UCLA MARC

Ryan Quiroz

2011-08-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Boston, Massachusetts and the famous Harvard University. This is Ryan Quiroz, and I am spending my summer research experience in Boston as part of the HHMI EXROP program. I am living in the Harvard dorms in Harvard Square, but I actually work right across the street from MIT at the Broad Institute. It is a unique mixture of Harvard and MIT professors, as well as some collaborators from the many surrounding hospitals, in a part-industry part-academic lab environment. The institute was created by my P.I., Stuart Schreiber, in partnership with Eric Lander, one of the driving forces in the Human Genome project. The institute is funded by the Broad family, humanitarians from Los Angeles, who actually have a building named after them at UCLA, the Broad Stem Cell Research building.

I work in the chemical biology platform at the Broad, and my project is concerned with the chemical synthesis of analogues of a compound that exhibited potent and selective activity against multiple myeloma cancer cells compared to wild type blood progenitors. Using the high-throughput screening technology available at the Broad, this parent compound was identified out of a 25,000 compound library, and my goal is to make structurally and chemically similar probe molecules that exhibit better water solubility and enhanced selectivity in killing multiple myeloma cells. To do this, I am currently working on heterocycle and coupling chemistry, as well as learning how to run high throughput cytotoxicity assays and RT-PCR to comprehensively analyze my compounds. The 8 weeks I have been here so far have been great, and I have been learning so much.

Boston itself has been a great city. Although it has quite a different feel (and climate) from the west coast, I love the Charles River running through Cambridge and Boston, the beautiful bridges, and the quaint skyline. I have been kayaking, site seeing, and exploring in Cambridge and Boston, and it has been a lot of fun seeing all of the historical landmarks and enjoying these old but prestigious towns. There is also not a lot of chain restaurants or major highways in this city, so it has been a great new experience walking all over town and trying many different local eateries.

Harvard is about to start school again, so I will actually be moving out of the dorms and into a hotel near the medical school very soon, and hopefully that will be another new area of town to explore. I hope everyone else is doing well and I will see all of you again in the fall.

Martin Mwangi

2011-08-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

My name is Martin Mwangi and I have been spending my 2011 summer at the amazing University of Pittsburgh as a part of the HHMI EXROP program. I’ve been enjoying working in the Hatfull lab studying mycobacteriophages under the supervision of Dr. Bekah Dedrick. My project involves analyzing the expression of a putative DNA methylase in several mycobacteriophages(which also putatively encodes an endonuclease in a different frame) in both Mycobacterium smegmatis and E. Coli. I have already learned a couple of news techniques such as cloning.

The lab I am working is considerably larger than at my home institution which has been great as there are plenty of people to ask questions. In lab meeting, where I presented this past week, their questions and feedback was very helpful in thinking about how to best approach my project. All the people are very friendly and I had the opportunity of enjoying a potluck at the lab coordinators house this past weekend.

Getting to see the city of Pittsburgh has been pretty amazing. I had the opportunity to see all the amazing fireworks shows across the city of Pittsburgh on the 4th of July. This weekend I hope to go Kayaking. Overall my stay so far has been great and I look forward to what the next 5 weeks have to offer.

Hasta luego UCLA

2010-05-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the rooftop study lounge in Rodin [dormitory],

My name is Matt Pimentel and I will be participating in the Summer Undergraduate Internship Program at the University of Pennsylvania (through the Leadership Alliance) this summer.

I left my humble dwelling in the hills of Westwood on Sunday, May 23rd to catch a flight to Philly.

5 hours later, after a flight of conversation with an 84 year old woman, an hour waiting for baggage at baggage claim, and a $10 taxi ride where I sat quietly panicking after realizing I had lost my cash, I arrived to UPenn. I should inform you that my summer program has about 34 students, however, I have arrived 2 weeks early in order to accomodate my need to attend summer school at UCLA while fulfilling the 10 week committment to research at Penn. On top of that, the quarter doesn't officially end for another 3 weeks, so I will be juggling working a full time job and school for a while. Wish me luck!

After a few hours of sleep, I groggily headed over to my lab to begin work. Even though it's only been two days, I can say with confidence, that this is going to be a good summer (especially after Finals are over)! I am working with Dr. Gary Koretzky in the Department of Medicine, and my graduate mentor is a Penn M.D./PhD student named Tao. Tao is a 5th year student, and Dr. Gary Koretzky is a well known PI in immunology, he is particularly interested in T cell signaling pathways, and is the director for the Penn MD/PhD program. As a result, there are about 5 MD/PhD students, 1 postdoc, 2 graduate students, a tech, lab manager, and 3 undergraduate students in my lab.

My first day at work was a long one. I arrived at 10AM and left around 8PM. However, I really enjoyed it. Tao introduced me to so many people around the School of Medicine, showed me what he's working on, and already gave me a paper that I need to read by Wednesday. The lab is really lively, and the Dr. Koretzky is really involved in the lab, on top of all of his administrative duties.

Today (2nd day of work), was a beautiful day, sunny just like most days at UCLA (in contrast to the day I arrived when I was greeted with a warm gust of moist air). Other then enjoying the beautiful weather, I spent 3 hours in a lab safety class, did some reading, and had lunch with the program coordinator. The program coordinator is extremely helpful and has been working tirelessly to make sure I have everything I need.

For most of my time this week I will be taking all of the lab training courses that will be necessary for me to start my project, and hopefully I'll be able to make some time for studying after work.

Penn is a beautfiul school, and I'm really looking to exploring the city and the resources at Penn...after Finals (15 days to go!)

Also, to those that have read this far (kudos to you!), I forgot to bring a camera so my 3.2 megapixel camera on my LG EnV Touch will have to suffice. Additionally, lets hope that the humidity stays far from Philadelphia this summer!

See all of you beautiful people in 10 weeks,
Matt

Matt Pimentel

2009-09-14T10:20:00.001-07:00

Matt Pimentel is a third year student majoring in Molecular and Cell Developmental Biology. He is a first year MARC student working collaboratively in a Psychoneuroimmunology lab under Dr. Erica Sloan and in a Molecular & Pharmacology lab under his MARC Preceptor Dr. Lily Wu. Prior to MARC, beginning in fall 2008, he worked in Dr. Steve Cole’s lab under Dr. Sloan investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in promoting breast cancer metastasis as a result of chronic stress. He also participated in PEERS & CARE Fellows and is planning on applying to Ph.D programs in molecular biomedical research. During his first summer as a MARC student he participated in the REU program at the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute.

