The Undergraduate Research
Scholars Program
2007-2008
Ms. Lisa Kim
Mr. Raymond Kung
Mr. Edward Kuoy
Ms. Amanda Lea
Ms. Noemi Lee
Mr. Jeff Liao
Mr. Lawrence Lipana
Ms. Anne Liu
Mr. Kunal Mehta
Mr. Daniel Morozoff-Abezganz
Mr. Antonio Moya
Ms. Angie Ng
Mr. Vahram Ornekian
Mr. Manish Padhiar
Ms. Sarah Page
Ms. Keun (Tina) Park
Mr. Shahriar Rajaee
Ms. Lisa Kim
Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Braun
Funding: Hilton Scholar
Title: EMP2 and PMP22 expression in cancer tissues
Lisa is a fourth year molecular, cellular, and developmental biology major at UCLA. In Spring 2006 Lisa started volunteering in the lab of Dr. Jonathan Braun of the pathology department. Now she conducts research under the supervision of Assistant Professor Madhuri Wadehra. Her research focuses on the epithelial membrane protein 2, which is a four Trans membrane protein that is expressed in discrete locations in the body including the eye, lung, heart, thyroid and uterus.
Previous research showed that EMP2 plays a role in the development of endometrial cancer. In patients with endometrial cancer, high EMP2 expression correlated with poor survival rates. This study showed that further understanding of EMP2 and screening of a larger pool of endometrial cancer patients are necessary for making clinical decisions based on this research.
In conducting her research, Lisa will use lentivirus constructs to clone EMP2. EMP2 and PMP22 (also a tran membrane protein) will be over expressed to observe the effects on various cancer cell lines (seminomas, colon cancer and breast cancer). Findings from this research project will be important to understanding how EMP2 functions, and potentially how dysregulation of its expression may alter cellular phenotypes. In a different project, immunoprecipitation will be conducted to see EMP2’s association with various other factors such as SRC and FAK, and their phosphorylated forms. Phosphorylated SRC and FAK correlates to increased invasion in cells which is a phenotype of cancer cells. Thus, EMP2’s association with these factors may be able to reveal more on EMP2’s expression in cancer cells.
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Mr. Raymond Kung
Mentor: Dr. Linda Baum
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: High Throughput Screening of Drugs that Modulate Cell Surface Glycoproteins to Revert Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy is a fatal X-linked recessive musculodegenerative disease caused by a genetic mutation in dystrophin, a cell surface glycoprotein necessary for proper linkage between muscle cell membrane and basal lamina. Overexpression of a specific glycosyltransferase, N-acetyl glucosaminyl transferase (CT-GalNAcT), has been shown to inhibit muscular dystrophy by improving membrane-basal lamina interaction in the mdx mouse model, which lacks dystrophin. Through small molecule high throughput screens done on C2C12 mouse muscle cell lines, we have detected drugs that may treat DMD by modulating cell surface glycoproteins. The screens done by ELISA detected increases in the treated cells’ WFA binding ability, an indirect measure of CTGalNAcT expression. We focused on one of the drugs, which was shown by real time RT- PCR to increase CTGalNAcT expression. Using Western Blot, we have shown that the drug increases expression of dystrophin associated proteins, laminin binding proteins, and GalNAc modified proteins, which are essential for proper membrane-basal lamina interaction. Preliminary data using fluorescent microscopy suggests that the drug does not affect cell viability at optimal dose. Through glycan-mass spectrometry, we will determine the drugs’ effects on the structure of the sugar unto which CTGalNAcT adds GalNAc. By ELISA, we will determine the drug’s effects on mdx mouse muscle cells’ ability to bind reagents that indirectly signify muscle cell functionality. To determine the drug’s specificity we will use siRNA to disrupt CTGalNAcT expression. Eventually, this project will lead to determining the drug’s effects on mdx mice in vivo and thus, its therapeutic potential in treating DMD.
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Mr. Edward Kuoy
Mentor: Dr. Kathrin Plath
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Ectopic expression of reprogramming factors in murine fibroblasts
Edward Kuoy is a fourth year majoring in molecular, cell, and developmental biology. He was a member of the Undergraduate Research Consortium in Functional Genomics where he worked under Dr. John Olson and Dr. Utpal Banerjee on the characterization of the expression of genes involved in the early development of Drosophila melanogaster through a novel lineage tracing system.
