Download Research Opportunities

Davidson Research Initiative
Summer Research Program
The Davidson Research Initiative’s Summer Research Program enables Davidson College to offer a premier
summer research experience for Davidson students and students from North Carolina’s Historically Black
Colleges and Universities. The goals of this program are to:
1) Foster collaborative student-faculty research in all of the liberal arts disciplines; and
2) Establish a vibrant campus-wide community of undergraduate research during the summer months by
offering activities such as topical group discussions, lectures, and social functions.
The Program
DRI Summer Research Fellows spend between 5 and 10 weeks doing research with a Davidson faculty mentor.
DRI Summer Research faculty mentors also have the opportunity to include a student from one of North
Carolina’s HBCU schools on their research team. Interested faculty mentors provide research descriptions of
available projects and these projects are publicized to North Carolina HBCU institutions (see below for this year’s
projects). HBCU students are invited to apply for one or more DRI Summer Research Fellowships listed. Five
students who are selected for the program will participate as a collaborative team member with the Davidson
faculty mentor and his/her Davidson DRI Summer Research Fellow.
Summer Projects 2016
1. The Functional Significance of Cortical Plasticity – Dr. Julio Ramirez (faculty mentor) Our primary
research goal is to determine the functional significance of hippocampal sprouting after entorhinal cortex
damage in rats. This model neural system exhibits a set of well-defined behavioral and morphological
changes in response to deafferentation. Several recent investigations have implicated sprouting by the
crossed temporodentate projection to the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation in behavioral
recovery from unilateral entorhinal cortex lesions. However, the issue of whether these proliferated
connections are indeed functionally significant is far from resolved. Students involved in the DRI
program will participate in on-going electrophysiological projects focusing on facilitation of the crossed
temporodentate projection after its sprouting response has been induced by entorhinal cortex lesions as
well as on behavioral projects exploring the use of the radial arm maze (a spatial memory task) as an
assay for the effects of limbic system lesions on mnemonic functions. The primary pedagogical goal of
our research program is to broaden students’ knowledge and training in neuroscience and to kindle an
interest in and an appreciation for the issues with which neuroscientists are concerned. This experience
will significantly improve the training of undergraduate students as they prepare for entry into careers in
science, medicine, or public policy.
2. Project PRONTO: Serving the community with productive online tools – Dr. Laurie Heyer (faculty
mentor) This project seeks to develop web-based tools that make the work of campus and community
organizations more efficient and effective. Visit http://pronto.davidson.edu to see existing tools and get an
idea of the kinds of projects that students can do. The selected student will have the freedom to work on
an existing project or develop a new one to suit his or her interests, and may do both web page and
software development. Some prior computer programming experience is desired.
3. Wiring the Brain: How do Neurons Develop and Connect? - Dr. Barbara Lom (faculty mentor)
Our lab is interested in understanding how the brain develops and wires itself from neurons into networks.
Specifically, we examine how young neurons achieve their very specialized shapes, how neurons
navigate to their synaptic targets via dynamic structures called growth cones, how environmental factors
(pesticides, BPA) influence neuronal development, and how the Slitrk family of genes is involved in brain
wiring. All these research questions have the potential to provide insights into fundamental mechanism of
vertebrate central nervous system development that can inform our insights into developmental disorders
and/or nervous system regeneration. Our vertebrate models for these research questions are Xenopus
tadpoles and zebrafish embryos. We use these model organisms because we can access and visualize their
neurons particularly easily. Students in our lab learn microsurgery, microscopy (including confocal),
immunostaining, time-lapse imaging, cell culture, and/or other widely used research techniques in cell
and developmental biology. In summer 2016 our experiments will focus on how low doses of the
estrogen mimicking plasticizer BPA (and its substitute BPS) reduce dopamine-producing neurons in the
tadpole midbrain.
4. Examining the role of the rab-6.2 gene in skin integrity in worms – Dr. Rachid el Bejjani (faculty
mentor) Recently, students in my genetics and cell and molecular neuroscience classes showed that a
gene called rab-6.2 could be involved in maintaining skin strength and impermeability. This is a very
significant finding because humans that have a defect in a gene that works with the human homolog of
worm rab-6.2 (rab-6B) also have a genetic disease that renders their skin fragile. By working in worms,
we can establish an animal model to discover other genes that are involved in this process and potentially
further our understanding of the genetic disease mentioned above.
Specifically, students in my teaching labs showed that worms that are missing a functional copy of the
rab-6.2 gene are more prone to paralysis when treated with different paralytic chemicals. Because the
worms were more sensitive to all paralytic chemicals regardless of what neurons or muscles they affect,
this suggests that the worms may simply have a defective skin and are therefore more permeable.
One student in my research laboratory (Riley Mangan ’16) confirmed these results and designed an
experiment to directly compare the strength of the skin of the animals that are missing rab-6.2 to that of
normal animals. Riley showed that animals that are missing rab-6.2 rupture significantly faster and in
higher numbers than normal animals when submerged in pure water. This provides additional evidence
suggesting that the skin of the animals missing the rab-6.2 gene is compromised.