Jessica Jimenez:

2009-09-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Jessica Jimenez
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau

Jessica is a third year neuroscience major, and began working in the
laboratory of Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau in fall of 2008. She is
currently a first year MARC student and is a past participant of the
PEERS, BISEP, CARE Scholars, and Amgen Scholars Program.
The laboratory currently studies the mechanisms by which cortical
circuits are assembled in the brain during development. The project
Jessica is specifically involved in focuses on Cajal-Retzius (CR)
neurons, which are known to play a crucial role in neuronal migration
through the secretion of reelin. In mice, after cortical layers are
properly assembled, CR neurons gradually disappear for reasons that
are still not clear to date. Still, a fraction of these neurons remain
in Layer 1 into adulthood and continue to extend axons. Therefore,
some CR neurons may have other functions in brain development, perhaps
playing a role in the structural maturation of pyramidal neurons and
their integration into functional cortical circuits. To examine the
fate of CR neurons during postnatal mouse development, a transgenic
Ebf2 mouse line that expresses the green fluorescent protein (GFP)
only in CR neurons can be used. Utilizing two-photon imaging and
electrophysiological techniques, Jessica works to begin characterizing
surviving CR neuron morphological and electrophysiological properties.
If surviving CR neurons do in fact have other functions in the
development of the cortical circuit, a comparison between these
characteristics at early and adult time points will provide insight
needed to begin making inferences about those functions.

Paola's summer research experience at UCSF

2009-08-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow marchies,

My name is Paola Castro. I'd like start by saying that my summer experience at UCSF was absolutely amazing.
I was part of the SRTP (Summer Research Training Program) at UCSF. I had the pleasure to work in the laboratory of Dr. Cynthia Kenyon who is part of the biophysics and biochemisty department at UCSF. On the day to day basis, I was delighted to work with Dr. Della David. Della was a great mentor whose enthusiasm for science was contagious. Della focuses her studies in protein aggregation. I had the opportunity to work on two projects using the fabulous Caenorhabditis elegans model. One of the them consisted in studying the interaction between proteins with a propensity to aggregate with age and proteins that aggregate because of the presence of a polyglutamine expansion. In the second project, I studied the role of the proteasome in protein aggregation.
At the end of the program I not only had to present a poster but also give a 12 minute talk about the research done throughout the summer. Giving the talk was a really good experience.

Now on the non-science part of things, San Francisco was amazing. The dorm all us kids in the program were staying at, which belonged to USF, was accross the city from the UCSF campus I did my research. For this reason we had to use public transportation accross the city everyday. I am happy to say that am very comfortable getting around the city.
Thanks for reading,

Paola Castro

Saludos from Santa Barbara

2009-08-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm really having a great time doing research at UCSB eventhough the RISE program keeps us really busy with talks, seminars and poster presentantions. I'm doing research with Dr. Craig Hawker and my research consists in making polyelectrolytes hydrogels using triblocks copolymes with anionic ends (middle block is neutral) and homopolymers with cationic chains. Polyelectrolytes copolymers are soluble in water, responsive to the environment, thermodynamically stable, and have important applications in drug delivery and underwater adhesives. So far we have not been able to make a hydrogel but we are very close of doing it.
Since I'm here, I've been driving to L.A. pretty much every weekend to see my lovely family. Eventhough it has been nice to have some time for myself, I miss my two boys and husband a lot!!!. They have come to visit me twice and here are some pictures when they came.

Greetings from Stanford!!!

2009-08-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hi MARCees!

I'm spending my summer at Stanford University as an Amgen Scholar along with Jason and Jennifer from UCLA. It's been an amazing experience! I love the campus and the bay area ! My peers are really interesting and smart, and we are all big science nerds which is awesome:). We have bonded in this short amount of time and have even organized trips to Yosemite, San Francisco and Santa Cruz amongst other fun activities. I am learning a ton everyday especially in lab. My lab focuses on germ stem cells in male fruit flies.
The Drosophila Melanogaster male germ line provides a great model for understanding the process of spermatogenesis. Gonialblasts originate from male germ stem cells that differentiate once they are asymmetrically displaced from the self-renewing origin, known as the niche. In D. Melanogaster, the testes provide a clear depiction of these morphological changes in sperm along their location in reference to the stem cell niche. Strict genetic and post-transcriptional regulation is imperative in this pathway to ensure that spermatogenesis proceeds in a functional manner. A previous publication attested that a mutation in the overgrown hematopoietic organs-31 (oho31) tumor suppressor caused hyperproliferation of D. Melanogaster spermatogonial cyst, an early stem cell stage. However, we believe that their technique generated a mutation in another regulatory gene along this chromosome. We believe that Mediator 20, a subunit of the Mediator complex, causes spermatocyte arrest and hyperproliferation in itself or from interactions with other factors including but not limited to oho31. It is known that the Mediator complex is a member of the RNA polymerase II machinery, an adaptor between transcription factors, and possibly a target of various regulatory proteins. We are interested in elucidating the correlation between Med20 and hyperproliferation of early germ stem cells in the male germ line. Genetic recombination and RNA interference against Med20 will be utilized to compare testis phenotype in Med20 knockdown flies. Furthermore, in situ hybridization with a complementary Med20 probe will be used to localize expression of this gene in the testis. We predict that Med20 mutants will differ from wildtype testis by having a lower amount of mature spermatids and higher degree of germ stem cells in the early stages of spermatogenesis. Our research will provide valuable insight into the regulation mechanism of male germ stem cell proliferation and differentiation.
I'm very fortunate to do research at a different campus because I now have a greater toolbox of molecular techniques and a different perspective of science. Initially, I thought that developmental biology (Stanford lab) would have no similarities with immunology (UCLA lab)- I was wrong. I soon found out that there are many similarities including similar pathways (JAK-STAT) and protein homologs. I am seriously considering coming to Stanford for my Ph.D. There's a great support for grad. students and many professors doing amazing research. I am very exciting to go back to UCLA too and wish everyone a great summer! GO MARC!!!

