Summer Research Institute
The Department of Biology at Saint Joseph's University was the proud recipient of a Howard Hughes Grant providing equipment and support for undergraduate student research in the summers of 1995-98. This helped us establish a "Summer Research Institute" to promote undergraduate research in science. The Summer Research Institute continues this summer, with support from individual grants.
Students receive a stipend and work full-time on research projects under the direction of a faculty mentor. Other students, some just having completed their freshman year, also have volunteered to become involved in research on a part-time basis. During the ongoing summer program, field trips are also scheduled to areas of biological interest.
Summer 1999:
This is an active summer for research in the sciences at SJU with
approximately 20 students and SJU faculty from Biology, Chemistry, and Physics engaged in research full time for the summer!
Some students continue their research during academic year and present their results at the Saint Joseph's University Annual Research Symposium held each May.
The whole group meets weekly to talk about and share information on their diverse areas of interest. Some lab groups also have weekly research meetings to share and discuss the
new results in their own lab's research.
Projects in the Biology Department include research on:
- the signals that promote hatching in the nematode worm, Heterodera glycines
- female receptivity during courtship and mating in Drosophila
- recognition signals involved in schooling behavior of fish
- developmental mutants that affect the invasion of smut fungus into corn plant tissue
- cytoskeletal mechanisms involved in the movement of pigment granules in retinal epithelial cells of fish
- the effect of environmental factors on growth of Douglas fir trees
- chaotic patterns in human EKG signals during the menstrual cycle
- studies in the microbiology and molecular biology of the predatory bacterium Bdellvibrio:
- gene regulation during the life cycle
- examination of mutant strains
- cloning and mapping of the genome
- analysis of the heat shock protein genes
Techniques learned and used by the student researchers include:
- microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy
- computer-assisted video monitoring of Drosophila behavior
- 2-dimensional protein gel electrophoresis, DNA agarose gel electrophoresis, starch gel electrophoresis
- molecular cloning and restriction enzyme analysis of DNA
- innoculation and controlled pollination of corn plants in environmental chambers
- culturing of bacteria and fungal species
- sampling and analysis of vegetation from ecosystems; tree-ring analysis
- computer modeling of biological systems
To view a list of faculty & research areas -individual faculty pages can be accessed through this list or through the Biology Home Page.
To return to the Biology Home Page
To return to the SJU Home Page
Last revision: 6/24/99
Current Address: http://www.sju.edu/biology/bsures.htm
The Biology Home Page
can be accessed at the short address: www.sju.edu/biology