Conference Description
CAMP (The Louis Stokes California Alliance for Minority Participation) is a prime University of California initiative to diversify the student population and the future faculty, supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. CAMP represents a system-wide community of UC faculty, program staff, and students working toward a set of shared goals, including not only B.S. degree completion but continuation on to graduate school, completion of the Ph.D., and entry into academic and professional careers in science and engineering. The primary goal of the nine UC campus partners (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Diego and Riverside) is to significantly increase the number of B.S. degrees granted to underepresented minority students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) majors at the University of California and to prepare these students competitively for the nation's top graduate schools. This collective effort has contributed to a 84% increase in B.S. degrees granted by UC from the baseline year (1990-91), for a total of 12,396 bachelor's degrees awarded to date to underrepresented minorities by UC (as of 2006). CAMP emphasizes the importance of faculty mentored research experiences, collaborative learning experiences, presentation at research conferences and preparation for advanced degrees.
CAMP 2011 UCLA Award Winners
Kimberly Frutoz and Roky Coria
Kimberly Frutoz
UCLA Undergraduate, Senior
Major: Physiological Sciences
Minor: Biomedical Research
Faculty mentor: Dr. Bennett Novitch, Neurobiology
Title: Characterizing RP58 in Neural Progenitor Cells of the Developing Spinal Cord
Future plans: MD/PhD program
One of the central questions in the study of neural development is how spinal progenitors produce the vast array of cell types found in the mature nervous system. Progenitors are organized into spatially-restricted domains committed to producing specific types of neurons early in development and, at later times, producing glia. For this progression, progenitors must balance differentiation and maintenance to produce the proper numbers of cells and to retain a progenitor population throughout development. The transcription factor PLZF, a member of the BTB/POZ gene family, has recently been implicated as a negative regulator of neurogenesis in early spinal development and consequently may serve a role in preserving a progenitor population for astrocyte production at later times in development. We have identified a closely related gene of the same family, RP58, which partially overlaps in tissue expression with PLZF suggesting that it may similarly inhibit neurogenesis. The focus of our study is to 1) characterize the function of RP58 in the developing chick spinal cord by documenting its endogenous expression pattern, and 2) manipulate its in vivo functions using plasmid misexpression and RNA interference approaches. Our preliminary experiments demonstrate that increasing the expression of RP58 mimicks the actions of PLZF misexpression in maintaining progenitor populations, suppressing neuronal differentiation, and repressing radial glial markers. Currently, a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) vector approach is being pursued to investigate the consequences of reducing RP58 function from the spinal cord. Through this combination of gain and loss of function experiments, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role that RP58 and related BTB/POZ transcription factors play in sculpting the development of the nervous system.
Roky Coria
UCLA Undergraduate, Senior
Major: Biology
Faculty mentors: Drs. Victoria Sork and Josep Penuelas, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Title: Examining Phenotypic Variation in Leaf Traits Across the Geopgraphic Distribution of Quercus Lobata(Valley Oak)
Global climate change has been shown to cause local and large-scale shifts in plant distributions and abundances. In order to avoid local and regional extinction, plants must physiologically tolerate, adapt by selection, or migrate to more tolerable climate zones. Studies have shown that local adaptation in leaf characteristics and morphology reflect predominant stresses caused by environmental factors. In this study we seek to examine patterns of variation in leaf morphology and characteristics across the geographic distribution of Quercus lobata Née, where leaf traits may be mal adapted for future climate change. The study measures various phenotypic leaf traits including chlorophyll absorbance, leaf size, leaf thickness, lobe number, and leaf area. Preliminary data collected from our subsampling of the different sites (n=26) have shown a longitudinal pattern in traits. The collected data will be analyzed to determine if differences occur across various sites and if patterns can be found along geographic and climate gradients. This study is part of a larger project using genomic tools to identify variation in functional genes that might experience selection throughout the range of this species. Identifying local site characteristics will indicate selective pressures that have shaped the current distribution of this species and lend to the creation of a predictive model of the response of Quercus lobata Née to future climate change.
CAMP 2011 UCLA Honorable Mention Winners
Steven Nguyen
Michael Daniel
Irma Ortiz
Amie Caraveo
CAMP 2011 UCLA Participants
James Allen
Amie Caraveo
Roky Coria
Michael Daniel
Ryane Daniels
Kimberly Frutoz
Oghomwen Igiesuorobo
Carmen Javier
Paola Lepe
Steven Nguyen
Irma Ortiz
Brian Shevitski
CAMP 2010