Best wishes,

Sergio J. Davila

Fruit Fly testis is a great model for understanding stem cells.

Jason (right) and me (left) along with 20 friends from the program at Ethiopian restaurant!

Whitewater rafting at the Merced river!!!

Summer on the Texas Coast

2009-07-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-22T09:43:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

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. :)

From Hahvahd, with Love- Richard Rodriguez

2009-06-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

A quick update on my first week... I'm writing a small update on my status so far here at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston proper. Although the weather has been a little less than perfect, my visit has been nothing short of surreal. The week flew by, and it's already Sunday night (here in the East, at least). I have 9 other people in my cohort (STARS is a new program, so, we're guinea pigs, though they got about a thousand applicants xD). Although the hours at work are long, I've been able to enjoy Boston and the company of my cohort. I've even got a chance to meet up with Michelle! They're all very interesting and different people. Most, if not all, of them are pursuing (or already in) an M.D. program. I'm different from them in that I am pursuing an M.D./Ph.D., and it kinda shows, hehe. I am in Vijay Kuchroo's lab, working under Nicole Joller Ph.D. Although a little edgy at times, both of them seem to be excellent mentors insofar. My project is characterizing the regulatory abilities of two proteins in T cell activation. Although the proteins themselves are not novel, the preliminary research indicates that one may be an inhibitor (Vsig9) and the other, a stimulator (CD226). My background in immunology prior to just a couple of weeks ago (Finals week and the 4 days I had off) was quite limited, although I definitely read up as much as I could. When I arrived in lab, though, I realized I was definitely behind, hehe! Anyhoo, to characterize I am performing FACS analysis for the first time, and I will be harvesting organs from EAE (Multiple Sclerosis model mice--it's weird watching a mouse drag itself around, by the way, haha). The first week went all into planning this enormous multi-level project, which my mentor Nicole was sure would take me at least 2 weeks ^^. So, next week, I will be performing the experiments. As for life outside of lab, I have to pinch myself a little to make sure it's not just a dream. The architecture and vibe in Boston are just incredible. Not to mention, my program, STARS, is making this so doable and making it so much more fun. This turned out to be a little longer than I imagined, but I will keep you all updated on my visit here in Boston!

Need to get a good picture of myself, haha; I don't have one with me in it yet, for some odd reason.

~Richard Rodriguez

MARC Students attend SACNAS Conference

2008-12-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

(MARC students enjoy a casual moment at SACNAS. Left to right: Paola Castro, Melinda Hernandez, Erin Jimenez, Michelle Crespo, Richard Rodriguez, Dwayne Simmons, Joseph Hargan Calvopina, Jason Melehani)

The Annual Meeting for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) was held October 9-12, 2008 in Salt Lake City, UT. Eight MARC students attended this meeting which included seminars, workshops, a graduate school fair and an opportunity for students to present their research.

Paola's SACNAS adventure.

2008-10-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow MARC peoples,
This October 9th through 12th I assisted the SACNAS conference. It was a marvelous experience. I learned a lot about the research going on in the poles. During the poster session, I met a student from Puerto Rico that also performed brood sizes for C. elegans. We conversed about the protocol that we followed for the experiment. I was very happy to give her some suggestions.
At the exhibitor session at the conference I had the opportunity to talk to direct representatives of some summer programs that I am interested in applying to for summer 2009.
I was very happy to see the greatness of the conference and the so much interested in science.
But must importantly I got to bond with the other MARC kids!!!
On the Last day, right before coming back to LA, the UCLA student I roomed with and I got a quick tour of Park City and got to see snow for the first time!!

Happy fall 08!!

peace.

Maylen's Summer in Puerto Rico!

2008-09-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I spent the great majority of this summer as an REU Summer Research intern on the El Verde Frield Research Station in the El Yunque National Rainforest in Puerto Rico. I left June 6th, and returned August 8th. The two months I spent over there were an amazing oportunity and experience.

My mentors were Dr. Jorge Ortiz and Debora Figueroa. Dr. Ortiz had much work to do, so Debora was really my full-time mentor. I had so much fun working with her on a project designed to quantify the carbon quality in urban rivers in Puerto Rico. The first week I arrived was a nightmare! I had to leave early, before spring quarter ended, so I still had papers to write and finals to take. That first week I had to finish all my school stuff AND do all the research for my summer project because we had a research proposal to turn in and present the next week. After that initial hectic struggle, the rest of the time was pretty well managed.

My field work began right away. I was sampling two rivers, and it was tiring work. We had to wake up during the wee hours of the morning and struggle our way through the brush in order to reach the rivers. Then we set up our equipment and took several water samples for analysis. It was dangerous at times, we even suffered an iguana attack in the middle of a deep pool. It just flew out of the brush and ran straight for us! We survived that and many, many hours of scorching hot sunlight on our backs and necks, which eventually led to a very interesting project.

Aside from work, my roomates (4 other girls) were very nice people. We all came from different parts of the US, and one of them was a native of the island. We took several large group trips to see more of Puerto Rico. We visited the Guanica dry forest, which was at the other end of the island, we visited the city of Old San Juan, which used to be a Spanish fort town in the past. Everything was beautiful and the food was delicious! I think I made some pretty amazing bonds with the other interns that I would have missed out on if I had not taken this oportunity. I was so impressed with my experience at the UPR, that I even started to consider doing my PhD over there.

Finally, after all the field work was done, we had a little trouble with the analysis because machines didn't want to work, and some tests were not sensitive enough, but eventually we got it all done. At the end, I gave a short oral presentation about the project to the rest of the interns and mentors. It was very rewarding because I was complimented on my work.

I thought this was one of the best experiences I've had because I got to live in a setting completely different than LA. I was in the middle of the rainforest, listening to frogs croaking at night and rainfall. It was a beautiful, spiritual experience as well as a priceless learning experience. I recommend to everyone that an internship in another country will be a rewarding and life-altering decision. I hope you all had fun this summer too and I can't wait to see you this quarter!

paola castro SPUR 2008

2008-09-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'd like to tell you a grasp of my summer experience. This summer 2008 turned out better than I expected.Not only did I get to work in a lab full time. I also got to attend my first scientific conference, thanks to the MARC program, I have a better understanding of what it is like to work in a team, and grew as a person. The scientific conference I attended took place in Wisconsin. The lab I became part of this summer studies aging. Shilpi, my graduate student mentor, and I study aging in the Caenorhabditis elegans model. The all the research presented at the conference I attended was concentrated on this worm. As a result, the conference was a great opportunity to get to know my model even better! Furthermore, Shilpi and I got to meet other researchers that pursue similar studies to our own from other universities.

