Angela DiRocco
Arboreal animals such as the Green Anole, Anolis carolinensis, must be able to manipulate aerial descent to reduce injury when dislodged from elevated habitats. To maintain controlled aerial descent, the anole must obtain a prone posture. Anoles have been known to correct orientation after dislodgement by use of their tails through either the conservation of momentum to induce roll or by lateral swings which alter yaw. While the mechanics behind yaw and roll alterations are understood, the extent to which an anole can correct pitch at high angles is not. […]
Mark Phuong
Species Distribution Models (SDMs) provide one of the only methods for projecting the future distribution of species and are increasingly used to prioritize conservation efforts. SDMs correlate species’ occurrence points with climatic variables (e.g., temperature and precipitation) to produce a distributional map of the climatic limits of a species. Genetic studies of geographic variation within species, or phylogeography, often uncover cryptic lineages that have remained evolutionarily isolated for thousands to millions of years. My research assesses how identifying cryptic diversity within species affects the predictions of SDMs. Faced with climate […]
Ben Reuveni
Human memory is characterized by multiple memory systems. Two of the most widely recognized of these are the procedural and declarative systems. My project extends a line of research aimed at exploring the interaction between these systems. Previous research using category learning paradigms widely thought to selectively tap either the procedural or declarative memory system has implied that these two systems compete for control of motor resources.For example, human participants usually perform poorly in category learning tasks in which optimal performance requires trial-by-trial switching between procedural and declarative strategies. My […]
Stefano Iantorno
My research project revolves around the population genetic structure of the white-ruffed manakin, Corapipo altera, a species of passerine bird native to Costa Rica that has been previously studied to determine the effects of deforestation and habitat fragmentation on the genetic diversity of bird populations. By sequencing 15 microsatellite DNA loci from blood samples of individuals of different subpopulations, we hope to detect some genetic structuring indicating an absence of gene flow as expected by theoretical population genetics models. This result, if actually observed, would contradict previous research in this […]
Aaron Kamajaya
CtrA is a central regulatory protein controlling cell cycle progression in Caulobacter crescentus. The active phosphorylated form of CtrA directly controls the transcription of at least 95 cell-cycle-regulated genes as well as binding to sites near the origin to prevent initiation of chromosome replication. CtrA consists of receiver domain and DNA binding domain. CtrA activity is regulated by phosphorylation and degradation. My project is to elucidate the degradation mechanism of CtrA. We hypothesized that there are specific amino acid residues on CtrA receiver domain that are essential for its proteolysis. […]
Derek Moriyama
My research is looking into the effects of chemical modification of the skeletal muscle protein troponin I. The troponin complex is composed of three subunits (troponin I, C, and T) that combine to regulate the strength of skeletal muscle contraction. Past research has shown that modification of troponin I by specific enzymes can increase the amount of force heart muscles produce. My project will focus on the effects of such enzymes in skeletal muscles. Because the structure of troponin I in skeletal muscle varies slightly from the structure found in […]
Punam Bhullar
Julia Selezneva
The core goal is to identify the origin of antibiotic drug-resistance determinants, with the hypothesis that drug-resistance determinants, in particular integrons carrying gene cassettes coding for drug resistance, from bacteria that is ingested through uncooked food (spinach, animal meat) can horizontally transfer to commensal bacteria in the human intestine, and under selective pressure of antibiotics, and ultimately lead to complicated multi-drug resistant bloodstream or urinary tract infections. Integrons are mobile genetic elements, found on transposons, plasmids and chromosomes that capture and express gene cassettes by site-specific recombination. This summer I […]
Joshua Kane
My research fuses the disciplines of genomics and phylogenetics in order to characterize the evolution of large gene arrays. My research focuses on an eighty-one member pre-tRNA gene array located on chromosome one of Arabidopsis thaliana. The array itself is subdivided into twenty-seven triplet gene units, each triplet consisting of a single pre-tRNASer gene and two pre-tRNATyr genes, respectively. Using genomic data, such as syntenic analysis with outgroup species, and phylogenetic reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the genes in the array, my research aims to elucidate the history of […]
Alix Mary Lacoste
Growth factors are not traditionally known to play a role in cell migration. However, preliminary data suggest that insulin-like growth factor (Igf) functions in the guidance of granule cells within the cerebellum. The cerebellum is an important structure, responsible for the fine control of balance and movement and also involved in motor learning and memory. The cerebellar granule cell is the most abundant neuron in the brain, and investigating its development and wiring could provide insights into the functioning of the cerebellum and into diseases that affect its function. Using […]