He is currently working under Dr. Kathrin Plath in attempting to reprogram murine cells into a pluripotent state. It was first shown in 2006 that murine fibroblasts were capable of being reprogrammed into an induced pluripotent status after the addition of four factors, Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4. These factors were introduced through retroviruses, which bring up concerns of whether the products were an artifact as a result of some insertional mutagenesis, and the uncontrolled number of retroviral integrations could also prove problematic when attempting to repeat this process in human cells. Edward will be working on ectopically expressing these factors through adenoviruses, which will deliver the desired factors without viral incorporation into the host's genome.
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Ms. Amanda Lea
Mentor: Hilton Scholar
Funding:
Title:
Profile/Picture coming soon!
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Ms. Noemi Lee
Mentor: Dr. Utpal Banerjee/Dr. John Olson
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: The role of mitochondria in hematopoietic precursor cells maintenance and differentiation
(from left to right): Noemi Lee and Dr. John Olson
Noemi is a fourth-year Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology major and Biomedical Research minor conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Utpal Banerjee and Dr. Edward Owusu-Ansah. Noemi is currently studying the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in Drosophila hematopoietic precursor cells in the lymph gland. Previous in vivo studies in the Banerjee lab have shown that disruption of mitochondrial function significantly changes the level of metabolic molecules which in turn activates pathways that arrest cells at the G1-S transition phase in the eye. Disruption of complex I of the mitochondrial electron transport chain increases the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which activates the JNK signaling cascade, whereas disruption of complex IV significantly lowers ATP level activating the p53 regulator of the cell cycle. Noemi’s project is to ascertain the cellular responses to changes in the functional state of mitochondria in hematopoietic precursors using RNAi of complexes I and IV; and visualizing phenotypes via immunostaining of specific mature hemocyte proteins. These results will establish the effect of changes in metabolic level on blood precursor cell maintenance and differentiation. Further studies will include elucidation of the possible signaling pathways activated in the lymph gland under mitochondrial dysfunction using genetic interactions and reporter activity assays. After graduation, Noemi plans on enrolling in an MD/PhD program to pursue a career in biomedical research. As a physician-scientist she plans to continue her studies on hematopoiesis and extend her studies to cancer stem cell biology in order to better understand hematologic malignances. Noemi would like to thank Dr. Banerjee and Dr. Owusu-Ansah for the opportunity and encouragement they have provided her and Dr. Olson and Dr. Clark for their unlimited support and guidance throughout her experience in research studies. She would also like to extend her gratitude to the Wasserman family for their generosity in providing this opportunity.
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Mr. Jeff Liao
Mentor: Dr. Srivatsan
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Identifying Epigenetic Inactivations in Cystatin M Cervical Cancer Tumor Suppressor Gene
Jeff is a fourth year Biochemistry student at UCLA. He is conducting research under the direct tutelage of Dr. Srivatsan in the UCLA Department of General Surgery and VA Medical Center.
Annually, cervical cancer causes 500,000 deaths in women world wide. It accounts for 2% of all cancers in women in the USA and is the third leading cause of death from cancer in women of 15 to 34 years of age. Preliminary studies have demonstrated the correlation between the development of cervical cancer and the loss of a putative tumor suppressor gene, cystatin M, on human chromosome 11. Previous reports have localized the suppressor gene to 11pter>11q23 using microcell chromosome transfer method, and subsequently sublocalized it to 11q13. In Jeff's research project, he will map out specific mutations or deletions from exon 1 to exon 3 in the tumor cell lines through PCR, cloning, and sequencing. In the case of deletion, he will use semi-quantitative PCR to
demonstrate the homozygous or hemizygous nature of the mutations. To prove that the mutations are not polymorphic, he will analyze the corresponding normal cells with the same protocol. To account for other plausible mechanisms of gene inactivation, he will conduct methylation study on specific samples.
Jeff would like to thank the Wasserman family for their generous patronage given to establish the essential fundamental skills of a maturing scientist. He would also like to thank Dr. Srivatsan for his wisdom and inspirational words on research. He would like to express sincere gratitude to Dr. Srivatsan for having the opportunity to be involved in impacting global health.
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Mr. Lawrence Lipana
Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Shipe
Funding: Waingrow Scholar
Title: Abiotic Controls and Interannual Patterns of Phytoplankton in Santa Monica from 2006-2008
Lawrence Santiago Lipana is a fourth year at UCLA double majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Asian American Studies. Working with Dr. Rebecca Shipe from the EEB department since 2006, he and a team of scientists from various laboratories throughout southern California sail into the Santa Monica Bay (SMB) twice a month to collect phytoplankton and water quality data for several collaborative experiments.