This summer I got to start on a project that I will continue on fall quarter and that I will get to tell you all about when we get together just before the start of this fall quarter. The main purpose of the project is to investigate the effects that Vitamin C has on the longevity of the C. elegans. Almost all plants synthesize Vitamin C. Our lab is currently investigating whether the worm makes this important antioxidant. The inconclusive results suggest that the worm does not synthesize it. If in fact, the worm doesnt synthesize it, it would be interesting because humans are on of the few vertebrates that do not synthesize vitamin C and must obtain it by dietary intake. I hope to obtain more results this fall quarter and share them with you all!

I hope everyone had a great summer!!
I've attached some pictures. One of me and my poster and the other of cheese hats for sell at the Wisconsin airport.

sincerely,

Paola

Erin Jimenez and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

2008-09-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

Being an “URP” at CSHL was an extraordinary and unique opportunity. I had the pleasure to work in Dr. Dave Jackson’s laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Robyn Johnston to investigate phyllotaxy, the specific geometric arrangement of leaves and flowers around the plant stem. I investigated maize mutants with altered phyllotaxy to better understand the mechanisms controlling leaf initiation. Working in Dr. Dave Jackson’s laboratory challenged me to think about the scientific process in a very different perspective. For the past year I have studied mitochondrial protein import in yeast at UCLA. Coming from a lab using a different model system and different techniques, I was thrown out of my element. I had to learn and master techniques I never used before quickly. I immersed myself into my project desiring to learn every aspect of it. From the very beginning, my post-doc gave me the independence to make her project my own. Finding myself like a real scientist, I designed elegant experiments to find the answers to my questions. Working in a plant biology lab was extremely challenging and at times frustrating. CSHL and Dr. Dave Jackson challenged me to become more self-reliant and assimilate the knowledge my project demanded in a short amount of time.
I had the opportunity to meet other passionate student researchers from different universities around the world and discuss what it was like to be a young scientist. We gathered weekly to hear faculty discuss their research and had the opportunity to exchange ideas. Our weekly meetings refined my public speaking skills and challenged my intellectual development as a critical thinker.

In addition to gaining new insights in the laboratory, the summer was filled with activities from dinner with the infamous Jim Watson to kayaking around the harbor. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with the URPs. The URPs made my summer extra memorable and I miss them tremendously. I will never forget all the laughs we shared, venting, and even volleyball.

Summer Wrap Up

2008-09-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a enjoyable and productive summer where ever you went. I stayed at UCLA, as mentioned in my previous post, and I had a great time and got lots of work done. I will pick up from where i left off last time in my previous post.

My work on T. brucei focuses on understanding the regulation of flagellar motility. Briefly, my goals were to identify components of the dynein regulatory complex using a relatively new crosslinking method and also to identify post translational modification and protein differences in regulatory mutants. Unfortunately the work with in vivo crosslinking has been so far unsuccessful and may not work at all if the trypanosomes do not recognize the photo-amino acids as such. It appears that the trypanosomes do not grow in the presence of these photo-amino acids but they still may be taking them up. I am running one last test; hopefully it works! If not I will try some different DRC solubalizing methods to see if I can make regular IPs more successful.
My other project is progressing nicely. I recently received mass spec results on our flagellum isolation preparation and have spent the past couple days pouring over the data, trying to organize it and make it presentable. We have had the help of Dr. Wohlschlegel here at UCLA with this project and he and his lab have really done an excellent job! The preparation contains 951 proteins so I have my work cut out for me. Once we analyze it I will probably begin looking at uncharacterized proteins which are likely to be flagellar and target them with RNAi and tag them for localization experiments. I have a lot of work ahead for me in the Hill lab and I am very excited to keep going.

I look forward to meeting you all soon as well

Jason Melehani

Overview of Summer Research

2008-09-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, I get to see Melinda work in the clean and pristine Mugu Lagoon ;)

Although my work is on the micro-scale, my lab is pretty interesting to be around. During the summer, I worked closely with Emilio (my lab mentor) on his quest to obtain a Ph.D.
I guess I should recap what we actually aimed to accomplish. Most organisms have a sophisticated regulatory system for the sensing and subsequent absorption of iron. Loads of people, especially rich Europeans (iron disorders pretty common for them), are interested in understanding more about the iron-sensing mechanism, and how it is regulated. Presently, only in vivo (mouse) models exist. So our task is to recreate an in vitro (human cell line) model for the iron-dependent regulation of hepcidin (hepcidin is the regulator of iron absorption). Although that was my main objective, I was able to learn lots of other stuff along the way, as well as help my mentor with other experiments, and learn lots about other members' stuff in lab. Anyhoo, during the beginning few weeks, as I was getting acquainted with the experiments and stuff, we got results, and I was like, "Sweet! I am getting great results!" My mentor, Emilio, and my faculty mentor Dr. Ganz, were always less enthused. I wondered why, but I slowly began to realize the results from one single experiment are not enough to convince the scientific community, so you have to be a skeptic about your own experiments. This lesson, for me had a lot more significance than face value, I guess. I became more concscious of the histoy involved in each experiment (previous results and stuff), and what's more, I found it a lot easier to think of experiments as I was performing them. It's weird, because I actually want to know the answer to a question that no one knows the answer to, but I don't mind finding out for myself--I actually enjoy it :)
I digress. Aside from lab work, I really got to know my lab mates quite well, as every week, we did something together, like a walk through the gardens, visiting the new lab (it's friggin' crazy, like "Saw" looking, but new and clean, haha), and parties where we (at least everyone else) brought homemade food. My faculty mentor, Tom Ganz, is an extremely busy guy-- running his own biomed science business, the new lab, and going out of the country to give speeches-- but almost every day he was at the lab, he would stop in to ask how I was doing, and made me feel so part of the lab. Emilio and I are really great friends now, and I seriously cannot wait to get back to UCLA!
Left: Me Right: Emilio

