I work with the computer-related aspects of microscopic imaging. This includes image analysis and processing applications. In addition, I work with the Imaging Center's staff to manage our website and database.

The overall project is to characterize the interactions between Mycobacterium bovis (BCG) and bladder cancer. The role that I play in the research is in designing the positive control, using mitomycin c as a way to induce apoptosis of the cells as it is our belief that the BCG may induce apoptosis of the cancer cells.

My research concerns the role of the adrenergic receptor, Alpha 2A receptor, and its role in the nephron. Specifically, I am looking at whether activation of the receptor podocytes of the nephron (podocytes are foot processes involved in glomerular filtration) induces changes in the actin cytoskeleton associated with the structure. The activation of the receptor is done with a trial drug that reduces ischemia reperfusion injury in the kidney.

Currently I am working on a project trying to understand how actin and VASP interact. I am focusing on the role of the nucleotide bound to actin (ATP or ADP) in regulating the interaction. In order to test this, I am using quantitative methods to the amount of VASP bound to each type of actin using Western Blots and Coomassie staining.

I am a fourth year Biology major doing undergraduate research in Dr. Kozminski's lab. My work has been towards setting up an assay for the binding of two proteins involved in establishing cell polarity in yeast. I have worked toward purifying these proteins by cloning them into a plasmid such that the expressed protein is fused to a protein that can be affinity purified. Once purified, we plan on testing the binding of these proteins in vitro.

Chromosome segregation is regulated by a complex web of signaling pathways. I am examining the role that the Rho GTPase Cdc42 plays in this process.

Since my second year, I have coordinated an NIH-funded prostate cancer drug experiment under the directorship of Dr. A. Periasamy, a joint professor in Biology and Engineering. In our experiment a fluorescently-labelled anticancer drug presently used clinically is added to our cells at varying concentrations over variable times. Our goal is to understand the dynamic processes that occur once the drug has been taken up by the cell.

Investigation on the evolutionary history of TIM alpha-beta barrel domain protein through comparing short loop region.

I am currently investigating the relative importance of parental age effects on germination rate and early vegetative growth of offspring. The general question is, "Do individuals produce the same quality of offspring as the mother increase in age?" Using seeds collected from Plantago lanceolata families in consecutive years (2002 and 2003), environmental and genetic factors that typically mask parental age effects on offspring can be eliminated. As a result, the relationship between parental age and offspring characteristics (seed weight, germination rate and time, and early growth rates) can be examined more clearly.

My research is part of a collaborative investigation to determine if phenotypically distinct populations of the Margined Madtom catfish (Ictaluridae: Noturus insignis) from the upper Dan River system in southwestern Virginia warrant conservation status as an evolutionarily significant unit. My phylogeographic analysis is based on a 400 base pair region of the NADH2 mitochondrial gene in ~70 individuals from 12 river drainages across the species range.

 Huyen Bao Truong                                            Dr. Laura Galloway

The native American Bellflower (Campanula americana) underwent three generations of artificial selection for earlier and later flowering resulting in a two week difference in flowering time between treatments. I am determining whether the same genes were involved in changed flowering time in independent replicates of the selection treatment and whether these genes are predominately nuclear or cytoplasmic.

I work in Dr. Carla Green's lab, which studies the molecular basis of circadian rhythms. With the aid of similar existing experiments in the literature I have designed an assay that measures rhythmic expression of a reporter gene in cell culture. With this assay our lab plans to introduce various clock mutants via transient transfection to see how they perturb core clock function (e.g. its period, phase).

Luke John Benvenuto                                            Dr. Michael Menaker

I am studying the effects of chronic application of a sympathomimetic drug on the locomotor circadian rhythms in mice under various conditions. The ultimate goal of these experiments is to gain a better understanding of central nervous system control of circadian rhythms.

I am currently working with a circadian rhythm protein called Period 1 in the model system of Xenopus Laevis (an African frog). Using antibody techniques (along with other assorted molecular methods), I will be investigating some of its operations in the vertebrate cell.

     Diana Chung                                                    Dr. Michael Menaker

I studied "supershifter" mice that show unusually large phase shifts of locomotor activity rhythms in response to a 15-minutes light pulse. I also studied mice which have become diurnal due to having two important retinal genes (RPE65 and melanopsin) knocked out.

      Dan Greene                                                     Dr. Michael Menaker 

Levels of dopamine, which in the retina vary throughout the 24-hour cycle, directly controls certain physiological activities in the retina. We are attempting to verify that dopamine is, in part, regulated by a third class of photoreceptor (distinct from rods and cones) that contains the photopigment melanopsin.

I am in charge of the mouse colony where I maintain the breeding program (under the watchful eye of a graduate student). This involves setting up breeding pairs, weaning and tagging the pups, and genotyping each mouse. The genotyping involves isolating DNA from mouse tails, PCR and gel electrophoresis.

We're working with female rats to determine whether the circadian rhythm in rat ovaries is controlled via humoral signals or via the nervous system. We are surgically removing a single ovary (leaving the other as a control) and replacing it in an isolated subcutaneous position. We then compare the circadian rhythms of the control versus the implant.