Chemical Ecology and Disease of Honey Bees
As a research assistant in Dr. Christina Grozinger lab at Pennsylvania State University, I worked on projects focusing on the chemical ecology of honey bees. Besides learning skills in basic bee keeping and how to work with and maintain SDI queen colonies, I worked closely with two graduate students Elina Niño and Gabriel Villar. With Elina Niño, I worked on a project focusing on honey bee viruses where I helped to build and maintain an enclosure to isolate infected and control colonies. I dissected honey bees and isolated viral RNA to quantify infection levels. The goal of this project was to understand how disease impacts honey bees and the role it plays in colony collapse disorder. As part of this project, I also learned to rear queens and measure retinue behavior. With Gabriel Villar, I worked on a project focused on drone pheromone detection and navigation during breeding behavior. As part of this project I helped to construct aerial drone traps and to isolate RNA from drone antennas to look at expression of different receptors. |
Genetics and Behavior of Sexual Color Morphs As an undergraduate at Carleton College I worked with Dr. Matt Rand to study the genetics and behavior of different color morphs in sceloperous lizards. These lizards exhibit three ventral color morphs within some populations: black, yellow, and orange. These chin colors are used for male displays and are important for defending territories and attracting mates. They exhibit a fascinating "rock paper scissors" dynamic where orange colored males are dominate over yellow males which are dominate over black males which are dominate over orange males. As part of this project I helped to collect lizards in the wild and establish a captive breeding population. To further examine differences in pigmentations we sequenced the MCR1 receptor gene for the different color morphs. My work in particular focused on quantifying the enzymatic activity of sepiapterin reductase, an enzyme that is important in the pterin pigment pathway as well as in neurotransmitter synthesis pathways. Another aspect of this research was to further analyze how behavior varied among the male color morphs. To do this, we set up territory behavioral assays and manipulated testosterone levels in males. Memory Formation, NSAIDs, and Hormones
While at Carleton, I also worked with Dr. Amy Moore to look at how non-steroidal anti inflammatories (NSAIDs) affect memory formation in female mice during different stages of the estrous cycle. To test for memory formation we swam female mice in hidden platform mazes and measured performance and learning by looking at changes in path length. We carefully tracked the ovulation cycle for these female mice and administered different levels of NSAIDs to treatment groups. We found that NSAIDs significantly reduced the ability of female mice to form spatial memories while in the proestrus phase. To better understand how NSAIDs were impacting memory formation, we sacrificed mice immediately after the maze task and dissected the hippocampus. Using in situ hybridization of brain tissue, and real time PCR, we examined how neurotransmitter levels were changing across treatment groups. |
Yeast Mitochondrial Genetics and Microsatellites
I also had the opportunity to do some molecular work with Dr. Stephan Zweifel looking at yeast mitochondrial genetics while I was at Carleton. We were interested in the interaction between mitochondrial genes and nuclear genes and how this influences the transmission of different mitochondrial genomes. I also worked with Stephan to help develop microsatellites markers for the endangered Eastern Indigo Snake, (Drymarchon couperi), for use in captive breeding programs in collaboration with Dr. Matt Rand. |