Phytoplankton are important primary producers in marine systems and serve as the bottom tier of trophic food chains, tied to the success of fishing industries, maintaining biodiversity, etc. However, current studies conducted on the Santa Monica Bay are limited to remotely sensed ocean color data, via Sea-viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (Sea WiFS), which provide estimates of chlorophyll a concentrations for surface water only two inches in depth. The goal of this study is to investigate the temporal and vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass from January 2006 – January 2008 in the upper 50m of the SMB mooring station. The amounts of phytoplankton biomass, measured in concentrations of photosynthetic pigments present, were evaluated to test for relationships with abiotic factors of temperature, salinity and nutrient (nitrate) concentrations. Amassing data from the past two years, the goal of the 2008 experiment will be to investigate these abiotic factors against interannual patterns, possibly relating SMB’s trophic importance to ENSO and global climate change phenomena.
Lawrence would like to thank the Frederick R. Waingrow Research Scholarship Endowment for their support of his work in marine ecology.
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Ms. Anne Liu
Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller
Funding: Honarary Bonner Scholar (Howard Hughes Scholar)
Title: Developing an Antibiotic Sensitivity Profile for Escherichia coli
Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller and Anne Liu
Anne Liu is a third year Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics major under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller since her first year, winter quarter at UCLA.
The increasing number of antibiotic resistant bacteria poses a major health problem. One way to combat this issue is to improve the efficacy of existing antibiotics with combination therapy. Potential targets for such drugs would be bacterial proteins that provide intrinsic antibiotic resistance. We developed a high throughput system using the complete Escherichia coli knockout collection to identify genes whose loss increases sensitivity to subinhibitory concentrations of seven antibiotics: ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, rifampicin, ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, and metronidazole. Screening using several subinhibitory concentrations of each antibiotic revealed 154 knockout strains (the "sensitivity profile") that were highly sensitive to one or more of the antibiotics. Further sensitivity analysis of these strains was achieved by determining the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). The results of these studies may help identify inhibitor molecules that will target these hypersensitive genes and, consequently, increase bacterial killing efficiencies of antibiotics at less toxic levels to humans.
Anne would like to thank the Howard Hughes faculty, scholars, and contributors; the URC/CARE directors and staff; and her lab mentor and colleagues for fueling her research passion. She has a strong appreciation for the amazing survival capabilities and defenses of microorganisms. After all, prokaryotes first existed about 3.5 million years ago.
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Mr. Kunal Mehta
Mentor: Dr. Jacob Schmidt
Funding: Sparks Scholar
Title: Effect of strand orientation on blockage currents of single-stranded DNA immobilized within a biological nanopore
Kunal is a fourth year Bioengineering student. He is currently working in the lab of Prof. Jacob Schmidt in the Department of Bioengineering.
Kunal’s work centers on controlling the electrophoretically driven translocation of single-stranded DNA through a biological nanopore to enable rapid single-molecule DNA sequencing. There is significant interest in using biological nanopores to perform rapid sensing of single molecules. This approach is particularly attractive for DNA sequencing applications because it would enable single-molecule sequencing with significantly lower cost and higher throughput when compared with currently available methods. To investigate the sequencing capability of aHL as well as explore the behavior of single- stranded DNA (ssDNA) in highly constrained geometries we have been studying immobilized polyhomonucleotide ssDNA strands inside the aHL channel. Here we extend our previous work with streptavidin-terminated ssDNA constructs in aHL to include polyhomonucleotide strands of adenine, cytosine, and thymine capped with streptavidin on both the 3'
and 5' end. We are investigating blockage currents from strands inserted with the 3' end first and comparing them with strands inserted with the 5' end first, to be able to comment on the feasibility of ssDNA sequencing for both scenarios.
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Mr. Daniel Morozoff-Abezganz
Mentor: Dr. Raymond Walker
Funding: Litton Scholar
Title: Magnetic Perturbations in the Saturnian Magnetosphere
Daniel Morozoff is a Biophysics major, doing his junior year at UCLA, interested in working in different areas of science. After working under Dr. Wong in an Applied Plasma Laboratory, he moved on to his current position with Dr. Raymond Walker, where he studies dynamic magnetic behavior of solar wind plasma around Saturn. Daniel and Dr. Walker are trying to construct a realistic magneto-hydrodynamic simulation of Saturn's magnetosphere (a layer magnetic layer surrounding the planet), and satisfy these models with real data produced by the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit currently as well as previous ones such as Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2. The current work has been studied by scientists since the 80s and now due to new computer capabilities we are getting closer to modeling the phenomenon.
