Summer Science Institute
Research Abstracts
Ecology and Conservation Biology
Studying and protecting the earth's environment has become an increasingly important area of biology and research. In this course students will learn about biological diversity, exotic and invasive plants and animals, and ecosystems. Students will also have the opportunity to study a variety of habitats and ecosystems that may include lakes, streams, prairies, woodlands, and cities.
Neurobiology/Parasitological Biology
This course will consist of research dealing with the nematode, Ascaris Suum, which is a sister species of a parasite that infects 25% of the worlds population. Students will study how neuropeptides and neurotransmitters react with each other to affect locomotion of the nematode.
Genetics/Biotechnology
Within this class, you will have two separate options that will be decided by the students during the first week of class.
The first option would be to take a look at genes that are "turned on" as a plant develops. The mRNA from plants would be isolated and students would be able to take a look at these genes and determine if the genes are on or off in response to different environmental factors. Students would learn how to isolate RNA, make a cDNA copy of it, and then do PCR to make enough DNA to see on an agarose gel.
The other possibility would be to analyze food for the presence of genetically modified pieces of DNA. Students would learn how to purify DNA from food samples, and then perform PCR to make enough DNA to see on an agarose gel.
Food Science
Students will have the option to observed growth of starter and non-starter lactic acid bacteria in reduced versus oxidized Cheddar cheese serum ("juice"). This might be complemented with competitive growth experiments between two non-starter lactic acid bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance as markers. Alternatively, the students could prepare cheese serum ("juice") from different types of cheeses and monitor growth of non-starter lactic acid bacteria.
Molecular Biology
DNA chip (sensor) can be used for identifying DNA sequences of living organisms. Single strands of DNA of many different sequences in extremely short time will be automatically synthesized on a glass slides, cleaved off from the chip and hybridized for detection. During this process, students will learn the possibility of assembling a biological DNA using Semiconductor Processing Nanotechnology, which is state-of-art and is also actively being researched at UW-Madison.
Behavioral Ecology
Zooplankton, tiny aquatic animals found in lakes and ponds, play a central role in freshwater environments; they regulate algal blooms and serve as a vital food source for fish. Therefore, human actions that induce changes in zooplankton diversity and community structure could affect proper functioning of aquatic systems. Our work will investigate how humans influence broad-scale patterns in aquatic environments by comparing and contrasting zooplankton diversity and community structure in human-dominated regions and pristine areas of Wisconsin.
Physiology
How do our systems work? How does nutrition affect human physiology? How does stress affect cardiopulmonary function? Humans or other mammals such as rats and mice may be used in the laboratory investigations. In addition, looking at the effects of exercise, nutrition, stress, and disease on the cardiovascular system.
Neurobiology
Students will assist the instructor and his colleagues in the Grunewald Laboratories in determining the interaction of attention (the act of paying attention to something) and visual perception (what it is that people actually "see"). This class will initially be conducting studies in human psychophysics and eventually working with Rhesus macaque monkeys to this aim. The students will be assisting in designing the research paradigm and in collecting data from human subjects to achieve the project goals. Students interested in Psychology or Neuroscience and especially the process by which people understand the world around them, will have a great opportunity to further their understandings in this project.
Genetics
Students will study DNA sequence and bioinformatic analysis to estimate the relatedness among onion populations.
Contact
- Course Coordinator
- Brian Asen
- 118D Genetics Building
- beasen@wisc.edu
- (608) 262-5267