We are currently in the process of confirming these initial findings by making sure that no other genes are
involved in the phenotypes we observe. Experiments to put back the normal gene in our mutated worms
will provide some additional evidence. Further, we also propose to confirm our results by crossing the
worms multiple times to normal worms to get rid of all mutations other than rab-6.2. We also plan on
expressing the gene back in different tissues to determine where in the animal it functions and are also
planning to put the mouse version of the gene in worms to see if the function is the same regardless of the
species. Finally, we are planning on looking at how this gene works to provide skin strength. If we
discover some new mechanisms that tell us how this gene functions, we may be able to extrapolate our
findings to help discover a cure for the skin disease in humans.
5. Computation of DNA organization in an E-Coli cell - Dr. Savan Kharel (faculty Mentor)
All cells, whether from a cat or the bacteria in our bodies, contain DNA. A bacterial chromosome is about
a thousand times longer than the typical dimension of the cell that host it. DNA must be condensed to fit
within cells that are normally thousands of times smaller than the DNA molecule itself. Only then can
DNA be used to manufacture proteins and self-replicate with minimal errors. While experiments show
that DNA condensation is highly coordinated, the physical mechanisms that drive this process are not yet
understood. Computer models of DNA can reveal the nature of the molecular interactions that mediate
DNA condensation, which is an important step in understanding the high order structuring of genomic
material. Based on experimental data, of chromosome in an E-coli cell, several physical mechanisms have
been implicated in organizing and compacting DNA in bacteria. These mechanisms include osmotic
pressure and DNA-protein interaction. In the past DNA has been modeled as a naked molecule, however,
a unified approach using the protein interaction which plays a significant role in such compaction have
not yet been systematically considered. In this project, the student will use mathematical ideas from
molecular physics and apply computational tools to study how DNA condenses inside the cell.
Timeline: The project will last for ten weeks. The student will spend the first three weeks reading papers
and developing computer code under my guidance in Mathematica and a software package known as
Espresso. In the next six weeks, student will be running the program and using it to study compaction of
chromosome in an E-coli cell and its interaction with proteins. We will leave the last week to prepare for
conference presentation. The project nicely combines skills in physics, mathematics, biology, and
computing. A background in programming will be helpful. The interdisciplinary scope is perfectly
appropriate for a student who is interested in biophysics, math, and computer sciences.
6. Identification of Transcription Factors that Modulate Cd4 Gene Expression - Dr. Sophia Sarafova
(faculty mentor) - 8 week project starting June 6, 2016- The main interest in our lab is gene regulation,
specifically how the Cd4 gene expression changes during the immune response. We have discovered a
new regulatory element in the Cd4 gene (NCE) and we are in the process of identifying transcription
factors that bind to NCE, using a yeast-one-hybrid screen. The individual project for a summer student
would involve analyzing the hits from the screen to determine if they are false positive or real, and time
permitting to check their specificity of binding to NCE. The lab skills learned will include sterile
technique, plasmid DNA isolation, and transformation of yeast and bacteria, gel electrophoresis, PCR,
and use of on-line nucleotide databases. The student will participate in weekly lab meetings in addition to
the DRI-specific gatherings. There will be one organized trip to a biotechnology company to see
applications of research ideas and approaches in the manufacturing of products for use in various
biomedical fields.
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Application Process
Applications should be submitted to Dr. Verna M. Case, Program Director of the Davidson Research Initiative,
P.O. Box 7185, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035 or by email to Linda Shoaf at [email protected].
HBCU students should apply for a Davidson Research Initiative Summer Research Fellowship by April 1, 2016.
Application materials must include:
 A cover sheet;
 a cover letter from the student listing the specific project(s) to which the student is applying and
discussing the student’s interest in those projects and, in general, detailing how the DRI program would
help meet the student’s academic goals; and
 two letters of recommendation along with the recommendation form from faculty at the student’s home
institution.
 an official transcript from the student’s home institution;
Applications will be reviewed by the potential Davidson faculty mentors and the DRI Program Director.
Notification of an award will be communicated to the student via email by the Program Director approximately 1
week after the application is due. Following acceptance to the program, the faculty mentor will contact the
student to discuss details of the project. At the time of acceptance, the student will need to apply for housing on
Davidson campus and complete other paper work relevant to the program.
Students who are accepted to the DRI Summer Research Program as DRI Summer Research Fellows will receive:
$480/week fellowship
$120/week housing allowance and housing will be available on Davidson’s campus
$1,000 for supplies and travel
All DRI Fellows (Davidson students and HBCU students) and their faculty mentors are expected to participate in
the summer lunch program and to share their research outcomes in a Summer Research Poster Symposium at
Davidson College on September 13, 2016. DRI Fellows are also expected to present their research at a regional
or national meeting during the 2016-17 academic year. Faculty mentors will plan attendance at those meetings
for their students. HBCU students accepted as DRI Summer Research Fellows will be expected to complying
with all Davidson policies, including adhering to Davidson's Honor Code. Please visit
http://www.davidson.edu/about/distinctly-davidson/research/research-and-scholarship/research-initiative for
program information.