AUSTIN COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM IN BIOLOGY

SUMMER 2008

FACULTY RESEARCH DESCRIPTIONS

LANCE BARTON: MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR IMMUNOLOGY: My research focuses on how the activity and specificity of an enzyme called the proteasome affects the biology of a cell.  The activity of the proteasome is essential for almost every process in the eukaryotic cell.  I currently have projects focused on examining the role that proteasomes play in controlling and regulating cell division and growth, apoptosis, and antigen processing and presentation.  Through understanding the regulation of proteasome activity, we can learn about both cancer transformation as well as immune surveillance.  Depending on student interest, projects may include experiences in molecular biology & DNA cloning, cell culture, animal husbandry, and/or protein biochemistry.  Responsibilities will also include maintenance of the animal colony in the department.  Please see me directly for further information about specific projects and on-going research.


DAVID GILLETTE: STREAM AND RESERVOIR FISH ECOLOGY: My research interests are in stream and reservoir fish ecology.  In the past, I have studied resource use, spatial pattern, ecosystem effects, and change over time of fish communities.  North-central Texas and southern Oklahoma offer a good selection of aquatic habitats to choose from, allowing many of these questions to be meaningfully addressed.  The following are three examples of broad projects that I am interested in, and that I believe a motivated student could undertake in one summer.  1.  There are several fish species that occur in many different rivers and streams in this area.  Does their resource use change in the presence of competitor and predator species?  Are the species that are most widespread able to use the most different types of resources?  2.  Many rivers in this area have been impounded to create reservoirs.  What species of fishes occur immediately downstream from these dams, and how does the species composition in these rivers differ from that of un-impounded rivers?  3.  Many of these streams and reservoirs were sampled several years ago by previous researchers.  How has the fish community changed since then?  Completion of any of these projects will involve some travel for fieldwork to collect samples from local rivers, streams and reservoirs, followed by labwork to identify species of fishes (and potentially their prey) from our samples.  I am also open to suggestions from students for potential research projects.  Contact me at: dgillette@austincollege.edu.
    
WAYNE MEYER: AVIAN REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY/SONG LEARNING IN BIRDS:  The genus Passerina includes two well-studied species of songbirds, the Indigo Bunting and Lazuli Bunting.  Several scientists have studied song learning in both of these species.  Another member of this genus, the Painted Bunting, however, has not been studied much.  I have begun recording songs of Painted Buntings and analyzing those songs through the production of sonograms.  So far, we have found that Painted Buntings use modular song, a phenomenon that has not been described in any other species.  We are looking into the reason for retention of juvenile-like plumage in yearling Painted Buntings and so far have found that green yearlings are able to sing perfectly normal songs.

KELLY REED: PATHOGENESIS OF SHIGELLA:  My research focuses on studying the effects that bile salts have on the ability of the bacterial pathogen, Shigella flexneri, to attach to and invade epithelial cells of the large intestine.  Shigella is a human pathogen that causes dysentery (bloody diarrhea).  Because it is not very ethical to study this disease by infecting humans and because the disease will not infect animals like mice or guinea pigs, we study the disease in tissue culture cells.  Attachment to and invasion of colonic epithelial tissue culture cells is relatively inefficient.  However, if the bacteria are grown in the presence of the bile salt, deoxycholate, attachment to tissue culture cells is much more efficient.  We refer to this phenomenon as deoxycholate enhanced attachment.  Shigella secretes a number of proteins (virulence factors) that cause epithelial cells to undergo cytoskeletal changes that allows the bacteria to attach to and invade those cells.  Deoxycholate increases the efficiency of this secretion process.  Currently my research is focused on studying the effects of deoxycholate on the secretion of a number of virulence factors from Shigella that are important for deoxycholate enhanced attachment. 


PETER SCHULZE: ECOLOGY:  During the summer my students and I study the effects of suspended sediments on crustacean zooplankton, the dominant herbivores of lakes and oceans.  According to the National Research Council sediments are responsible for half of non-point water pollution in U. S. lakes.  Quantities of sediments are incredible.  An average North American river delivers about a metric ton of sediments per hectare of drainage area per year.  Sediments have the potential to affect numerous ecosystem processes, from reducing photosynthesis to hiding prey to binding dissolved toxins and delivering them into the food web if the sediments are ingested.  We study how sediments affect the population dynamics of various zooplankton, and how such effects indirectly impact other aspects of reservoir ecosystems.  I also oversee the Sneed Prairie restoration, which is based on a set of 11 fields that are managed in an experimental procedure designed to identify the most effective means for restoring native Blackland Prairie.

  

PLEASE RETURN YOUR COMPLETED APPLICATION TO DR. KELLY REED BY FEBRUARY 18, 2008.  NOTIFICATION OF AWARDS WILL BE MADE BY MARCH 14, 2008.