Summer on the Texas Coast

Greeting from Texas ya'll,

This is Matt Pimentel, and this is my first summer with MARC. I have spent the past 7 weeks at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, TX with the REUfest program. UTMSI is such a small, wonderful, supportive community, and I love that I am at an entire institute dedicated to research!


Port Aransas, TX

UTMSI



REU-ers at the Port Aransas Pirate Pub Crawl

I am working with harmful algal bloom (HAB) research professor, Dr. Ed Buskey, and am investigating the potential use of molecular tagging in detecting ingestion of the red tide dinoflaggelate, Karenia brevis, particularly by protozoans. The main protozoan I am using in my research is the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans.


K. brevis


Noctiluca

Protozoans have been found to play an increasingly important role as grazers of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and are thought to assert top-down control on HAB dynamics. A species-specific molecular tag would enable us to determine HAB-grazer interactions and identify potentially important grazers involved in suppressing and/or controlling HABs, and understand how potential grazers change after ingesting HAB species (i.e. behaviorally, growth, reproduction, etc.). Ultimately we will be able to quantify protozoan importance as a grazer in natural plankton assemblages involved in top-down control of HABs and, in the future, investigate HAB food chain dynamics to concretely establish how red tide toxins travel through the food web.

Outside of lab I have been going to the beach regularly, completed reading the Harry Potter series (so Amazing), become a ping-pong junkie(my only means to physical activity after I sprained my ankle), caught up on many movies (Doubt is a must-see), spent a lot of time with UT students and fellow interns, and delved into the Texan culture from the food (chicken-fried steak, crayfish, hamburger-steak) to roller derby and Austin's infamous music scene. Even this far through this program I feel like I have a much better understanding of the entire research process and I feel equipped to return to UCLA and make the most out my MARC experience. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in the fall and the next two years in MARC!

More Photos!


Microscopy

Plankton rollers

Sea Star on the beach

Beach adventures

Good times!

Dr. Ed Buskey's lab

My roommates

The jetty

Sea Urchin

Bonfire

Cheers,
Matt Pimentel

Summer at Stanford

Hi everyone,

This is Jason Melehani. I am spending my summer at Stanford University studying Toxoplasma gondii in Dr. Boothroyd's lab under the direction of Dr. Anita Koshy. One-third of the world's population is estimated to be seropositive for Toxoplasma infection. Mostly, this parasite lays dormant and the infect person remains asymptomatic. However, in cases which the person has a weak immune system such as in pregnancy or HIV infection, the parasite can cause a major systemic infection largely focused in the brain and other organs ultimately resulting in death. My project is focused on trying to understand how this parasite is able to evade the immune system. Preliminary evidence (work done before I joined) suggests that Toxoplasma "injects" proteins into cells in their local immunological environment which turn off expression of cytokines involved in responding to intracellular parasitism. I am working to show this conclusively through capturing the event and quantifying its occurrence.
Both in and out of lab Stanford has been a great experience. The 31 other program participants (including Sergio and Jennifer from UCLA!) are very cool and we all get along great together. We have taken trips to San Francisco and Los Angeles (for the Amgen Symposium) and will be going to the beach in Santa Cruz in two weeks. I don't have any pictures right now but I should have some from SF soon that I will share. I am taking the MCAT (for applying to MD/PhD programs) on July 30th so once that is done summer will be even better!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Jason

Summer at Harvard!

Hello everyone!

I am spending 10 weeks in Boston through the SHURP program at Harvard Medical School, and it’s been amazing so far. Under the tutelage of Carlos Loya, a graduate student, and the rest of the Van Vactor lab, I am studying synapse formation and how it is regulated by microRNAs, focusing specifically on miR-8. We use the Drosophila neuromuscular junction as our model system, and I am using fly genetics, immunostaining and cloning techniques to better characterize how miR-8 regulates the actin cytoskeleton at the synapse. Through meetings lots of people, I have had a lot of fun both in and out of lab. My fellow SHURPers and I have planned various outings since the program began, such as tours of Boston, museum trips, watching fireworks along the river, and time at the beach. I also have had the chance to run into Richard and Ryan, since we are all living in the same building. I am also researching graduate programs and (slowly) studying for the GRE. I’ll be sure to provide future updates!

Hope everyone’s having a great summer,

Michelle

P.S. Here are some pictures of Boston:

A view from the quad. My lab is next to this building.

Part of the Boston skyline. The weather has been like this most of the time I've been here.

The Charles River.

A shirt to help me improve my Bostonian accent. :)