UC Berkeley Undergraduate Researchers:
Professor Robert Full
URAP- Integrative Biology
"This project is all about being patient," said Claudia Bashore (right), commenting perhaps on the fact that her fellow research apprentice, Tonia Hsieh (left), was working with a particularly uncooperative gecko. Claudia and Tonia have spent the spring semester working with Kellar Autumn, a postdoc in the lab, filming geckos walk up vertical inclines as part of the "How Gecko Feet Work" research project. Geckos are able to walk up vertical walls due to an intermolecular interaction between their feet and the wall. Professor Full and Dr. Autumn are examining this phenomenon of adhesion and the mechanics of climbing. Lab members are using methods including video microscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, high-speed video, and 3-dimensional and force measurement to explore questions such as: how are gecko feet able to adhere to vertical surfaces? and how strong is this adhesion? Claudia and Tonia's film of the geckos walking provides some of the raw data for this analysis. In addition to filming the geckos, Claudia and Tonia have worked on transfering this video to a specialized computer program which aids in integrating data from two separate cameras to create a 3-dimensional model.
Click here to see a Quicktime movie of geckos walking.
Blisseth Sy
Biology Fellow
Before even stepping onto the Berkeley campus, Blisseth Sy had significant experience doing scientific research. When she was in high school, Blisseth participated in a summer program at the Scripps Research Institute. After graduation from high school, she worked at Hybritech, Inc, a biotechnology company. She may have been well-prepared to continue research at Berkeley, but she still found it difficult to obtain a lab position in MCB. As many Berkeley students know, finding a lab position can be a research project in itself. When looking for lab positions, Blisseth advises other students to find out as much as possible about the professor's research and about the lab itself. Blisseth researched the work of several different professors, talked to MCB students, grad students and post-docs in various labs, before finding a position in Professor Jack Kirsch's lab.
Blisseth is currently working on an independent research project, the binding properties of cellular retinol binding protein (CRBP), which grew out of a related project in Professor Kirsch's lab . She was funded by the Biology Fellows Program to work on this research project last summer and she continues her research again this summer.
The summer provides a great opportunity for Blisseth to focus on her research and make some progress. Because she recognizes how long it sometimes takes to obtain results and make significant progress, she has come to appreciate the small victories. Although it means spending sunny Saturdays inside the lab, Blisseth is willing to do so. "When you have your own research project", she says," you are committed to it because it is your own."
Charlotte Biltekoff
American Studes Honors Thesis
Charlotte Biltekoff got the call that she was admitted into Brown's PhD program in American Studies on the day of the second meeting of her honors thesis class. For some people this might have been a disincentive to completing the research and writing of a fifty-plus page honors thesis, but Charlotte says that "writing my thesis was the thing that helped me to get through my crises about going to graduate school."
The process of completing her honors thesis, a comparative history of two food reform movements: the domestic scientists led by Fannie Farmer at the turn of the century and a contemporary food reform movement led by Alice Waters, reminded Charlotte of the reason why she had initially applied to graduate school. "This is fun", she recalled thinking, "I love this."
As with most research, it wasn't all fun. Synthesizing her research into an honors thesis proved difficult in the beginning. Charlotte made fifteen versions of an outline before beginning to write. But with the help of her thesis advisor and mentor, Professor Kathy Moran, Charlotte weaved her research on these two seemingly disparate movements into a cohesive comparative analysis.
Charlotte also had the benefit of having done research in the past. The research skills she acquired while working with Professor Moran in the previous year helped her when it came time to do her own primary research. The mentorship of Professor Moran was invaluable. " I have really wierd interests," Charlotte said of her interest in food culture, "Kathy validated my interests."
Professor Christine Hastorf
URAP-Anthropology
Undergraduate Research Apprentice Harpreet Malhi (left) works with Julie Near (right), a graduate student in Christine Hastorf's archaeobotanical research laboratory. They are working with archeological plant material from Catalhoyuk, a site in south central Turkey dating back to 6000-7000 BC. This paleoethnobotany project seeks to address a number of questions regarding the environmental conditions and subsistence strategies of the people who lived on this site. Harpreet and the other members of the lab hope to find the answers to these larger questions in the small seeds and tiny bone fragments found among the soil samples shipped to Berkeley from the Catalhoyuk site.
