Research

Academic Year Research Projects

Anyone interested in conducting 302 Jr. research in the biology department in the FALL MUST:

  • attend the mandatory meeting on Thursday, March 7, 4 pm, CNS 1st floor foyer
  • get three faculty signatures on the registration form.

Registration Forms are due by 1:00 Friday, April 5.

Interested in 200- or 400-level research?

  • Students are strongly encouraged to come to the meeting, or talk to their potential research advisor directly, but it is not mandatory nor are signatures required.

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The following are projects being conducted by students for Research in Biology (BIOL-30200-xx*).

There are both academic year and summer research opportunities available. (Note: projects may change without notice.)

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ED CLUETT (section 5) Projects

  • Mechanisms and pathways of cholesterol transport inside cells
  • Effect of the cholesterol environment on protein function and its relation to diseases: NPC1 and processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein
  • Lab activities for high school biology classes

DAVE GONDEK (section 7) Projects

  • Compare via in silico identification virulence factors which are unique to chlamydia species and allow for host adaptation
  • Create chlamydia virulence factors fusion with fluorescent proteins via in vitro moleculer cloning
  • Contrast spatial and temporal regulation of chlamydia virulence factors via in vivo over expression during infection and "immunity".
  • Develop hybrid chlamydia strains for in vivo  screening of increased/decreased host specificity

JEAN HARDWICK (section 3)  Projects

  • Electrophysiological characterization of individual neurons in the cardiac ganglion
  • Analysis of changes in neuronal gene expression using PCR and immunohistochemistry
  • Biochemical analysis of changes in protein levels using Western Blot analysis

MAKI INADA (section 10) Projects

  • Using a genome-wide microarray-based approach, identify and characterize novel genes regulated by splicing coupled to mRNA decay
  • Identify conserved cis-regulatory sequences important for changes in splicing 
  • Examine the role of kinases in gene regulation
  • Study the effects of co-transcriptional recruitment of regulatory factors on gene control

LEANN KANDA (section 8)  Projects

  • Personality in dwarf hamsters
  • Captive and wild behaviors in chipmunks 
  • Amphibian migration: conservation and population monitoring
  • South Hill animal census, including the new wetlands

PETER MELCHER (section 6) Projects

  • To determine the degree of plasticity in leaf shape and fitness in trees growing across large latitudinal gradients to evaluate how climate change will alter forest composition
  • Investigating how the environment impacts intracanopy leaf shape and hydraulic design
  • Evaluating how wounding of plant hydraulics impacts leaf fitness

ANDY SMITH (section 4) Projects

  • Biochemical identifications and characterization of the essential components of a unique biological glue
  • Biochemical and mechanical experiments to characterize the mechanism of adhesion and to test hypotheses of how the glue components contribute to performance
  • Histological analysis of the secretory cells that produce the glue

BRUCE SMITH (section 1) Projects 

  • Pheromone communication in water mites
  • Mating behavior: female choice and male-male competition in water mites
  • Predator / prey interactions: how environmental conditions influence predation success, how color, size, etc. influences prey choice
  • Photopositive response of invertebrates: spectral sensitivities, sensitivity to polarized light, use of behavioral traps for sampling aquatic communities (last-mentioned is a field-based project, only possible in the summer or fall).
  •  Does the level of dissolved oxygen influence rates of development in the tritonymphal resting stage. 

Also Summer research at Queen's Univ. Biological Station in Canada 

 

SUSAN SWENSEN (section 2) Projects

 

  • Phylogenetic Reconstruction of plants belonging to the Genus Gurania (Cucurbitaceae)
  • Studies on the Diversity of Sunflower Maggot Flies (Strauzia) Infecting Local Host Plants
  • Projects in Sustainability Science

 

IAN WOODS (section 9) Projects

  • Clone a gene expressed in somatosensory neurons.  Carefully document the spatial and temporal characteristics of its expression.  Overexpress the gene product via mRNA injection to assess its effects on somatosensory development.
  • Make a line of transgenic fish that inducibly overexpresses a gene. Analyze the effect of overexpression on development or behavior, especially with regard to somatosensation. 
  • Make a transgenic line that expresses a reporter gene (eg GFP) in a specific neuronal cell type.  Via live imaging of transgenic animals, examine the dynamics of this cell type as it develops and connects with the rest of the nervous system.
  • Analyze the phenotype of a mutation in a gene expressed in somatosensory neurons.
  •  Plan, develop, build, and test equipment and software necessary to measure and analyze anxiety behaviors in larval zebrafish.

 

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