Julia Elizabeth Himes
The blue ringed octopus (H. lunulata) is a highly toxic animal, secreting tetrodotoxin (TTX) as a means of defense and prey capture. H. lunulata is an important organism for studying toxicity and its role in behavior, evolution, and reef ecology. Today, these octopuses are taken from the wild for study, and few survive in captivity. The goal of this summer’s project is to design a method of rearing H. lunulata from egg to maturity. This is very difficult, as the paralarval hatchlings or this species are pelagic and require a […]
Abhiram Gande
My research will focus on the effects of stress on neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the adult rat hippocampus. The hippocampus is essential for memory and learning function. Interestingly, chronic stress has been shown to decrease cell proliferation in the DG and reduce the effectiveness of hippocampuss memory function. My project will investigate one potential factor that may prevent stress-induced reduction of neurogenesis: controllability. Studies have shown that animals that can control the onset/offset of stress do not show many negative effects of […]
Hai Le
It is essential that the cell preserves the integrity of its DNA by initiating a proper response when there is damage to its genome. As a fellow of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, I am utilizing this summer and the senior academic year to study the DNA repair pathway in heterochromatin. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, I propose to fluorescently tag different DNA repair proteins and conduct experiments to understand the kinetics of these proteins following DNA damage induced by X-ray treatment. This research is promising: knowledge of […]
Niema Razavian
A major breakthrough in cancer research over the past 50 years has been the discovery of tumor viruses, or cancer-causing viruses. Thus far, six viruses have been causally linked to cancer (the best known being human papilloma virus and cervical cancer). This SURF project investigates bovine leukemia virus (BLV) and its role in breast cancer susceptibility. Previous research has demonstrated that BLV in breast tissue is significantly correlated with the breast cancer risk, and that humans have antibodies against BLV. Expanding on this, the goal of my SURF project is […]
Lauren Zerbib
The basis of sexual reproduction is a perennial topic of interest in evolutionary biology. The rotifer, Brachionus Calyciflorus, is an interesting system to compare sexual and asexual reproduction because it is cyclically parthenogenetic, meaning it alternates between generations produced sexually and asexually. By understanding the mechanisms controlling the timing of sexual reproduction in such organisms, we can better understand how natural selection determines the balance between asexual and sexual reproduction. In this study I look at the contributions of three related factors in determining the proportion of sexually reproducing daughters […]
Scott Michael Coyle
Changes in cellular programming are often thought to be mediated by changes in regulation at the level of transcription. However, there is increasing evidence that changes in the regulation of translation may play an equally important role in the reprogramming process. In our lab, we have found that the transition from a vegetative to invasive physiology in the yeast S. cerevisiae requires a novel mode of regulation of translation. I recently identified a protein, Asc1, which is required for this transition and potentially acts directly at the level of translation. […]
Kamelia Ghazi
Curcumin (CUR), the active chemical of the Asian spice tumeric, has a strong anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory effect in preventing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers (AD), as well as an anti-proliferative effect on cancerous cells. Based on broad ranges of scientific literature on this topic, CUR has correlated with dramatic reduction in acetylation of histone. However, the precise mechanism by which curcumin achieves hypoacetylation and therefore represses the transcription of cancerous cells, is poorly understood. In this experiment, I will culture C6 rat glioma cells and through using immunostaining and protein assay, I […]
Isabela Le Bras
This summer I will be working in ion trap quantum computing. Quantum computing is an alternate form of computation that uses a quantum bit, called a “qubit”, in place of the binary system. My professor, Hartmut Haeffner, isolates ions in radio frequency traps to create qubits. This trapping must take place in an ultra high vacuum so that air molecules do not interfere with the ion. My project entails building RC filters for the ion trap that are compatible with the vacuum. These filters need to remove any radio frequency […]
Joo Yeon (Jenny) Ryu
9-cis-retinoic acid (9cRA) is one of the many derivatives of vitamin A. Although vitamin A derivatives are most known for their involvement in sight, they are involved in many physiological process such as the immune response, the development of many organs, and the maintenance of normal internal conditions like blood glucose. Normally, glucose levels are closely regulated by hormones of the pancreas such as insulin and glucagons. However in the case of diabetes, this tight regulation collapses. 9cRA has shown potential in correcting the hormonal imbalance characteristic of diabetes. How […]
Tianzan Zhou
My project concerns the regulation of transcription. Transcription is the process by which a DNA sequence is transcribed into an RNA sequence. This RNA sequence then gets translated into a protein, which is the basic machinery of life. Therefore, the mechanisms by which transcription is regulated are very important to understand. We have evidence for a novel mechanism that takes place during transcription and utilizes the creation of truncated, nonfunctional RNA transcripts of a gene to repress the formation of long, functional transcripts of that same gene. We do not […]