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Mingen (Jason) Liu (Plant and Microbial Biology)
“Development of New Genetic Techniques for Studying Photosynthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”
Sponsor: Professor Krishna Niyogi, Plant and Microbial Biology

• Project Description
• Scholar's Photo
• Scholar's Journal

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Project Description

In his project, Jason intends to examine the possibility of site-targeting or HR in the PSY gene of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii – a unicellular alga and a model organism for studying photosynthesis. He will generate mutant populations through transformations with a plasmid containing a defective copy of the PSY gene and will then screen for successful gene-disruption by selecting for a white phenotype and antibiotic resistance. Further experiments will examine the locus of recombination, enabling design of new plasmids to target mutagenesis of other genes for an efficient and cost-effective method of identifying new genes involved in photosynthesis. Successful targeting of the PSY gene as a test case can lead to development of a new screening strategy for Chlamydomonas – a major advance that creates new possibilities for genetics research on photosynthesis.

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Scholar's Photo 

Taking mutagenesis to the next level

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Scholar's Journal

Plant genetics has never been so stimulating since the Haas Scholars' Conference! Long summer days in a research lab - as my peers traveled to faraway destinations and played lots of video games - turned out to be exhilarating. The ups and downs of research completely trumped the melancholy of MCATs and medical school essays. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to enjoy the full lab experience, ranging from midnight experiments to movie and game nights with the other undergraduates from lab.

Above all, summer became a powerful learning experience. Even when my initial experiments with molecular cloning turned out false positives, consulting with post-docs and graduate students turned my project back on track. As setbacks recurred late in the summer, the wisdom and friends of my mentors helped me overcome the nadirs of research and generate optimistic results by the end of summer.

Reflecting on the past three months of full-time research, I find that the challenges of research have stimulated the formation of invaluable bonds with other researchers and mentors. Now, as I look forward to continuing my research through the school year, I know that these connections forged through the Haas Scholars Program will help make my honors thesis an thoroughly enjoyable experience.