Undergraduates who have worked in my lab

I have had the good fortune to work with a variety of great students:

1995 Tonya Quick
    Tonya helped in the initial biochemical characterization of adhesive and non-adhesive limpet mucus.

1995 Rachel St. Peter
    Rachel also helped with the initial biochemical characterization of the different forms of limpet mucus.

1996 Jeff Dunkle
    Jeff studied the activity of limpet pedal muscles while they attached.  He combined electrical recordings of muscle activity (EMGs) with video analysis in his work.

1997 Brian Beck
    Brian attempted to purify and characterize the glue protein that we had identified from limpets using HPLC and gel filtration chromatography.

1997 Kristin Strawhun
    Kristin used specific antibodies to identify the cells responsible for secreting the glue protein from limpet feet.

1998  Julie Fletcher
    Julie used immunostaining to see if other molluscs also use the glue protein that we identified.

1999 Laura Terry
    Laura attempted to create a cDNA library using mRNA extracted from limpet feet.  This library would have been used to screen for the cDNA coding for the limpet glue protein, with the ultimate goal of sequencing the cDNA.

2000 Megan Huisingh
    Megan screened preliminary cDNA libraries from the limpet feet.

2001  Tracy Robinson
    Tracy characterized the overall structure of limpet adhesive mucus.

2001-2002  Courtney Pierce
    Courtney has worked on a variety of projects, including a demonstration of the functional effects of glue proteins, and a demonstration of the effect of concentration on adhesive gel strength.

2001-2002  Martha Morin
    Martha helped identify and characterize two proteins that are found in the adhesive form of marsh periwinkle mucus but not in the trail mucus.

2001-2002  Patrick Cowley
    Patrick identified specific cues that trigger limpets to attach and detach, and measured the time-course for both of these processes.

2001-2002  Nicole White
    Nicole worked on the purification and characterization of the glue protein from marsh periwinkles.

2001-2002  Jan Pawlicki
    Jan studied the functional effects of glue proteins.  She was the first in our lab to demonstrate that the glue proteins stiffen gels.  She also investigated the mechanism by which limpets release their attachment.

2002  Rebekka Mapes
    Bekke tested different antibodies raised against the glue protein from limpets.

2002  Thomas Startz
    Tom identified glue proteins from terrestrial slugs.  He also measured the adhesive properties of different forms of mucus, and characterized the adhesive strength of periwinkle mucus under different conditions.

2002-2003 Donna Rahme
    Donna helped characterize the glue proteins from land snails.

2003 Loren Johnson
    Loren characterized the trail mucus of land snails.

2003 Laura Pease
    Laura characterized the mechanical effects of glue proteins on gels.

2003 Steven Sluck
    Steve tested the effect of glue proteins on adhesiveness.

2004 Andrew Cameron
    Andrew also tested the effect of glue proteins on adhesiveness.

2003-2004 Sarah Legg
     Sarah has worked on comparative studies of glue proteins from different species.

2004 Trudy Morrison
    Trudy has also worked on comparative studies of glue proteins from different species.


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Last revised by Andrew Smith November 5, 2002.