Elena Slobodyanyuk
The physical organization of chromatin in the nucleus plays a crucial role in the coordination and regulation of gene expression. Long-distance interactions between DNA regulatory elements called enhancers and promoters are important for establishing cell type-specific gene expression programs. Dysregulation of enhancer-promoter interactions can lead to aberrant gene expression and thus promote developmental abnormalities and tumorigenesis. Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor in mammalian cells that has recently been implicated in coordinating enhancer-promoter interactions, thus facilitating transcription activation during embryonic development. However, it remains unknown how […]
Katie Shalvarjian
Ralstonia solanacearum is a unique vascular plant pathogen that thrives in xylem sap. As a nutrient-poor but chemically complex environment, xylem sap provides distinct obstacles to bacterial growth, yet little is known about R. solanacearum within the framework of genome-wide fitness. Using a randomly barcoded transposon site sequencing (RB-TnSeq) mutant library, we can measure gene-specific fitness contributions to R. solanacearum in xylem sap, along with various growth media, to understand what genes drive its fitness in a natural context. As a causal factor of bacterial wilta disease that wipes out […]
Ethan Chung
This summer, I will be looking into the natural phenomenon of wet-induced fingertip wrinkling and the possible dynamic benefits which could come with implementing and mimicking its main properties in a mechanical system. Similar to how tire treads can improve a cars efficiency and safety on the road during heavy precipitation and how shoe treads help prevent slips, the organic wrinkling found in water-saturated human fingertips can possibly provide analogous effects for a persons grip success with wet objects or underwater scenarios. However, this possible connection has barely been addressed […]
Connor Tou
Directed evolution takes advantage of repeated Darwinian cycles of genetic diversification and artificial selection to engineer novel biomolecular and cellular function. In the wet-lab, its success and extent is heavily dictated by the size of the genetic library that can be synthesized and transformed, in combination with labor, cost, and time. Therefore, traditional methods relying on ex-vivo diversification and in-vivo selection are highly limiting. By addressing these problems, methods for targeted, continuous in-vivo mutagenesis are extremely valuable. Recently, our lab group developed one such system termed EvolvR – an HDR-independent, […]
Sami Chang
The consumption of petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel continues to affect greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Alternative fuel sources are needed, and recent breakthroughs in synthetic biology provide a promising solution: the engineering of microorganisms to generate drop-in biofuels, which are compatible with existing engines. Unlike electricity and natural gas alternatives, biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions by recycling the carbon dioxide that is emitted. However, biofuel derived directly from crops or oils may threaten land and/or food security. Thus, this project focuses on expanding the diversity of biofuels […]
Catherine Jung
In normal pregnancies, cardiac output increases to accommodate increased metabolic demand. The fundamental mechanisms connecting changes in hormones to changes in gene expression in pacemaker cells are unknown. Understanding what increases heart rate in pregnancies could provide insight on preventing cardiovascular complications in pregnancies, and shed light on how the sinoatrial node (SAN) changes in response to physiological stress.This project will investigate heart rate changes in pregnancy by studying gene expression changes between pregnant, pseudopregnant, and non-pregnant mice. Pseudopregnant mice have the hormonal changes associated with pregnancy, but lack a […]
Zoe Merz
Common cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy, have harsh side effects because they damage both healthy and cancerous cells. Therapies that deliver drugs directly to cancer cells eliminate this issue. Protein nanocages, coupled with cancer targeting ligands, are attractive drug delivery vessels due to their biocompatibility and reduced toxicity. One such protein nanocage is the MS2 bacteriophage Virus Like Particle (VLP) coat protein. This 27 nm diameter protein shell has shown promise for delivery applications due to its thermostability and high modifiability. To be used as a drug delivery system, MS2 […]
Huws Landsberger
Low temperature plasma physics is of importance to antimatter research, where sympathetic (collisional) cooling with a matter plasma brings energetic antimatter particles to a temperature at which creation of antiatoms is possible. Resonant cavity cooling, or cooling of a nonneutral plasma by coupling the radiation field with the electromagnetic modes inside a trap cavity, is a useful technique to cool plasmas to wall temperatures (10K) but may be difficult to perform due to plasma location or trap geometry. Therefore, understanding the effectiveness of mode-mode coupling in plasmas is essential; by […]
Mohammad Saffari Doost
Because sleep makes up one-third of our lifespan, it is important to study its mechanisms so we can better understand its components and learn ways to curb consequences (e.g., cardiovascular disease and psychological disorders) related to insufficient or low-quality sleep. In mammals, sleep alternates between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. These sleep states are controlled by the neural circuits in our brain, which are mostly found in the hypothalamus and the brain stem. With regard to the medulla (also located in the brain stem), we know that […]
Sijia Zhang
Directed cell migration and axon guidance are critical for the assembly and connectivity of nervous systems. How neuronal cells are able to establish precise connectivity is a major challenge in developmental neurobiology. Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model to address this question due to the simplicity of its nervous system and a well-characterized cell lineage. I will focus on the Hermaphrodite-Specific Neurons (HSN), which undergo extensive migrations during development. Proper navigation of the HSN growth cones, the structures that navigate through the nervous system to reach their targets, relies on […]