Could you briefly describe the research project that you are working on?
I'm working in a lab that studies the mechanism used by cells to secrete the proteins they make, either to the outside of the cell or to different compartments within the cell. The mechanism is very much like a manufacturing/shipping process.
Protein is made at a specific site in the cell and then packaged as cargo in transport containers called "vesicles". These vesicles move the cargo proteins through processing areas in the cell, where the proteins are snipped, clipped, tagged and tidied up for shipment to their final destination. When the proteins are ready to leave the cell or move to other cellular destinations, vesicles again carry them to those locations. Vesciles have a membrane similar to that of the cell membrane. When a vesicle meets the cell membrane, a reaction happens which fuses the two membranes and releases the contents of the vesicle to the outside of the cell. I work with a family of proteins which may function in this docking and fusion of vesicles with their target membranes.
How did you decide on your research project?
I really decided on the Principal Investigator. I wanted to understand cellular systems and protein secretion and Dr. Moore was one of several faculty who focused on that area. My project is part of a larger one being done by a graduate student here in the lab. It turned out to be an excellent choice as I fit in very well here.
Is it a very independent project or do you relay heavily on your research group or mentor for feedback and assistance?
I work independently and only report to my PI and graduate student when I have data to show. I have presented data at Lab meetings and meet regularly and informally with my PI and graduate student to discuss the outcomes of experiments.
Was there ever a moment in your research that you felt like you came to an impasse? If so, how did you get around it?
OH YES! I have struggled for six months to make a special DNA construct and was unable to do it until recently. There were many nights when I was so discouraged and tired and simply couldn't face doing the same procedures over again. How I got around it? Well, I didn't give up (though I was sorely tempted!) and I discussed my results extensively with others in the lab and tried their suggestions. Feedback from several people helped me to refocus my efforts on some creative solutions and I finally got the construct. In the mean time I have become an expert on certain molecular procedures - 'cos I've done them so many times.!!
I didn't give up because I really love this work. Molecular biology is interesting because every step of the way is a learning experience. It never ends.
How did the McNair Scholars Program help you in focusing your research interests? attaining a mentor? other ways?
The best aspect of the McNair Scholars program is the community feeling. I feel like I have a home base from which to pursue my interests. I appreciate the encouragement and understanding that is a basic part of the environment created by Daphne and Rondi and all of the others associated with the program. My research interests were already directed as I am a Re-Entry student (I returned to school after 20 years away from university - and earned my BA at age 40). I have had enough time to know what I want to do. Having the McNair back-up has just made it much easier to stay focused on my goals.
Do you have any suggestions for other Berkeley undergraduates who are interested in pursuing research?
YES. Science doesn't work,so you have to! SO plan on long hours, tedious procedures, many failures, confusion, a brutal trial of ego, and best of all, the occasional spectacular result that makes it all worthwhile. They don't come often, but when they do, well, I now know how to walk on air.
Also, pursuit of science is a community effort. No one can do this alone. I have learned so much from so many people, and have taught others as part of my process. I recommend that everyone be prepared to be part of a team and to pool knowledge and resources. (and pizza and beer on Friday afternoons!)
Professor Susan F. Rasky
URAP-Journalism
Professor Susan Rasky's four Undergraduate Research Apprentices (Seth Gassman, Ashley Ciment, Robert Cordova, and Kate Julian) are researching primary source material for Professor Rasky's book on the history of political consulting. In the Bancroft Library, the apprentices work on sorting through the uncatalogued papers of the San Francisco political consulting firm, Whitaker-Baxter. Although many students (and faculty) find primary research to be tedious, the hard work is often rewarded. "I found the opportunity to have hands-on contact with primary source material rather awing. I realized on one occasion that I was holding a note signed by a former president!" (Kate Julian)
Prof Stephen Miller
URAP-Classics
In Summer 1997, Athena Trakadas was selected as one of thirty-four URAP Summer Stipend recipients. Athena traveled to the village of Ancient Nemea in Greece to work on an excavation with Professor Stephen Miller of the Classics department. Ancient Nemea is the site (along with Olympia, Delphi, and Isthmia) of early Panhellenic games. Professor Miller began this excavation in 1973.
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