Julia Evered
Wetlands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta have been threatened by encroaching development, climate change and other environmental factors. Local organization and agencies have provided significant efforts to protect and restore the large amount of wetland ecosystems lost over a century of development. For several years, Dronova Lab has been collecting and analyzing vegetation data in the San Francisco Bay-Delta in order to provide quantitative support for restoration effort in the San Francisco Bay-Delta by identifying factors that can promote restoration success at the site and landscape scale. This critical knowledge […]
Xin Qi
Previous RNA-Seq analysis on mouse embryos revealed non-canonical mRNA splicing involving retrotransposon (RT) elements during pre-implantation development. The retrotransposon-element derived, non-canonical isoforms appear to be the dominant isoform in over 200 genes during critical stages of development. Specific retrotransposon-element knockout mice had been made to investigate possible developmental roles of the non-canonical gene regulation and protein expression. Preliminarily, heterozygous crosses between mice lacking a single retrotransposon fragment shows a statistically significant shift away from the expected mendelian ratio. In this project, through biochemical, histological and biostatics analysis, I aim to […]
Zheng Oong
The Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a species of jay that shows incredible morphological diversity across its range in the North and Central America. Our previous genetic work using nuclear DNA (microsatellites) and mitochondrial DNA has shown evidence of strong genetic structure across populations. This summer, I will be working closely with my mentor to thoroughly analyze both the microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data to better understand patterns of population differentiation within the jays. Furthermore, we will also perform analysis of morphological and ecological niche data and compare them to […]
Kyung Geun Kim
The underlying biophysical properties of cortical neurons such as different ion channels distribution determine their behavior. Currently, neuroscientists do not have a method to accurately determine the distribution of different ion channels in different parts of a neuron. This creates a big gap in understanding neuronal mechanisms in health and diseases. In this project we are developing a framework for predicting a neuron’s ion channels distribution by fitting models to empirical voltage recordings of cortical neurons. However, the immense computational complexity in addition to the nonconvex nature of this fitting […]
Suzanna Chak
This summer, I will continue to work on a project studying the role of macrophages in acute lung injury. Macrophages are part of the innate immune system and are important for preventing the spread of infection and in the healing process. We have been studying how macrophage affect fibrosis (scarring) of the lung and the local inflammatory response after injury.
Jacob Giffin
My research entails operating an MRI scanner for a study conducted by the Cal Mania (CALM) program. The goal of this study is to better understand how factors such as reward sensitivity and planning play a role in various anxiety and mood disorders. My role in this study is to conduct brain scans on subjects while they undergo multiple functional tasks that help assess their reward sensitivity, planning, and emotion regulation. Analysis of these scans will show what brain regions are active during these tasks, and thus will help us […]