Genetics Honors Theses and Research Papers
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The Laboratory of Genetics is highly regarded for its research contributions in the all aspects of genetics. Undergraduates in the Genetics program develop a strong academic foundation, then take advanced and specialized courses in subjects such as microbial genetics, medical biochemistry, plant genetics and biotechnology. The biotechnology industry is one of many fields that provide diverse career opportunities for genetics graduates.
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Recent Submissions
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α7-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Signaling in Cardiac Regeneration
(2020-05)Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Loss of heart regenerative capacity in adult mammals is a principle reason why adults fail to recover from heart diseases. In contrast, neonatal mammals possess ... -
The potential functional consequences of mandible shape evolution in giant house mice from Gough Island
(2017-06-13)An extremely large-bodied Mus musculus domesticus mouse population from the remote Gough Island (GI) were used to study how the evolution of shape may affect the performance of a morphological trait. The study question ... -
Nurr1 knockout in substantia nigra proposed to result in cognitive deficits in Rattus norvegicus
(2017-06-13)Many Parkinson's disease (PD) patients suffer from cognitive impairment. Reduced secretion of dopamine (DA) from substantia nigra (SN) to striatum results in motor deficits in PD patients, but little is known about its ... -
Quantification of interneurons present in postmortem adult Down syndrome Brain
(2017-06-13)Neuroanatomical abnormalities in the DS brain contribute to specific cognitive deficits in DS individuals. Histopathology has consistently revealed fewer neurons in the DS cerebral cortex. Based on neuron morphology and ... -
FCGR3A Variability: Copy Number, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, and Efficacy of immunotherapy
(2017-05-15)In order to develop personalized immunotherapies for diseases like cancer, a key component is to understand the profiles of specific genes that may influence the response to treatment. For example, genes like the Fc gamma ... -
Measuring mitochondrial nonenyzmatic lysine acetylation
(2017-05-15)Protein acetylation is a regulatory modification affecting numerous biochemical and cellular processes. Over half of the proteins in mitochondria have been identified as acetylated, however mechanism of acetylation has not ... -
A ts-paralytic neurodegeneration mutant in Drosophila reveals differential requirement for the glycolytic gene Aldolase in neurons and glia
(2011)Several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease have been linked to metabolic disruption in neurons. This suggests that neurons are particularly ... -
Female California mouse scent marking behavior and its implications for the pair bond
(2013)Scent marking has been shown to be an active form of communication for male mice in claiming territory, advertising for females, and mate guarding. Yet little is known about how females use scent marking behaviorally. ... -
The Identification and Characterization of Cytoplasmic Acetylated Lysines
(2011)Lysine acetylation by histone acetyl transferascs (HATs) is a reversible posttranscriptional modification that plays a key role in regulating several biological processes, such as the cell cycle, nuclear transport, and ... -
Identification Of Acetylated Lysine Residues On The ER Chaperone BiP
(2011)Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis involves the abnormal production of a small peptide called Abeta. The rate-limiting enzyme for the generation of Abeta is BACEl and, as such, its downregulation decreases Abeta levels. ... -
A role for FoxQ-1 in memory and learning
(2010)Using a genome-wide screen, genes that were differentially expressed between aged rats that were able to learn a spatial task (aged superior learners: SL), and learning-impaired rates (AI) were identified in the CA1 region ... -
Evaluating the effects of a possible therapeutic drug for Rett Syndrome in a mouse model
(2010)Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects girls with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 10,000-15,000, with no current cure or effective treatment. Most RTT cases are caused by human methyl-CpG binding ... -
Transmission ratio distortion in the hybrid offspring of three mouse subspecies
(2010)A crucial component of understanding the origin or new species is understanding how reproductive isolation evolves between divergent populations. The relative importance of Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities as compared ... -
Pilot screen for second site suppressors of wstd
(2009)Triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) loss of function (wstd), in flies has been shown to have increases in methylglyoxal and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which have also been found in increased levels in diseases ... -
Going from embryo to adult: How zebrafish zic genes are regulated during development
(2009)This project aims to further our understanding of developmental genetics by identifying unknown transcription factor binding sites that play an important role in regulating zic2a, a gene required for proper neural development ... -
Identification of QTLs for voluntary running activity in mice for the CBA/J and DBA/2J mouse strains
(2009)Our goal is to understand the genetic factors related to voluntary running activity. Voluntary running activity in humans and mice is known to be a heritable behavioral trait. The genetic factors influencing voluntary ... -
The role of dynamin and Rho1 during cytokinesis in C. elegans
(2008)Cytokinesis is the final phase of cell division in which a single cell is physically separated into two daughter cells. This is accomplished by constricting the acto-myosin contractile ring and inserting new membrane along ... -
Haplotype frequencies at the miR156 and miR172 transcript regions show a significant response to divergent recurrent selection for vegetative phase change in maize
(2009)Sweet corn (Zea mays L). plants that transition from juvenility to the adult phase earlier during development are generally more resistant to common rust (Puccinia sorghi), a disease that causes substantial yield loss in ... -
Preneoplastic Lesion Growth in B6.Hcs7C3H 219R8 Congenic Hepatocarcinogen-Sensitive Mus musculus
(2009)A region of mouse Chromosome 1, called the Hcs7 locus, is involved in the susceptibility to liver carcinogenesis in the inbred mouse strain, C3H/HeJ (C3H). Linkage analysis of a cross between C3H and a strain that is ... -
Semantic category learning through explicit and implicit knowledge of complex sequences
(2009)Objects with similar functions are judged to be similar "kinds of things," even when they have few directly-observable properties in common. How do people learn such "functional" similarity? One possibility is that objects ...