Summer Scholars Program

Biology Department
2010 Volunteer Faculty Mentors

Dr. Jonathan Fingerut
Projects in my lab can be either laboratory or field based, but primarily aim to answer questions about the distribution of aquatic organisms in stream habitats. Why do you find a certain type of insect larvae in areas with fast flow and not slow? How much control do organisms have over where they end up and what adaptations do they possess that help them overcome the physical challenges of living in flowing water. These are the types of questions I like to examine using the larvae of a black fly common to this area, Simulium tribulatum. Students in my lab will help with an ongoing sampling project in a local stream, working to understand the temporal variation in populations, in addition to their own projects. If you are interested, please come talk to me to learn more.

Dr. Eileen Grogan
The opportunity exists for one or two undergraduate students to participate in a longstanding field research program dedicated to the collection and study of fossils from the 318 million-year- old Bear Gulch Limestone Deposit of Montana.  Successful students will learn about the fauna and flora (biology, ecology, taxonomy, taphonomy) of a Paleozoic bay through study of the relevant literature, examination of lab specimens, and by engaging in team-based field excavations in a remote region out west.  During this process, the student will see and or discover fossil forms which are entirely new to science. He/she will also be trained in the geology and theories for formation of this deposit. Qualified candidates must have prior field or significant camping experience, the physical stamina required for manual excavation, and must interview with Dr. Grogan prior to submitting an application for a position on the expedition team.

Dr. Christina King Smith
Research in my lab centers on the cytoskeleton and intracellular motility in eukaryotic cells. Students will investigate actin dependent mechanisms of organelle transport using primary cultures of fish retinal epithelial cells. A second research area involves investigation of the roles of actin and myosin in whole cell movement in cultured mammalian cells. Techniques include protein biochemistry, light microscropy, and cell culture.

Dr. Julia Lee
Chromosome ends (or telomeres) shorten over time in many human cells; this shortening plays a role in controlling cellular life span, but the inappropriate relengthening of telomeres is involved in cancer cell survival. My lab is interested in understanding how RNA-processing proteins may be involved in telomere maintenance using bakerÕs yeast as the model organism. BakerÕs yeast are eukaryotic cells that have many similarities to human cells including ways in which proteins work. The yeast Nsr1p is homologous to human nucleolin, and Npl3 is homologous to heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A1. These are important in rRNA maturation and maturation, ribosome assembly, and nucleoplasmic transport but have recently been found to be involved in maintaining telomeres. We have shown that these proteins, when deleted in yeast cells that mimic aging human cells, caused the cells to be even more sick. We have designed experiments to explore mechanisms of how Nsr1p and Npl3p work at yeast telomeres. Furthermore, we want to examine further and explore how specific protein domains contribute to the functions of the proteins. Because we are able to conduct various experiments in yeast that we cannot easily do in human cells, the insight we gain in the yeast system will further the understanding of telomere biology pertaining to the natural processes of aging and cancer.

Dr. Scott McRobert
My research involves analysis of the genetic, ecological and evolutionary bases of animal behavior. My students and I work with a wide variety of animals, including fish, frogs, fruit flies and, turtles. The project we will be working on this summer involves the effects of experience on aggregation behavior in different species of fish. In this study, students will breed fish (most likely guppies, mollies, convict cichlids and Siamese fighting fish), and raise the new-born offspring under different conditions (alone, with members of their own species, with members of another species, with plants, without plants). When the young fish have matured we will test them to determine whether their early experience affects their choices as adults.

Dr. Karen Snetselaar
There are several possible student projects available in the Ustilago maydis lab. Students interested in host-pathogen relationships can use the tools of microscopy, including a new confocal microscope, to study how a pathogenic fungus causes disease in its plant host. Projects with more emphasis on cell biology are also possible; the fungus can be grown and studied without using the plant host. Another ongoing study involves trying to determine how fungal spores overwinter and infect the plant host in nature; experiments to look at spore survival in soil under different conditions can be carried out.

Dr. Clint Springer
Several opportunities exist for interesting projects in the area of plant physiological ecology in my lab. One project aims to understand the physiological mechanisms associated with altered flowering time of the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana in response to the important global climate change factor, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. A second project aims to understand the evolutionary changes that have occurred in Pitch Pines of the south New Jersey Pinelands. A third seeks to examine plasticity in the response of the important biofuel species, Panicum virgatum, to changes in water and nutrient availability. Students will be involved in all areas of these research projects. [CO2].

Dr. Paul Tefft
My primary research interest is in the interactions of parasites with their hosts.  Since the parasite my students and I work on is a plant-parasitic nematode we have to consider the physiology of both plants and animals. The nematode called the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) causes more than al billion dollar loss to the soybean crop worldwide and is considered the number one pest of this crop.  This summer we plan to continue our study on the role elevated carbon dioxide has on infection rates and larval behavior in this important crop pest. We are also going to study the physiological impact different infection rates have on host plants.  Students will learn techniques that include culturing of plants and nematodes, light microscopy, running bio-assay systems, designing controlled experiments, data reduction, and oral and written presentation of their results.

Dr. John Tudor
Projects in my lab include:
Isolating mutants of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus that have lost the ability to prey on other bacteria. Mutants will be generated through transposon mutagenesis. Interrupted genes will be isolated and sequenced. Gene sequences will be analyzed using bioinformatic tools in an attempt to identify their function, especially as it relates to predation.

Cultures of mutated Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus will be synchronized to determine what stage of its developmental cycle is blocked. This data will be correlated with gene expression data in order to determine the role that particular predation genes play in bdellovibiro development.

Dr. James Watrous
Students in my laboratory will study an aspect of neural function by computer simulation using the program SNNAP. This program is a versatile JAVA based package that permits the construction and analysis of both single nerve cells and networks of these cells connected by either chemical or electrical synapses. Students will first learn how to use the program then begin working on a project that is more in-depth. Current projects that would serve as jumping off points for further work include the development of a model of nerves responsible for circadian rhythms, the analysis of networks containing pacemaker and/or bursting type neurons and the development of networks that serve as models for our current understanding of epilepsy. An interest in the applications of computer technology and modeling to biological systems is essential for these types of research activities.

Dr. David Zuzga
Cancer is the second leading cause of disease-related mortality with over 500,000 deaths/year in the U.S. alone. Mortality from cancer largely reflects metastasis, the process through which cancer cells migrate from the primary tumor to distant sites throughout the body. With respect to colon cancer, patients who are diagnosed early, with no metastasis, are almost uniformly cured by surgical removal of the primary tumor. For these patients the five-year survival rate is 90%. However, only 39% of all patients with colon cancer are diagnosed at this early stage. In contrast, the majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, where local or distant metastasis has already occurred, and have much lower survival rates, 60% and 10% respectively. These data highlight the critical need for effective therapeutics aimed at the metastatic process. My research focuses on the invasive migration of cancer cells, with specific interest in the 
cytoskeletal regulation of metastasis. Individual projects will interrogate key regulators of specific membrane structures, such as invadopodia, which serve as organizing hubs in metastatic cells, coordinating migratory and proteolytic processes that underlie metastasis.