Faculty Mentor: Marcia O’Connell Students: William Cavallo In our lab we study the early development of the vertebrate species zebrafish. We are currently involved in studying a family of genes that are maternally inherited. My personal project is researching how the expression of a maternal mRNA called ElrA is regulated during development. ElrA codes for… Continue Reading
Author Archives: fscollab
Regulation of gurken expression during Drosophila melanogaster oogenesis
Faculty Mentor: Amanda Norvell Student: Letitia Thompson During Drosophila oogenesis, the TGF-alpha protein Gurken (Grk) is responsible for pattering the dorsal-ventral (D-V) axis of the egg and future embryo. Consequently, Grk distribution within the ovary is tightly controlled and the spatial and temporal regulation of Grk protein activity is, in part, achieved through post-transcriptional mechanisms.… Continue Reading
Development of a platform independent sequence viewer
Faculty Mentor: Sudhir Nayak Students: Emily Keppen Over the course of this project, we studied the life extension of Caenohabditis elegans (C. elegans) in response to the activation of the HIF-1 (Hypoxia Inducible Factor) pathway. The HIF-1 pathway is activated by low oxygen conditions, also known as hypoxia. When activated, HIF-1 upregulates the expression of… Continue Reading
Nuclear envelope localization of GLD-1 protein
Faculty Mentor: Sudhir Nayak Students: Jen Aleman My project focused on discovering the mechanisms of gld-1 regulation. In C. elegans, GLD-1 (defective in Germ Line Development) is an RNA-binding protein and acts as a translational repressor. The GLD-1 protein binds to mRNAs in order to block translation and prevent inappropriate expression of their gene products.… Continue Reading
Genetic variation in native and invasive broomsedge grass populations
Faculty Mentor: Janet Morrison Students: Brian Giacopelli & Michael Readinger Andropogon virginicus is an important grass in old field succession that is native to the eastern regions of the United States and has also been introduced in California and Hawaii. In Hawaii it is considered invasive. In about half of the Eastern populations, A. virginicus… Continue Reading
Development of an in vitro system for measuring fictive breathing in the neonatal brainstem/spinal cord
Faculty Mentor: Jeffrey Erickson Student: Robert Myers Pet-1 gene deletion results in a significant loss of neurons that comprise the brainstem serotonin (5HT) system. This selective loss of 5HT neurons results in abnormal autonomic function, particularly during early postnatal development. Pet-1 mutant (knockout) mice exhibit a lower resting breathing rate, a higher incidence of apneas,… Continue Reading
Effects of urbanization and extreme weather on the life cycle of a common songbird, The Carolina Chickadee
Faculty Mentor: Luke Butler Students: Sydney Hope & Frank Stabile Urbanization has important effects on the biology of a wide variety of organisms. Likewise, global climate change has altered the timing of important steps in the life cycles of many organisms. In birds, the annual replacement of the plumage is a critical life stage and… Continue Reading
Expanded Investigations into Remediation of Metal-Contaminated Water Through Electrospun Biopolymer Nanofibers
Faculty Mentor: Matthew Cathell Student: Melissa Bradley This project began during MUSE 2011 and is an expansion of ongoing research dealing with remediation of polluted water. The goal of our research is to create biopolymer fiber mats that successfully filter toxic metals out of water. These mats were made from the biopolymer alginate, a water-soluble polymer… Continue Reading
Development of a Damage Model for Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials
Faculty Mentor: Karen Yan Students: Daniel Christiansen A fiber reinforced composite (FRC) consists of two parts: high strength fibers and the resin that hold layers of these fibers together. The directional specific strength and relative lightweight nature of these materials are perfect for advanced applications such as aerospace and automotive engineering. While in most practical… Continue Reading
Modeling of friction-induced squeak of Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Implants
Faculty Mentor: Manish Paliwal Student: Mark Sidebottom Ceramic-on-Ceramic (CoC) bearings are an ideal choice for a total hip replacement because the ceramic bearings long wear life than Metal-on-Metal or Metal-on-Polyethylene bearings. Recently CoC hips have been reported to squeak in 1-10% of the patients. A study by Chevilotte et al. showed that in vitro testing… Continue Reading