The story goes as follows: as the Pioneer 11 spacecraft passed through the dawn side magnetosphere of Saturn a large-scale rotation of the magnetic field was observed. This rotation was found near the magnetopause and indicates large scale vorticity in Saturn's morning magnetosphere. We developed an automated system to determine the transverse perturbations in the magnetic field and plotted them on the Cassini trajectory. The results of our survey of Cassini data will be compared with the simulation results and hopefully show that the models are accurate. I would like to thank all those working with us, from the programming to the theoretical aspects for their contributions to the project. Thank you, Steven Joy, Joseph Mafi, Bill Harris and Dr. Margaret Kivelson. This work is funded by NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS) CSI program.
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Mr. Antonio Moya
Mentor: Dr. Sidney Starkman
Funding: Bonner Scholar
Title: Cerebral Blood Volume and Collateral Blood Flow in Reperfusion of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients
Antonio Moya is a fourth year UCLA Neuroscience undergraduate student pursuing a career as a physician and researcher. Over the past three years, he has worked with the UCLA Stroke Team to assist in enrolling patients into clinical stroke interventional trials. He has had the fulfilling opportunity as head coordinator of the Student Stroke Team to interact and learn from patients and medical professionals in the emergency room and neurology department.
Under the guidance of Drs. Sidney Starkman and David Liebeskind, Antonio is currently conducting research on the role of collateral blood flow in the recovery of acute stroke patients. Sufficient collateral blood flow to ischemic brain regions can potentially alleviate the symptoms of a stroke by providing blood to hypoxic areas of the brain. Antonio is particularly interested in whether or not optimal venous cerebral blood volume during onset of acute ischemic stroke is directly correlated to positive stroke patient outcome. Using medical imaging and statistics software, Antonio will analyze patient CT, MRI, and angiogram data to quantify variables related to cerebral blood volume and cerebral blood flow. NIH Stroke Scale will be used to assess patient clinical outcome. The goal in this research is to give neurologists a schema by which to make predictions on how ischemic stroke patients will fare given their collateral blood flow data.
Antonio would like to thank his mentors, Drs. Sidney Starkman and David Liebeskind and the UCLA Stroke Team for their support and guidance. Moreover, he would like to extend his gratitude to the members of the Bonner Scholarship committee for their encouragement of his research, and to UCLA URC/CARE center for their support of undergraduate science research.
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Ms. Angie Ng
Mentor: Yanjun Zhang, Navindra Seeram
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Separation and identification of isolates from Rabdosia rubescens
Angie Ng is a fourth year Physiological Science student. Beginning in September 2006, Angie have been conduct ing research under Dr. Navindra Seeram’s and Dr. Yanjun Zhang’s supervision, working with phytochemicals in Rabdosia rubescens; a plant with anti-inflammatory potency for prostate cancer treatment. In traditional Chinese medicine, the herb Rabdosia rubescens has been used to treat inflammation and cancer. Rabdosia rubescens is one of the main components in an herbal product that was used to treat prostate cancer patients in the United States. Although Rabdosia rubescens has shown promise as a cancer therapeutic, little is known about the compounds responsible for its anti-cancer activity. In this study, Rabdosia rubescens were extracted with different solvents. The crude extract s of the extract exhibited anti -cell proliferation activities on LnCap and DU-145 human prostate cancer cell lines. We hypothesized that Rabdosia rubescense ha s anticancer constituents against prostate cancer. The objective of th is study is to investigate the constituents from Rabdosia rubescense by purifying with chromatography methods and characterizing the isolates with NMR, and mass spectrometry. The predominant compounds, oridonin and ponicidin were obtained along with several other compounds. In the assay of pure isolates, ponicidin and oridonin both appear to possess significant anti - proliferative activity against human prostate cancer cell lines and might be responsible for the anti-cancer activity . This finding provides evidence for the clinical use of Rabdosia as an anti-cancer herbal drug. The characterized pure isolates can be used as standards in the quality control of the herbal drug. The isolates with anti cell proliferation activity need more studies on the mechanism and may be a lead in anti-cancer drug discovery.
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Mr. Vahram Ornekian
Mentor: Dr. Ira Kurtz
Funding: Sparks Scholar
Title:
(from left to right) Dr. Alexander Pushkin, Vahram Ornekian, and Dr. Ira Kurtz
Vahram Ornekian is a fourth year undergraduate at UCLA majoring in Biology. He has been a volunteer student researcher at UCLA’s Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine for the past three years. His faculty mentor, Dr. Ira Kurtz is chief of the Division of Nephrology and its Acid-Base Transport Physiology Laboratory. Vahram’s project involves the purification and structural determination of an erythrocyte integral membrane transport protein known as Anion Exchanger 1 or Band 3.