Melinda's Summer in the Fong Lab

2008-09-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm Melinda, a first year MARC trainee, third-year Biology major.
This summer’s research has gone by so quickly!!! I am in Dr. Peggy Fong’s lab in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. I got the opportunity to help with several projects ranging in topics from nitrogen-fixation/denitrification, the effects of algae on food web, to upper marsh vegetation and alternative stable states. I worked primarily with Sarah Bryson, who is looking to show salt marsh vegetation and salt pannes are alternative stable states. I also helped out Lauri Green with field work in the mud flats. I have been out in the field at least once a week starting the first week of the summer program. The field site is Mugu Lagoon, located in Ventura County Naval Weapons Air Base. Both the research with the salt pannes and research in the mud flats are conducted in different areas of the lagoon. I must say, this field site is AMAZINGLY beautiful. The favorite part of my summer, and perhaps the most tiring, was collecting samples from the field.

Collecting mud cores for chlorophyll analysis.
I know it looks like we are trying to catch something in the water, but unfortunately we are approaching a dead brown smooth-hound shark.
Another undergrad and I trying to smile for the camera, but that shark was quite heavy. This is also seconds before the guts fell out onto our pants!
A slightly better view of the shark.

A far more flattering picture of me at the SPUR Poster Session.

I hope everyone enjoys the last few days of summer!!!

-Melinda Hernandez

Ekeoma and the Big Apple! (Well, 60 mi FROM it)

2008-09-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I am Ekeoma, and I spent 6 weeks of my summer in Upton, New York, at the Brookhaven National Labs (BNL) with chemist Dr. Diane Cabelli. She studies various chemical properties of the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is the same enzyme that I work with in my lab at UCLA. My mentor Madhuri, preceptor Joan (Valentine) and I thought it would be a good idea for me to go to Dr. Cabelli's lab, and that it would provide a good experience for me, since I would have the opportunity to work in industry as opposed to academia. And I must say that it was quite an experience!

During my time there, I got to work on a different part of SOD research than I usually do. I got the opportunity to learn pulse radiolysis, a technique which uses a machine (called a van de Graff, shown in the picture below) to generate superoxide radicals. It's a method used to measure the activity of SOD, and indirectly measure its inactivation. (To learn more, you will have to hear my talk during the symposium. ;)

I got some interesting data, but I did not get to work on the specific project that I was supposed to work on while there. In trying to prep for my intended project, I kept running into problems. Because the lab I worked in was a chem lab and not set-up for biochem-type work, I had difficulty preparing the enzymes that I needed, and when I asked my mentor at home to send me the needed enzymes, we incurred one obstacle after another. We, Diane and I, eventually had to tweak the project, but we made the best of what we had available.

Aside from research, I had the opportunity to meet students in some of BNL's summer programs. Honestly, it was great to meet other students like myself that were also interested in scientific research! And I got to learn from some of the other students and other BNL researchers about a field in chemistry, the field of ionic liquids, that I am now taking particular interest in.

Also, I met my (half) sister, Daria, whom I had never before met! It was great! I met her side of the family (sister, brother, mother, cousins), all reside in Brooklyn, and they took to me better than I could have imagined. We went to Coney Island on the fourth of July with her family, I took her to meet our cousins in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, and we spent time with each other throughout my stay.

I must say, even though I enjoyed my stay in New York, and enjoyed meeting up with friends I met during my last visit there, meeting my sister, and meeting new people altogether, I actually, for the first time in my life (that I can recall), got home sick! Yes, home sick! Upton itself is actually not very exciting and is about 60 miles from the city. So, as you may be able to imagine, getting to and from the city was not the easiest task, nor was it the cheapest! We, the other summer students and I, made the best of what we could. Though, there is nothing like home, family and friends that you are most familiar with. Seeing as how I really wanted to go to graduate school on the East Coast, I will now have to seriously consider that option. I enjoyed my experience away from home, but there is no place like home!

I'm glad to be back! =)

...but now, I'm thinking about when next I will go back and visit...funny how that works. =)

Take care, and thanks for reading!

Alberto and Berkeley MCB REU program

2008-09-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!! Greetings from the Lone Star State! I'm Alberto and I hope that all of you had a great summer research experience and that all of you are enjoying of the short summer break before going into full throttle. I finally decided give an update: I worked in Prof. Michael Levine lab at Berkeley (for those that don't know he's a fly geneticist) studying the role of a stably bound (or paused) polymerase at genes during early embryogenesis.
To give you a little background, starting the moment the fruit fly egg is laid, the embryo goes through super fast nuclei cleavage along with hundreds of signaling cascades that leads to the patterning formation of the syncytium blastoderm. All this is highly regulated at the level of transcription through transcriptional cofactors and chromatin remodeling complexes. Not long ago was discovered that genes that are turned on during early stages of the fly embryo have a 'stably bound polymerase', meaning that it remains at the promoter region of the gene without the help of transcriptional cofactors. In other words, the polymerase just sits there and is 'ready to roll'. With that, the graduate student and I hypothesized that a stalled Pol II is to enhance synchronous activation. I specifically looked at how genes with paused Pol II are turned more synchronous and less stochastic vs. genes with non-paused Pol II.
The REU program had a similar agenda to SPUR (seminars, workshops, interviews, GRE, etc). As any other summer research program, hours in the lab were long but that did mean I couldn't relax and see interesting things around campus, like the protest to save a grove of redwood trees from 'Guantanamo Berkeley'. I'm glad I came back to the Bay Area because I was able to go around visitng friends and spent some quality time with my family.
Well, I think that's it for the update and see you all at the MARC symposium!
Con gusto,
-Alberto Ponce

Huong's New York update

2008-09-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

After ten weeks of being in NY I realize that I really miss California. I wish I had done more for my project this summer but due to lack of time finishing was impossible. I met great students from other schools like Chamanade U in Hawaii and Manhanttan College. NY is a great place to be especially with my sister being here. I was in lab most of the time running columns but there was still time to do other things. I went to a Yankees game, Coney Island, BBQ at the park, and many other fun things. I really like the subway system because of its convenience. I like exploring the different neighborhoods around Manhattan on my spare time. Ny will be missed but California will always be my number one state. =)

This is the building where my lab is located (near Washington square park). I am on the second floor in the window. There would be NYU tours on the street everyday and they could always see me work. I felt like a fish.This is one of the great little things I found while walking around the city. I had a great summer but I can't wait to start my senior year at UCLA.

