Undergraduate Summer Research Program

Program Information

The Department of Biological Sciences at Marquette University will host a Summer Research Program The program will run from Monday June 1^st to July 31^st. Participants conduct independent research projects in faculty laboratories in the areas of microbiology, molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, evolutionary biology, genetics, neurobiology, invertebrate/vertebrate physiology, and ecology. Students will work under the direct supervision of a faculty research mentor. Through "hands-on" experience, students will develop a realistic view of scientific research, its pace, its demands, and the thrill of discovery. Participating faculty mentors can be found under SRP Summer Research Mentors. 

Essential written and verbal communication skills will be developed through group lab meetings, weekly meetings with program mentors and participants, field trips, and a scientific poster symposium. Workshops on research ethics and graduate school admission will be offered. A variety of social activities will be interwoven throughout the summer including frequent ice cream socials, a picnic by Lake Michigan, and a Brewers game. 

Participation in the Summer Research Program is a full-time obligation: students may not enroll in classes or hold outside employment during the program.

Qualifications

Applicants should have completed their sophomore or junior year by the start of the program with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better. Minimum course requirements are the completion of a full year of college biology, and general chemistry with laboratories. One semester of calculus, organic chemistry and additional advanced work in biology are preferred, but not required. Students who graduate before December 2019 are not eligible.

 

How to apply:

Applications for Summer 2020 should be submitted on or before Monday March 16^th.   Click here to complete the online application.

• To complete your application, you will need to identify 3 faculty members you would be interested in working with as yourSummer Research Mentor.
• In a personal statement (500 words maximum), please describe:
  • (a) your motivation to pursue this research experience, including your long-term educational and career aspirations
  • (b) what area of biological research is the most exciting to you. This could include a topic in a class that you found compelling or an experimental method in a lab class that you enjoyed
  • (c) any prior training or research experience that may serve as a foundation for your research internship. Please note that prior research experience is not required for participation in this program.
• In your application, you will need to identify two people who are willing to write reference letters for you. Please do not have your references send letters; we will contact them if letters are required.
• You may also include a one to two page resume with your application.

Allison L. Abbott (Marquette): Work in the Abbott lab focuses on the function of microRNA genes in elegans. Recent work has focused on the function of the mir-44 family in gamete formation and function and has identified a role for this family of microRNAs in the sperm to oocyte switch in hermaphrodites. Additionally, ongoing work is focused on identifying microRNAs expressed in the male and hermaphrodite germline. We will use the collections of nematodes from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center housed at the University of Minnesota and the Caenorhabditis Natural Diversity Resource housed at Northwestern University to perform comparative functional analysis of microRNA genes in sperm specification.

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Tony Gamble (Marquette): Research in the Gamble lab addresses fundamental questions concerning the evolution, structure, and function of vertebrate genomes and sex chromosomes. Geckos and other lizards are ideally suited to test hypotheses about sex chromosome origins and evolution because they have multiple, independent transitions among sex determining mechanisms. Recent research includes: testing competing hypotheses about sex chromosome turnover vs. stasis; development of a high-throughput, next-generation sequencing approach to identify cryptic sex chromosomes in non-model species; assessing synteny among reptile sex chromosomes using DNA and RNA sequence data; and the sequencing and assembly of gecko genomes and transcriptomes. Our research is collections based with a field work/specimen collecting component as well as research projects that produce and use DNA and RNA sequences deposited to public databases.

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Krassimira Hristova (Marquette): Research in the Hristova lab addresses fundamental questions in microbial ecology of freshwater ecosystems and the link between impaired ecosystem services and human health. The research is based on key concepts and emerging trends in molecular and environmental microbiology to support research experiences in environmental toxicology, antimicrobial resistance, and biodegradation of pollutants. Recent projects include studying the impact of non-source pollution from agricultural practices on water quality and antibiotic resistance; understanding the impact of urban pollution on Lake Michigan nearshore ecosystem health; studying the mechanisms and interactions of heavy metals and engineered nanoparticles with eukaryotic cells; and evaluating the impact of recycled concrete materials on stream microbial communities and aquatic organisms. Data collection includes field data, environmental samples, and lab experimental data as well as metagenome sequencing and transcriptome data.

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Joe LaManna (Marquette): Research in the LaManna lab addresses fundamental questions about the mechanisms that create and maintain biodiversity across climatic and other environmental gradients. Specifically, we work at the interface of population and community ecology to understand how and why the demographic consequences of local species interactions, such as predator-prey or host-pathogen interactions, influence the ability of species to coexist and how these processes scale up to influence biodiversity patterns from landscape to global scales. My research program addresses these issues in both animal and plant communities, using a wide range of empirical (e.g. large-scale observational studies, field experiments) and quantitative approaches (e.g. spatially- and temporally-explicit analyses of large datasets, simulation models of population and community dynamics). REU students funded through this grant proposal would spend part (but not all) of their time collecting field-based data and specimens at our remote field site in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon.

