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| How many undergraduate students independently use the sophisticated instrumentation needed in today's biological research? Who routinely amplifies DNA using a polymerase chain reaction machine? Who sequ4ences DNA all by herself? Who uses isotopes to determine the feeding patterns of microarthropods? Who can record the love songs of flies? Who can accumulate a data base for rapid identification of forest pathogens? Who uses myriad techniques of modern biology? Who? -- read on to learn about LSU biology undergraduate researchers! The captions for the photos shown below provide the answers and even more information about the research LSU undergraduates do. |
| 1. André Duplantis sorts samples of meiofauna from sediments in a Louisiana coastal saltmarsh as part of a study of microbial foodweb dynamics. Samples are separated by species, and the grazing rates of bacteria on microalgae are measured using radioisotope techniques. 2. Amanda Lavigne won an undergraduate research award at the 1999 Southern Section meeting of the American Society of Plant Physiologists for her work on the molecular biology of a gene involved in the carbon-concentrating mechanism in photosynthesis of green algal cells, models for land plant photosynthesis. 3. Cristee Wright, a senior microbiology major from Southern University, learns molecular biology techniques as a participant of the LAMP program. LSU faculty members often provide summer research experiences for students who may not have the time or opportunity for research during the academic year at their home institutions. |
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| 1. Frost Rollins collects the polypore, Inonotus ludovicianus (Latin for Louisiana), one of many fungal species that she can identify from morphological characters. Frost also is developing a DNA sequence database for use in identifying forest pathogens and to determine the evolutionary direction of several attributes of the fungi. 2. Katie Grams performs PCR reactions to determine the genetic basis of hybrid sterility. 3.Marcus Williams uses an aspirator to collect male Drosophila flies from a culture vial to record their "love songs." He is identifying the role of the cortship songs in species discrimination by females. |
| 1. Elizabeth Streva works on the genetic analysis of a mutant strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The mutant is defective in the signal transduction pathway that senses environmental changes in carbon dioxide levels. 2. Ebony Spikes sets up cultures to determine the carbon sources that endosymbiotic yeasts of beetles utilize. She also collects beetles from the field and is able to characterize the yeasts by sequencing their DNA. LSU has been a focus of studies that first helped to elucidate phylogenetic relationships of fungi and ohter organisms, and Ebony carries on the tradition. 3.Helen Peebles is a returning student with two small children, who works with Dr. Sung-Oui Suh on a project that aims to determine the role of symbiotic yeasts in the gut of mushroom-eating beetles. Her techniques begin with the culturing of fungi, then proceed to molecular techniques including DNA sequencing. Sequence comparisons reveal that the same species of beetle always contain the same species of yeast. |
| 1. Jeff Burton, learns the basic tools of molecular systematics studies with the aim of producing chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences for phylogenetic analysis. He routinely performs DNA extraction and PCR amplification of green algal DNA. 2. Tyson Jolivet is operating a sample oxidizer for the purpose of determining primary productivity by photosynthetic microalgae in coastal marine sediments. Algae photosynthetically fix experimentally added carbon 14 and convert it into organic molecules. The oxidizer is used to combust and collect carbon 14 from organic molecules, which then is collected and subsequently measured on a liquid scintillation counter. 3. Doan Dang and Rebecca Sweany work as a team to examine the cultures they established from root nodules of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium in clover. |