UCLA - Summer in the Portera Lab

2008-09-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

After 10 weeks in the lab through the Amgen Scholars Program, I am happy to say I had a frustrating (ie little data..), yet enjoyable summer experience. I'm not done yet, though.. I'm here for a few more weeks! :) Basically, I worked full-time in the lab and participated in programs provided by the Amgen program and MARC, such as the MARC journal club. Social events with fellow student researchers made the paper- and poster-making processes less stressful. :) Either way, the SPUR poster session was pretty fun! I thank my fellow student researchers and lab for their support at the poster session and for the entire summer. Although I was never able to get my intended summer project to work, I think it may pan out eventually and I am currently reading a lot to see if I could try another project. I'm motivated to continue to work just as hard and I look forward to various MARC events in the coming school year. :)

My awesome roomie, Vicky, from UIndy!

The UCLA Amgen scholars at the Amgen HQ in Thousand Oaks.

My post-doc mentor and I at the SPUR poster session.

Rockefeller University

2008-08-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

So everything has been going well here in the big apple. I am really enjoying the work although 13 hour days along with spending my nights applying to MD/PhD programs makes things bitter-sweet. Thus far we have been trying to trouble shoot issues with our microfluidic setup. We think something about the device is causing the worms to react spontaneously but we are going to try and figure this out and if we are unable we will still be able to compare mutants to controls. Although I was supposed to end my program today my lab has asked me to stay on and was willing to fund the transition. I think though that HHMI will be able to supplement the costs which is nice but I am really happy to be working in such a well funded lab and through the well-funded HHMI fellowship. Currently I am very much alone all the members in my program left 3 weeks ago but I am excited because tomorrow I move into Rockefeller housing which may allow me to meet new people to interact with. I am very excited about this opportunity but will right more later.

-Ryan

Biogen Idec - Perspective from Industry

2008-07-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hello from San Diego! Glad to hear everyone who posted is enjoying their summers. For the new MARCies, my name is Chloe and I just graduated as a MARC scholar in Spring. I will be entering the Biomedical Sciences PhD program at UCSD in the fall and this summer I am working as an intern at Biogen Idec. I am a part of the Immunology Drug Discovery Team and work under Dr. Elisabeth Mertshing. I can't tell you the specifics of my project besides we are working on a small molecule inhibitor to stop B cell activation with our target disease being Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is really exciting working on a translation project that could go into clinical trials soon. It makes me so motivated to go to work knowing we could develop a drug to help millions.

Other than enjoying being touristy and outdoorsy in san diego I have been enjoying the perks of corporate life. Biogen Idec is equipped with a 24/7 gym, volleyball court with sand imported from fiji, a nurse who customly designs your desk to be ergonomically comfortable, and biweekly TGIF's complete with inflatable sumo suits. The company is all about making employees happy and healthy so they will be more productive. The upsides of biotech are new and state of the art equipment and resources while the downsides are not having as much creative freedom with projects as they must follow the goals of the company. Hope to keep updating you all and pictures soon to come.

-Chloe Rivera

Working in the Hill Lab at UCLA

2008-07-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

My name is Jason Melehani. I just joined MARC this summer so I haven't had the opportunity to meet many of you but I look forward to being able to. I am spending this summer at UCLA working in Dr. Kent Hill's lab in the MIMG department. I have actually work with Dr. Hill sense Fall 06 and love the research and the people in the lab. I am being trained by a post-doc named Pius Kabututu. Our lab is studying the parasitic eukaryotic Trypanosoma brucei. Specifically we are looking at the flagellum and motility of the parasite. We have many exciting projects going on right now in our lab including cryoelectron microscopy and tomography of flagella, social motility and chemotatic experiments, and isolating complexes to identify their components. I am working on two projects which focus on the regulation of motility through the central pair apparatus, radial spokes, dynein regulatory complex and dynein motors.
For the first, I am isolating the flagellar skeleton from the rest of the cell body by using a combination of detergent and salts. Most of the work comes in verifying the purity of this extraction by western blotting and electron microscopy. Once satisfactorily enriched for flagella, I will send samples of wild-type and two mutants (a central pair apparatus mutant and a dynein regulatory complex mutant) to collaborators in Maryland for iTRAQ mass spec analysis. iTRAQ is a system of tags used to quantitatively compare different samples and has been very valuable in seeing altered regulation in cancers and in identifying post-translational modification differences.
The second project is a little more exciting because it is my own design. I had previous done work on identifying the components of the dynein regulatory complex by immunoprecipitation of the only known component, trypanin. This was successful in showing that a protein, CMF70, interacts with trypanin. However, the current extraction protocol for solublizing the dynein regulatory complex is probably too harsh and likely rips apart most of the complex. There are thought to be at least 7 proteins in this complex but without a more efficient system of isolating these proteins we are unable to identify them. So my new project will hopefully overcome that problem. I will be using a recently developed system (2005) of in vivo crosslinking of proteins through endogenous incorporation of UV reactive Photo-Leucine and Photo-Methionine. While this system has worked in mammalian cells, it has never been tried in trypanosomes. Hopefully, the trypanosomes will use the UV reactive amino acids in building all their proteins. Then, when I expose them to UV light the amino acids will cross link adjacent proteins at the protein interaction interface. Because the proteins will be covalently linked, the extraction buffer will not break them apart and I will be able to isolate the complex and identify the components by mass spectrometry.

