Each semester there will a meeting to discuss options.
All students interested in BIOL 302 are required to attend.
Any student interested in other levels (BIOL 210, BIOL 400, BIOC research) or just planning for future research are welcome!
Research Meet & Greet with the Biology Faculty
Ed Cluett: Cell Biology
Cholesterol—can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Investigations in several aspects of cholesterol trafficking:
* How and where cholesterol goes inside cells
* How the cell regulates synthesized and internalized cholesterol
* How changes in the distribution of cholesterol affect the function of certain proteins particularly in relation to certain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease
Nanda Cortes: Ornithology
* Population genetics and evolution of neotropical birds
Dave Gondek: Microbiology
* 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: Neurobiology, Animal Physiology
* 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: Molecular Biology
* Identify trans-acting factors and cis-regulatory sequences involved in alternative splicing by high-throughput screening
* Examine the role of a key RNA Polymerase domain via high-throughput saturation mutagenesis
* Construct a complementation library for high-throughput cloning using transposon fragmentation
Leann Kanda: Behavior, Ecology
Animal personality and environment shaping animal movements
* Lab: personality of dwarf hamsters influencing social and foraging behaviors
* Field: wildlife personality in urban vs rural landscapes
* Field: habitat use and movement of mammals and amphibians
Te-Wen Lo: Genetics
*Understanding protein signaling specificity and how developmental processes evolve.
Peter Melcher: Whole Plant Physiology
Investigations on plant responses to the environment.
Current focus on:
* Impacts of introduced species in Puerto Rico
* Adaptations to seasonal freezing and drought
Brooks Miner: Aquatic Evolutionary Ecology
* Adaptation to UV radiation exposure in alpine ponds
* Divergence in thermal tolerance between lake and pond populations
* Molecular methods to measure DNA damage and identify species
Andy Smith: Animal Physiology, Biomechanics
How animal glues work: guiding the development of bioinspired adhesives
* Characterize the components of a biological secretion that forms an unusually tough glue
* Determine how different proteins and metal ions create toughness and adhesion in this glue
Susan Witherup: Plant Systematics and Evolution
* Research on Puerto Rican Fan Flowers:
- Pollination Biology
- Genetic Diversity
- Impacts of Invasive Species on Islands
* Projects in Sustainability Science
Ian Woods: Computational and Developmental Biology
* Computational biology: learn and apply bioinformatics and programming skills to genome-scale analyses in humans and model organisms.
* Developmental biology: analyze the roles of genes acting in sensory neuron development and tissue regeneration.