Cyrus Ruediger

Organisms are continually faced by a variety of external and internal stressors, which often both contribute to and are exacerbated by the aging process and associated pathologies. Our lab uncovered an age-dependent switch in the contributions of the C. elegans JNK protein KGB-1 to stress resistance, providing protection in larvae, but reducing resistance and shortening lifespan in adults. This switch is associated with age-dependent regulation of the longevity and stress resistance associated transcription factor DAF-16/FOXO. I am working to understand the protective effects of KGB-1 and the nature of KGB-1’s […]

Rani Davina Chan

In this research project, we examined how French women were constructed in American media and how American women were constructed in French media in the post-World War II era, specifically from 1944 to 1965. Our methodology entailed close-readings of different American and French historical newspapers, magazine articles, books, and other media texts, including photographs, films, television programming, and advertisements. In particular, we analyzed how French and American women were treated in various topical areas: food and diet, fashion and beauty, and celebrity life. This research project contributes to an interdisciplinary […]

Adele Wallrich

The Urban Bee Lab creates partnerships with farmers to research ways that farms can attract native bees, such as implementing sustainable plant habitat, in an effort to supplement honey bee pollination. With colony collapse disorder decimating honey bee populations, it is crucial to study our native Californian bees, of which there are over 1,500 species. This summer, we are continuing to process and database our bee collections, assemble papers and deliverables, and do fieldwork at our agricultural/urban sites.

Anya Mikheicheva

I have been working on a few projects “Net ecosystem fluxes of methyl halides from Rush Ranch, a salt marsh ecosystem in the San Joaquin Delta”, “Halide extractions from Oxford Tract” and I’m about to start another project that is running GS-MS with a different carrying gas, which could possibly improve gas chromatography results. With the first two projects I did a lot of halide extractions and they are done at this moment and ready for the last SAM measurements, that will give us the valuable data for both projects. […]

Amir-Ala Mahmoud

TLx1 and Nkx2.5 are transcription factors that are essential regulators of early spleen development. In order to better understand how conditions such as incomplete congenital asplenia, and other aberrations of the spleen develop, better understanding the effects of these transcription factors on development is necessary. In order to do so I am generating spleen cell lines from both human fetuses and mouse embryos that are deficient in Tlx1 and Nkx2.5 by conducting genome editing through the CRISPR-cas9 platform. Upon achieving this I will be able to understand specifically how these […]

Richard Meng

We are trying to analyze the geographical properties of research papers from 1970s to now. The papers we choose to analyze are primarily about conducting researches on regions & lands. Therefore, through analyzing the geographical properties of authors, conference address, researching scope, etc., we would like to find a relation between where the paper is written and where the paper is discussing about. For example, whether a paper written by a Berkeley Professor has more/less probability to discuss Berkeley region or Greater Bay Area region.

Grace Johnson

My research project involves looking at what genes lead to certain petal spot patterns in the common monkeyflower. I also look at how these spots may give a plant an advantage when it comes to getting pollinated and passing on their genes. My time is largely divided between molecular work in the lab and more hands-on work in the greenhouse, where I cross plants, collect seeds, and track plant growth and germination.

Carmel Malvar

This summer, I will be working on investigating the structure and molecular determinants of the Dengue Virus NS1 protein. Dengue Virus affects hundreds of millions of patients annually and can lead to symptoms such as hemorrhagic fever or shock syndrome. My work will be building on our findings in lab from the past year regarding key amino acid sites on NS1’s role in compromising endothelial permeability and I am hoping to create new mutant proteins to help further our investigation.

Kristy Dang

I work in the CognAc lab, which focuses on how people select, plan, and perform movements. My goal this summer is to explore how attention affects the way subjects implicitly (unconsciously) adapt when their motor movements are perturbed. I want to determine the relationship between explicit focus and implicit learning. By studying how people learn motor movements, we hope to further understand neurological disorders and improve rehabilitation methods for patients.

Niathi Kona

I will work mostly on two projects, linked by the common theme of controlling myopia (the focus of the Wildsoet Lab). One of my projects will involve guinea pigs as an animal model for myopia and will explore the influence of dosing on the effectiveness of atropine eye drops for slowing or preventing the development of myopia. The second project will involve human subjects and a study of anterior ocular changes induced by a specialized contact lens for myopia control.