Sorry for that long winded summary of my research. Besides lab work, life in LA is great. The weather has been wonderful every day and the water is cool. Today there was an earthquake but luckily no damage occurred on campus.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and I look forward to meeting you all soon!
Jason Melehani

UCLA - Summer in the Portera Lab

2008-07-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

So I'm finally taking the time to write my introductory blog as a new MARC student. Never too late to start, right? I am currently at UCLA in the Portera-Cailliau lab in the department of Neurology where I have been involved in studying development of the neocortex since April 2007. I have been working with my post-doc mentor, Alberto Cruz-Martin, on imaging dendritic spines in a mouse model for Fragile X Syndrome and comparing them to normal wild-type mice. In the first two postnatal weeks, we have found significant differences in the morphology of spines in Fragile X mice. It's interesting because we are imaging slices during a period where no one has really looked at before. Next I plan on identifying abnormalities in synapse number and distribution in Fragile X mice during this early developmental period. The hours in the lab are long, but so far I am thoroughly enjoying my summer experience. It's great not having to worry about classes and I love having the time and freedom to try different experiments and learn a ton about the field and so many aspects of research. My lab mates are also great to be around, making my lab experience all the better. I'm also in the Amgen Scholars program, which is basically an opportunity to get funded for 10 weeks during the summer and meet students from across the country all interested in biomed research. There are also some helpful workshops and a 3-day (really a 2.5 day) symposium. So far that's been excellent as well. Well, I guess I'll get back to reading papers.. I'll try to add updates when I can.

Best,
Michelle Crespo

Huong At NYU

2008-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

My sister and I after we finished a five mile race at Central Park

When I first arrived

The Metropolitan Museum's Rooftop Exhibit

Hey guys sorry for the late response but I could not figure out how to write a blog. Well I am living in an NYU dormitory that is steps away from Union Square. I am working in Dr. Canary’s lab in the NYU Chemistry department. I am part of the Science and Engineering of Soft Materials and Interfaces (SESMI) REU program. My project this summer is to crosslink DNA to peptides using click chemistry and native ligation reactions. I am in the lab everyday but on the weekends I visit my sister, who lives in Brooklyn. I have eaten a lot of great foods and visited great places. For example, I went to Coney Island to watch Olympic Gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty Mae play volleyball. I also went to the Yankees game, which was very fun. For all those who are in New York I recommend going to a small “play” called Fuerza Bruta. It is an interactive play. There are full of surprises. I have never experienced anything like it. To top it all off, Susan Realegeno came to visit me for three days. It was nice to see a familiar face. I hope to read more of everyone’s blogs because they are great.

New MARC trainees enjoying a busy summer..

2008-07-23T12:46:00.001-07:00

(Left to Right: Paola Castro, Joseph Hargan Calvopina, Melinda Hernandez, Richard Rodriguez, Michelle Crespo & Jason Melehani)

The newest MARC trainees are very busy this summer working in their labs. Melinda Hernandez is working in Dr. Peggy Fong's lab, Paola Castro in Dr. Steven Clarke's lab, Michelle Crespo in Dr. Carlos Portera Cailliau's lab, Joseph Hargan Calvopina in Dr. Hong Wu's lab, Richard Rodriguez in Dr. Tomas Ganz' lab and Jason Melehani in Dr. Kent Hill's lab.

None of them are taking any classes this summer, primarily working in their labs for 40 hours a week. Although the days can be long, all of them are finding the experience to be very rewarding. Richard says that the extended one-on-one time in the lab makes learning much easier. Melinda says that it is good because she gets to focus on more than just the research, having more time to read journals and do fieldwork since she is not taking classes. Jason feels that the extra time in the lab allows him to design his own project and take it in his own direction, something that he is greatly enjoying.

Despite their busy lab schedules, these MARC trainees are still finding time to enjoy their summer. Joseph allows time to go play soccer with his friends when he is free, and Paola lists sleeping as one of her top hobbies. Michelle also finds plenty of time to relax and hangout with friends, even though she is also busy with the AMGEN Scholars program.

Upstate and Downtown - Ryan Dosumu-Johnson

2008-07-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

I have been really enjoying my time here in New York, so much so that it has been hard to keep up with the blog. The beginning of my fun excursions was with my being invited to a birdsong conference by one of the most famous birdsong labs, Fernando Nottebohm. I met a grad student in his lab at a 4th of July party and he invited me to go and said he would pay for everything. It was a really great experience because I got to meet all the big names in birdsong on the east coast. Fernando was a really nice invited me back anytime and they actually offered me the chance to work on a project I had thought up about the research they were doing. I really enjoyed being able to dive back into birdsong for a couple days and learning about the amazing research being done on the other coast. The best part was being able to see how the research at my lab in UCLA fits into the grand scheme of birdsong. I realized we are actually pretty different from a lot of labs in that we look at things from a vocal learning perspective as opposed to an ornithologist view point. In addition to going to the amazing conference I met some people in my program which invited me to a great free concert put on by the village voice. Overall the past few weeks have been really great but I have the trouble now of trying to finish my applications to schools.
-Ryan

UCLA Josep hargan Calvopina

2008-07-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, this is Joseph. As opposed to traveling all over the place I decided to stay here in LA to get some work done and get everything ready for 199 in the fall. So currently I am situated in the Center for health Sciences in the department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. I'm working under Dr. Hong Wu(PI) and Dr. Reginald Hill(Post Doc) on Pancreatic cancer. We are currently using a mouse model with various mutations to try and mimic the human disease. By using this model we will hopefully someday understand the mechanisms involved in the development of the disease. Unfortunately that day is still far far away, we have to get things to work first, hahaha. So far it has been a lot of trial and error because it is the first time we have tried many of these experiments. However there is some progress slowly but surely. I'm happy we finally got this apoptosis kit to work so I'm excited to get some results. Besides that summer is good, and the weather is cool. Next week members of our lab will go see Batman, so I'll keep you guys informed. Good luck with all your research! until the next post, lates!

Jospeh Hargan Calvopina

The Big Apple

2008-07-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I am still here in New York and I am enjoying it and a little put off by the situation. I love lab work (I just love science wherever I go). I really miss my whole life at UCLA though, my lab, my friends and my family. I have been pulling a lot of 10-12 hour days and it seems to be taking its toll now. Haven't been getting a lot of sleep because of the other work I have to do. Funny thing is I am the one pushing myself so hard cause the post doc I was working with has left and now I'm alone with my project. I am now trying to overcome issues with flowrate because at initial analysis it seemed the worms could sense lower than picometer changes in chemicals and everyone was a little worried about that. Now I have to use math and run some physics-like experiments to try and adjust the flow rates. Also I have been having a lot of trouble with the MATLAB code we are using so I have had to play around with that. All in all this is not the kind of work I am used to but I am adjusting and it is most definitely good science just not birdsong. It is hard to be completely naive to a my current system but I am slowly getting things. I have enjoyed going out when I can here in New York. I got to go to a great jazz club this past sunday and have had the chance to eat a different restaurant every day here so far, something that would require a car in LA. Here are some pictures of the view from my lab( almost every room has huge windows with absolutely amazing views) and around New York.

