mutant PCCs and clarified the trafficking and signalling behavior of MEN2-RET mutants to inform future studies of cell function and treatment approaches.
Access status: Embargo ,
Stories in Stone: Weaving relational narratives to embody a decolonial praxis
(2026-06-08) Van Tassel, Paige; Art History; Vorano, Norman
The Agnes Etherington Art Centre (AEAC) at Queen’s University is home to a collection of pre-contact ground stone tools that were collected by the surgeon and amateur archaeologist Dr. George A. MacCallum in the late 19th century and later donated his collection of curiosities to Queen’s University. The tools include axes, adzes, scrapers, and pestles that were created by Indigenous peoples, primarily Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe, of the southern Ontario region found in the Grand River region. This portfolio dissertation explores the biographies associated with the provenance investigation of these ground stone tools and, more broadly speaking, how objects of unknown provenance can be ethically and mindfully incorporated into a contemporary museum setting. The case studies that will be explored within this portfolio include the stories and archival research associated with these ground stone tools, the incorporation of ground stone tools as physical and spiritual ancestral mediators within the Indigenous Advisory Gathering at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. I discuss methods of honouring spiritual ancestors within a contemporary exhibition display titled Land Protectors and maintaining a decolonial relational praxis working with the Bellevue National Historic Site on a community advisory committee to create their permanent exhibition. I explore how the theoretical and practical experiences of benchwork conservation can thoughtfully incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding to theoretically and technically conserve Indigenous ancestors within museums. These case studies are connected through the ways in which I consider theoretical and relational aspects of a decolonial praxis to the physical museum space and classroom from planning, consultation, development, engagement, and reflection.
Access status: Embargo ,
Caffeine Binding Non-Canonical Biased Adenosine A₂AR GPCR Modulates Neu1 Activation and Signaling in Breast Cancer Cells
(2026-06-05) Li, Yunfan ; Biomedical and Molecular Sciences; Szewczuk, Myron. R
Dysregulated receptor signaling networks contribute to breast cancer progression and metastatic plasticity, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype with limited therapeutic options. Among these signaling systems, the adenosine A₂A receptor (A₂AR), a G protein‑coupled receptor (GPCR) highly expressed in TNBC, contributes to immunosuppression and tumor progression. Caffeine, a consumed A₂AR antagonist, has been reported to modulate cancer-associated signaling pathways, although its non-canonical mechanisms remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that caffeine engages a biased signaling axis involving neuromedin B receptor (NMBR), matrix metalloproteinase‑9 (MMP9), and neuraminidase‑1 (Neu1) to modulate cancer‑associated phenotypes in breast cancer cells. Using sialidase assays, we found that caffeine induced Neu1 enzymatic activity in both MDA‑MB‑231 (TNBC) and MCF‑7 (luminal) cells in a dose‑dependent manner. This induction was abrogated by pharmacological inhibitors of NMBR (BIM‑23127), MMP9 (MMP9i), or Neu1 (oseltamivir phosphate), indicating dependence on the GPCR‑MMP9‑Neu1 signaling platform. Immunofluorescence co‑localization analysis revealed strong spatial proximity between A₂AR and Neu1 on the cell surface (Pearson’s r = 0.8968), supporting the feasibility of signaling crosstalk. Functionally, caffeine treatment of MDA‑MB‑231 cells significantly increased the epithelial marker E‑cadherin and decreased the mesenchymal marker N‑cadherin, while vimentin expression showed limited changes. Tunneling nanotube (TNT) density, a measure of intercellular communication, was markedly reduced at higher caffeine concentrations (≥2 mM). In RAW‑Blue reporter cells, caffeine decreased secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) activity, suggesting reduced NF-κB/AP-1-dependent transcriptional activity. Cell viability was reduced by caffeine in a dose‑ and time‑dependent manner in both cell lines. Overall, these findings demonstrate that caffeine activates a non‑canonical, biased A₂AR‑NMBR‑MMP9‑Neu1 signaling axis in breast cancer cells, leading to a more epithelial phenotype, reduced TNT communication, and attenuated NF‑κB/AP‑1 activity. This work identifies a previously unrecognized mode of caffeine action and suggests that targeting this signaling platform may offer new therapeutic opportunities for aggressive breast cancer subtypes.
Access status: Embargo ,
Fantasy, Fandom, and Feminist Community-Building: Reading YA Fiction as Creative Resistance
(2026-06-05) Caravaggio, Jessica; English Language and Literature; Tolmie, Jane
Fantasy, Fandom, and Feminist Community-Building is a study of popular young adult (YA) fantasy romance fiction series of the 21st century and the ways such texts can facilitate feminist consciousness-raising in online reader communities, namely “BookTok” on the social media site TikTok. Using a progressive feminist lens, it analyzes feminist intersections with Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga (2005-2020) and Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series (2015-2021) to determine how such texts create spaces for readers to explore gendered topics via their reading. Chapter one provides a history of YA fantasy as a genre, a literature review of BookTok scholarship, and a history of the connection between YA fiction, YA scholarship, and feminism. Chapter two analyzes protagonists’ performance of gender in Twilight and ACOTAR in order to suggest new understandings of how femininity is represented in popular YA texts and to argue that while the protagonists of popular YA fantasy romance fiction negotiate performances of femininity in their adolescence in order to gain power, their ability and motivation to effectively resist patriarchal expectations wanes during pregnancy and motherhood as a result of their positions as ideal heroines. Chapter three unpacks the ways in which romance, sex, and violence are problematically entwined in the YA fantasy romance genre, and links the marketability of popular YA fiction to conservative romantic ideals. I connect this complex intertwining of violence, romance, and sex in each series to wider romance genre tropes and explore how these tropes reflect readerly desires and sometimes present as an overreach of authoritative voice. Chapter four then examines how real readers in the social media reader community BookTok are engaging with Twilight and ACOTAR via both the analysis of select BookTok content and interviews with BookTok creators who discuss each series. This chapter argues that audience exploration of gendered topics is often facilitated by the conservative messaging or regressive representations of femininity, reproduction, sexuality, and romance that readers encounter within popular YA texts. These elements prompt readers to take oppositional positions and therefore can encourage critical readings and engagement in current events.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Year in Review 1983: Intergovernmental Relations in Canada
(Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 1984) Pollard, Bruce
The 1983 edition of The Year in Review is more concerned with policy issues than was the case with previous volumes. As questions of constitutional renewal and institutional change have receded somewhat from the public agenda, intergovernmental cooperation and conflict in the formulation of public policy became the main focus of attention for students of Canadian federalism. Correspondingly, the organization of The Year in Review for 1983 differs slightly from its predecessors.