After orientation to lab and OIMB last week, this week I focused on outlining some of the specifics of my project. I would like to introduce you to my model organism: Pitiria miniata, or the bat star, a type of sea star. Sea stars have beautiful oocytes that are quite large in comparison with other animals and thus are easy to manipulate and interesting to study. The project I have taken on involves targeting a protein known as Rho Kinase (Rock). This protein is hypothesized to be a part of a negative feedback loop involving many other proteins. A variety of proteins need to work in concert in order to regulate cell division, and Rock is one piece of the puzzle. I hope to better understand its activity by designing a fluorescent probe for the sea star Rock protein. This will then allow me to understand and further manipulate the system. In addition to working on my own project this week, I took a peek at my lab partners amazing projects. Although we all are studying cell signaling during cell division, we all chose different model organisms. Phillip is pioneering the study of cell division in jellyfish eggs and embryos (through a lot of trial and error) and Sadie is working with barnacle embryos. For practice, Sadie injected the embryos with a fluorescent tag that allows for visualization of microtubules, a key component of the cell’s interior that facilitates transport of proteins across the cell.
Click above to download a movie of a barnacle embryo dividing at the 8 cell stage. Apart from all of the incredible projects happening in the lab, I have been exploring the Oregon coast. This weekend, we took a boat ride on the Pluteus along the coast, and although the water was choppy and we weren’t able to collect many animals, the coast was beautiful. Earlier this week, my lab also went tide pooling together, and we collected some of my new favorite animals while traipsing along the beautiful intertidal zone, spotting nests of sea urchins and stumbling across unique invertebrates at every turn. It seems like there is a treat at every turn; while jellyfishing with Phillip on Thursday, we ran into a few harbor seals sunning themselves on the docks. This week has been amazing and I’m looking forward to what else OIMB has in store. Some adorable harbor seals sunning themselves at the little boat basin. A few interns finding light at the end of "the tunnel".
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AuthorI am a rising junior at Carleton College, majoring in biology with minors in Neuroscience and Russian. I'm very excited to be working in Dr. George von Dassow's lab this summer, where I will be studying cell biology and embryology of marine invertebrates. Archives
August 2019
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