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Nate Lemoine (Marquette): Research in the Lemoine Lab uses theory, lab experiments, and field surveys to understand the consequences of global change on natural communities and ecosystems. Specifically, we use insect communities as model organisms to understand how rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns will affect trophic interactions. Recent research includes theoretical models of population dynamics and stability, laboratory experiments assessing how drought affects allelopathic interactions among plant species, field experiments examining the role of insects in nutrient cycling of semi-arid grasslands in the Western US, and ecophysiological consequences of drought. Our work uses numerous different methods, including geospatial analyses of existing data, laboratory experiments, field surveys, and working with museum collections.

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Chris Marshall (Marquette): Research in the Marshall lab addresses two grand challenges in science: evolution of antimicrobial resistance and quantifying global biogeochemical cycling. In the first, we are interested in how diversity and metabolic changes in biofilms contribute to the alarming and expanding problem of antibiotic resistance. In the second, we study anaerobic metabolisms associated with biogeochemical cycles as a biotechnological and ecological source of innovation. Microbial ecology and evolution mediated by metabolic feedback lie at the core of each of these challenges. Insights into diversification, resilience, resource competition, and cooperation in one system (environment) can inform another (host). As part of our everyday workflow, we use culture collections (ATCC, USDA ARS Culture Collection) to deposit or acquire novel microorganisms, sequence genomes/metagenomes, and deposit sequences to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA).

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Lisa Petrella (Marquette): Work in the Petrella lab focuses on understanding how organisms respond to environmental changes and how those responses evolve. One of the main research projects in the lab is to understand the mechanisms that breakdown leading to sterility when organisms are exposed to elevated temperatures. Temperature sensitive sterility is conserved across many organisms from invertebrates to mammals. We study these processes using wild-type Caenorhabditis nematode natural isolates, including elegans, C. briggsae, and several other more newly described species. Our current research is analyzing the temperature thresholds of fertility for both different species and different isolates of the same species from around the world. We take advantage of extensive collections of nematodes from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center housed at the University of Minnesota and the Caenorhabditis Natural Diversity Resource housed at NorthwesternUniversity.

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Michael Schlappi (Marquette): Research in the Schlappi lab primarily addresses the mechanisms of cold stress tolerance responses in rice and other plants. These mechanisms are investigated using genome wide association study (GWAS) mapping of cold tolerance quantitative trait loci (QTL), bi-parental QTL mapping, RNAseq-mediated gene expression profiling of the cold response, and functional genomics studies involving CRISPR-mediated gene knockout and parallel gene overexpression approaches for hypothesis testing. This rice research is collections based via DNA and RNA sequence depositions to public databases. As part of planned REU pilot projects, students will additionally collect specimens of wild rice near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and deposit them to the Wisconsin State Herbarium. Seeds of those plants will be maintained in the Schlappi lab, and REU students will determine whether the collected wild rice varieties are suitable for reintroduction into Milwaukee rivers.

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Stefan Schnitzer (Marquette): The main focus of the research in the Schnitzer lab is to determine the mechanisms that maintain plant species diversity and explain plant distributions along broad environmental gradients. The vast majority of this research is conducted in tropical forests, using lianas as a model to test these basic ecological research questions. Recent work includes determining the functional basis of liana resource competition, comparing multiple mechanisms that maintain liana species diversity and contrasting these mechanisms with those that maintain tree species diversity, testing a mechanistic hypothesis to explain liana distribution along a steep rainfall gradient, and testing whether lianas maintain tree species diversity.

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Christopher Tyrrell (MPM): Research in the Tyrrell lab at the Milwaukee Public Museum Herbarium focuses on the systematics, taxonomy and geography of plant biodiversity, particularly among the native bamboo flora of the New World tropics. Research is strongly field and collections-based employing molecular, morphological, and informatics methods. In his work his students conduct modern systematic taxonomy using phylogenetic inference to inform species discovery, description and classification, and elucidate the evolutionary relationships among taxa. His lab also seeks to determine which factors affect the ability to detect biodiversity and then develop digital tools to overcome these and advance species diagnosis and identification. Recent work includes the description of new species and genera from the West Indies and South America, and application of a Bayesian classifier to plant identification. Tyrrell serves as MPM's Director of Collection Informatics guiding MPM's collection digitization efforts and data deployment.

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Jennifer Zaspel (MPM): Research in the Zaspel lab is focused on the evolution of communication systems and host associations in insects. The overarching goal of her program is to reconstruct the evolutionary history of feeding behaviors, mating strategies, and chemical defense. Our research uses metabolomic, genomic and transcriptomic approaches to reconstruct phylogenetic trees for species that feed on a broad range of hosts such as lichens, toxic plants, and vertebrate animals, clarifying origins of host specialization and chemical sequestration in different groups of insects. We also investigate the molecular and environmental mechanisms that influence host switching in insects that feed on blood and in some cases, vector human and animal diseases. The collections-based portion of Zaspel’s research involves revisionary systematics, specimen informatics, and advanced digitization of biological collections.

