I humbly dedicate this in loving memory of my family who died too young and could not be here to share this milestone with me: my mother Diana Seymour, my father Edward DeMott, my grandmother Joy Leslie, my grandparents Ralph and Marion Spencer, Edward and Elizabeth DeMott, and above all my brother, Steven Seymour. Each of you will always be in my thoughts. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to give my thanks to the Buston lab at Boston University for all their hard work in helping me maintain the lab through the years, and more specifically to Peter Buston for all his hard work with this manuscript and dedication to helping me see it through. I would like to thank my office mates Cassidy D'Aloia and Marian Wong for their help; through their tenacity, they showed me what it means to be a good scientist. I would also like to thank Jelle, Tina, and Karen for their edits to my thesis.