-Ryan Dosumu-Johnson

Tomas Ganz' Lab

2008-06-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Hope your summer experiences are going well! Where to start with mine. Well, this is my first real professional research lab position, and I am working under a 2nd year Ph.D. student-Emilio Ramos, in the Defense Lab (Tomas Ganz) in CHS corridor 5-2 at UCLA. The lab is centered around iron and its metabolism. Lost for words, but, man it feels like I'm part of something big. the PI is incredibly intelligent, incredibly successful, but really approachable. Always busy, however, as he's starting a business. His right-hand, Ella, is also really neat. I want to say more, but hey, this is just about us, eh? My mentor, Emilio, it is almost scary how similar we are. Both lefties, both dad's drive trucks, both first gen. collegiates, both into the same kinds of music, etc., etc. What's more, he looks like an older, darker version of my brother. I really need to post pictures, hehe. I've talked with peers in the summer programs, and many have mentors that are older. I feel kinda lucky to have a younger mentor, as we quickly built a great rapport, and it's not difficult to ask a question. On to the research aspect. It's kinda weird, this "cutting-edge" research, because no one has the answer. I never realized how little we actually know, but at the same time, it's not that hard to ask the "next question," since as we experiment, we're already asking it, hehe! Personally, I'm working with my mentor to elucidate the molecular mechanism of regulation of the hepcidin hormone - which regulates iron levels in the body. The major disease we're concerned with is hereditary hemochromatosisI won't go into too much detail, but we all know about iron and rust...imagine it in your liver, pancreas, bones, joints, and brain! I never really thought about it, but iron overload is pretty bad, haha! Insofar, we're testing in vivo hepcidin expression levels in response to different diets (in mice). We're soon moving on to in vitro cell lines with different gene mutations, etc. I actually understand what's going on, haha! Workin' 6 hours straight in a microbiology lab is friggin' exhausting though! I'm tired every day. Nevertheless, I know this is for me :O) Richard A Rodriguez (RAR)

Dr. Watson's Pink House!

2008-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Never in my life did I imagine seeing Dr. Watson! He is often seen driving around in his Jag.

-Erin Jimenez

CSHL

2008-06-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

Later, I will post a photo of Dr. Watson's pink house.

Erin Jimenez and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

2008-06-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am participating in an undergraduate research program in the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Under the guidance of Dr. Robyn Johnston in Dr. Dave Jackson's Lab, I will be studying the mechanisms that determine phyllotaxy in abphyl1 and abphyl2, maize mutants. In addition, I will further define the position of the abphyl2 gene by positional cloning. My project is very different compared to what I study in The Koehler Lab at UCLA. However,the challenge of learning something new and mastering more techniques excites me.

CSHL is beautiful! I have never been anywhere as serene and natural as CSHL. The people are amiable and the students in the program are making my experience memorable. I recently submitted an abstract about my research and presented a formal talk to my peers. I am having an awesome time at CSHL!

Thank you MARC!

Erin A. Jimenez

New York, New York

2008-06-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

I am conducting research at Rockefeller University through the HHMI EXROP and am associated with their SURF program. The name of the PI and my lab mentor are Dr. Cori Bargmann and Dr. Dirk Albrecht. We are housed in no clear department that I know (I think there are no departments at rockefeller). I arrived in the city June 13 and my thoughts thus far are quite varied.

The first thing I noticed when I got here were that people were a bit more aggressive. Something about their mannerisms and the way they speak is just more confrontational. I suppose it is understandable considering that take risks every day crossing the street. Since I have gotten here I have sadly not yet interacted with any undergraduates. Since I started late I haven't met any of the people in my program and have mainly spoken to people in my lab, mainly my PI and lab mentor. The main reason I probably haven't interacted with anyone is I am housed in a single room in the upper east side of manhattan called the 92st Y.

That said the buildings the food and my lab are great. I have been just amazed by the wonderful architecture and I have a great view from my apartment building. I have also had the occasion to roam the streets of new york and try various eateries. As for my lab it seems to be an interesting problem. Although it is on something completely different than I am used to it is really nice to try and address another behavioral issue. Rockefeller itself is also quite nice in that it is extremely well funded and absolutely beautiful.

My hope is tomorrow I will get the chance to meet some people in my program and figure something to do other than walk around and eat.

-Ryan Dosumu-Johnson

Beginning Research

2008-06-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

I’m conducting research for the REU summer research program for 2008. The name of my lab mentors are Dr. Jorge Ortiz and Debora Figueroa . We are housed in the El Verde Field Station in Puerto Rico. The project I’m working on involves evaluating the quality of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in two tropical streams that receive water waste treatment plant (WWTP) effluent. We are trying to see how the quality of the carbon changes after the addition of effluent so that we can determine the effects of urbanization on the trophic structure of the river systems. I arrived in the city on June 6th, at 5:00 pm. My first impression of the city was that it was hot and humid, and the people spoke very much like Cubans, which made me feel at home. All the other students in the program are from all over the U.S. and from Puerto Rico. They are very nice, cool people and we are becoming fast friends. I begin my field research on monday (the 16th) and I'm very excited! -- Maylen Perez

MARC Students Begin Summer Research

2008-05-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

(From left to right: Chloe Rivera, Ryan Dosumu Johnson, Maylen Perez, Alberto Ponce, Carolina Mendez)

Summer Programs for Undergraduate Research offer students outstanding academic potential the opportunity to work closely with faculty mentors on research projects. The programs are designed for students who wish to learn more about the graduate school experience and possibly pursue an academic career in teaching and research. Opportunities are available in virtually all academic fields (e.g., life sciences, health sciences, physical sciences, etc.). Each student participant will be working with a faculty mentor with special expertise and interests matched, as closely as possible, to the student's research interests and career goals. Students will either assist the faculty member in an ongoing research project or work collaboratively with the mentor in designing a new project of mutual interest.