Amy Zhang
The precise regulation of gene expression programs is fundamental for all cellular processes. The control of gene expression involving transcriptional activation and/or transcriptional repression is achieved by highly specific protein complexes. The aim of my work is to understand the mechanistic details of the yeast transcription repressor, the SIR complex, which is made up of three proteins: Sir2, Sir3, and Sir4. The SIR complex is critical for the epigenetic regulation of gene expression and the maintenance of chromosome stability. The comparative analysis of the different mechanisms of transcription repression processes […]
Rahul Jain
Numerical linear algebra underlies much of the modern world. It is essential to a wide variety situations, and as such, it is of great interest to analyze and optimize the underlying algorithms. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in optimizing algorithms to reduce communication, which is frequently many orders of magnitude slower than performing calculations. The Hlder-Brascamp-Lieb inequality and the Red-Blue Pebbling Game are two powerful approaches to theoretical analysis of communication, and both are used to derive communication optimal lower bounds. Once these bounds have been […]
Sakina Isadibir
The molecular basis of adaptation and differentiation is one of the most important, yet least understood, areas in evolutionary biology. Color polymorphic systems are a valuable, visual tool for such studies, allowing allele numbers, identities, and population frequencies to be estimated directly. In the spider family Theridiidae, discernible systems of discrete color polymorphisms have evolved independently across multiple taxa (Cotoras et al, 2017). Notably, both the Hawaiian Happy Face spider, Theridion grallator, and its fairly distant Californian relative Theridion californicum, have convergently evolved color polymorphism. For these spiders, apostatic selection […]
Siddharth Chittaranjan
Microbes pose a wide spectrum of nonpathogenic and pathogenic challenges for the immune system. The encounters are governed by the interactions between the bacteriums adaptations and the hosts ability to mount a protective immune response. Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) is an especially unique pathogen as the infections it causes in the genital tract are typically asymptomatic. While this suggests that Ct possesses an effective set of tools to cloak itself as a lesser threat to the immune system, these tools still vary in success, as Ct strains elicit different immune responses […]
Konnor von Emster
The upside-down jellyfish, Cassiopea, is a model organism for sleep despite its decentralized nervous system (DNS). The nervous system consists of radially spaced, interconnected motor control nerve clusters, ganglia, that control Cassipeas pulsing behavior. Preliminary research indicates that a unique subset of these ganglia may command pulsing for days to weeks at a time instead of random command that current literature suggests. My research will be focused around answering the question: what molecular differences cause morphologically identical ganglia to have activity differences? RFamide and Taurine are neuromodulators known to exist […]
Lucy Sandoe
My project will try to address the possible hazards associated with the Mendocino Triple Junction, where the Pacific, North American, and Gorda plates meet. This project will use Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and python programs to measure and model ground deformation in order to further understand the uplift that results from the intersection of the three tectonic plates. These deformation models are a novel approach to characterize whether faulting, aseismic deformation, or deeper mantle processes cause uplift in different parts of the region. From this characterization, this project aims to […]
Aidan Backus
Over the summer, we propose to investigate the root multiplicities of (generalized) Kac-Moody Algebras. Our plan is to create an open-source computer package that allows for the computation of root multiplicities of Kac-Moody algebras, building upon the existing tools available to computational mathematicians, for instance, the popular library sage-math. Once we have developed and verified this package against known tables of root multiplicities, we aim to start investigating the root multiplicities of simple graphs, and attempt to address some outstanding conjectures on the distributions of root multiplicities. A greater understanding […]
Yiyang Jin
In this project, I want to find out if chromodomain helicase DNA bind protein 8 (CHD8) and other CHD family proteins, which are known chromatin regulators, will interact with the RNA polymerase II elongation factor ELL2. ELL2 is an important component of the Super Elongation Complex (SEC). SEC plays a very crucial role in HIV transcription and reactivation of HIV virus from latency. On the other hand, CHD8 is a member of the chromodomain helicase DNA-binding family, which consists of 9 protein homologs that are all chromatin remodeling factors. Chromatin […]
Tia Cheunkarndee
Autophagy is a process of self-eating by which the cell targets specific cargo for degradation. While autophagy was initially believed to primarily be a response to stress or starvation, it is now known that it also plays important roles in cellular homeostasis and organismal development. This process can happen either non-selectively, where cargo is degraded randomly in bulk, or selectively, where degradation of a specific cargo, such as a protein aggregate, organelle, or pathogen, is specified by an autophagy receptor. In budding yeast, selective autophagy of the endoplasmic reticulum is […]
Kendall Fitzgerald
One of the most ambitious expeditions in the history of UC Berkeley has yet to be completed. In 1947, the University of California Africa Expedition, led by researchers from the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, set out for southern Africa to collect fossils from early hominid sites. However, upon their return, many of the micro-mammal fossils were stored away without being properly examined or categorized. My project will focus on a subset of this wealth of Plio-Pleistocene fossils: the shrew fossils (family Soricidae). Though sometimes overlooked, these small mammals have […]