MCO4: a gene Necessary for Synthesis of the Peritrophic Matrix and Normal Larval Development in Drosophila melanogaster.
Kevin Aumiller, SUNY Fredonia. Mentor: Ed Blumenthal

Drop-Dead (drd) and Fatty Acid Transport Protein (Fatp) in Drosophila melanogaster.
Martha Avila-Zavala, Whittier College. Mentor: Ed Blumenthal

Detecting transitions between sex chromosome systems in bent-toed geckos, Cyrtodactylus.
Madison Blumer, Scripps College. Mentor: Tony Gamble

Purification of a Mutant Form of Human Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 6.
Ryan Burd, Marquette University. Mentor: Sophia Origanti

mir-44/45 regulation of the MAPK signaling pathway.
Matt Cavanaugh, Marquette University. Mentor: Allison Abbott

Effect of single post translational modification in large RPA complex.
Amorina Cruz, Alverno College. Mentor: Edwin Antony

Identification of genes and pathways regulated by the miR-44 family in C. elegans.
Kelly Enriquez, Marquette University. Mentor: Allison Abbott

Characterizing drd Expression in the Epidermal Cells of Drosophila melanogaster.
Nate Fischer, Marquette University. Mentor: Ed Blumenthal

Testing the ability of LIN-15B and LIN-35 to repress the opposite gene’s expression.
Carlos Gonzalez, Marquette University. Mentor: Lisa Petrella

Optimizing Visualization of Flagellar Proteins in Live Cells.
Gwen Jones, Normandale Community College. Mentor: Pinfen Yang

mir-52 is necessary for male fertility in C. elegans.
Madison Lucas, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Mentor: Allison Abbott

The Relationship Between ATG Genes and Prion Clearance.
Mitch Oddo, Marquette University. Mentor: Anita Manogaran

Hsp104 and Heat Stress--Implications for Disassembling Transthyretin Aggregation.
Jake Reilly, Marquette University. Mentor: Anita Manogaran

Low Mg2+ solution induces seizure-like activity in hippocampal slices from male and female neonatal rats.
Carlos Roman Santiago, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. Mentor: Michelle Mynlieff

Polarity of Rad52 Plays Fundamental Role in Assembly of the Homologous Recombination Protein Complex.
Emma Tillison, Marquette University. Mentor: Edwin Antony

Analysis of sex myoblast migration in mir-44/45 C. elegans mutants.
Julia Theiss, Scripps College. Mentor: Allison Abbott

Additional Sup35 Reduces DMSO Mediated Curing in Weak [PSI+].
Mariela Vega, CSU Sacramento. Mentor: Anita Manogaran

Patterns of apoptosis in embryonic Crested Gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) limbs differ between developmental stages.
Amelia Zietlow, Carthage College. Mentor: Tony Gamble

Optimizing transfection conditions to express eIF6 in mammary epithelial cells.
Lauren Klein, University of Notre Dame. Mentor: Sofia Origanti               

Summer Research Program Activities

While research is the number one attraction, the Marquette University summer research program provides many other activities for program participants:

• weekly lunch meetings

• field trips

• poster symposium

• Outreach event at the Milwaukee Public Museum

• Social activities including ice cream socials, picnic at Lake Michigan, and a Brewers game

Campus Map

Welcome to Milwaukee

There are many opportunities for planned and unplanned outings and excursion. Summertime in Milwaukee provides many opportunities for entertainment, with an almost continuous program of ethnic festivals, lakefront festivals (such as Summerfest), musical and theatre attractions, and outdoor activities, including sailing on Lake Michigan.

While you will be spending most of your time in the Wehr Life Sciences Building, all work and no play will make you dull and cranky. To prevent that, the Brew City offers a plethora of activities to keep you fresh and alive.

Milwaukee has all the things a big city has to offer (like the arts, major league sports, great restaurants and parks) with fewer of the hassles (like big city prices, crime, pollution and traffic).

Here are just some of the many things you can do in Milwaukee during the summer:

• Endulge your cultured side at the nearby Milwaukee Art Museum (be sure to ask for the student discount) or check out the world's largest dinosaur skull at the Milwaukee Public Museum, just a few blocks from campus. Visit the S/V Denis Sullivan, a 137-foot replica of a 19th century Great Lakes schooner at Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin.
• Hop on your bike and head for Lake Michigan's beaches (they're less than two miles from campus).
• Hear some great bands at The Rave, Shank Hall, and Jazz in the Park. Or if you want to hear them all in one place, head to Summerfest -- the nation's largest outdoor music festival.
• Go outside and play... in nearly 15,000 acres of parks including 89 miles of bikeways, 17 municipal golf courses and countless baseball diamonds, basketball and tennis courts.
• Catch a Brewers game at the new Miller Park Baseball Stadium, two miles from campus.
• Savor Milwaukee's more than 1,500 restaurants, from Mexican to Thai, Italian to German, cheeseburgers to Chinese.

When you're in Milwaukee, you've got the best of both worlds — a big city with a small town feel.