AE1 plays a significant role in maintaining acid-base homeostasis in the human body and is a member of a class of related membrane proteins encoded by the anion exchanger genes (AE1-3), which involve bicarbonate transport. Mutations in the genes coding for AE1 are responsible for a variety of acid-base imbalance related diseases as well as red blood cell morphology abnormalities. An example involves a kidney form of AE1 known as kAE1, mutations in the AE1 gene (SLC4A1) coding for kAE1 in this case, cause distal renal tubular acidosis, a disease characterized by acidosis, hypokalemia, bone disease, and nephrocalcinosis. Another mutation in the SLC4A1 gene is responsible for hereditary spherocytosis. This is an indication of the important role AE1 plays in stabilizing and maintaining the shape of the erythrocyte plasma membrane through its interactions with cytoskeletal proteins.
AE1 is also a key part of the human respiratory cycle and is intimately involved with carbon dioxide transport in the body. Carbon dioxide released as waste from body tissues, is converted to bicarbonate ions by carbonic anhydrase II in the red blood cells. Bicarbonate ions are then transported out of the red cells into the blood plasma and exchanged for chloride ions by AE1. The reverse process occurs in the alveoli of the lungs.
The ultimate goal of Vahram’s research is to employ either cyro-electron microscopy or x-ray crystallography to solve the structure of AE1.
Vahram would like to thank Dr. Ira Kurtz, Dr. Alexander Pushkin and all the members of the Acid-Base Transport Physiology lab for their support and guidance and the Sparks Estate for their generous award.
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Mr. Manish Padhiar
Mentor: Dr. Utpal Banerjee
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Characterization of a haematopoietic niche that maintains precursors in secondary lobes of the Drosophila lymph gland
Manish Padhiar is a senior under the department of Microbio, Immun, and Mol Genetics at UCLA, where he also is conducting research in the department of Mol, Cell, & Dvmpt Bio guided by Dr. Utpal Banerjee. Since January 2007, Manish’s research has focused on the development of Drosophila hematopoiesis through the study of gene expression patterns. Currently, he is under the direct tutelage of Jamie Marshall trying to define and characterize the secondary lobes of the lymph gland.
As with mammals, Drosophila hematopoiesis involves the differentiation of common, pluripotent precursor cells into several distinct lineages of blood cells. While mammalian hematopoiesis consists of two main branches, the lymphoid and myeloid lineages, the terminally differentiated Drosophila blood cells are only similar to those of the mammalian myeloid lineage. Previous studies have also shown that mature hemocytes develop from two spatially and temporally distinct sites during hematopoiesis: one early in development during the embryonic phase and another in the late larval stages in the Drosophila hematopietoic organ – the lymph gland. The lymph gland generally consists of about 4-6 pairs of lobes, or rather clusters of cells, deceasing in size form anterior to posterior and flanking the dorsal blood vessel (heart/aorta) of the larva. The primary lobes of the lymph gland have been studied in depth and characterized into three distinct zones: a medullary zone (MZ), a cortical zone (CZ), and a posterior signaling center (PSC). Note that mature hemocytes are found only in the peripheral region in the CZ, while the MZ is compactly packed with stem-cell like prohemocytes (undifferentiated, quiescent cells). The PSC region is thought to be a population of specialized hemocytes acting as a niche to maintain and control the development and maturation of the cells of the MZ through its expression of the Notch ligand (Hedgehog). Recent studies through H2B and Hand-Gal4 transgenic flies show labeled undifferentiated hemocytes in the adult which come from the posterior regions of the secondary and tertiary lobes. In addition, these secondary lobes, which develop after the primary lobes, show the same stem cell-like characteristics as cells in the MZ. It is hypothesized that there must be a niche to maintain and control their maturation as the PSC and the MZ. Accordingly, the goals of Manish’s project are as follows: to define the niche-like cells that maintain secondary lobe precursors; to spatially and temporally determine the different zones of the secondary lobes; to molecularly characterize activity and development of the secondary lobes. Manish is currently studying gene expression in specified transgenic flies (gal4-enhancer trap, GFP trap) to determine the exact zones and activity of the secondary lobes. Fluorescent confocal imaging provides physical evidence of expression patterns of lymph glands in the transgenic lines. Manish plans to utilize additional molecular techniques, such as PCR and in-situ hybridization, to determine the position and the activity the activity of specific genes involved in the development of the secondary lobes and its niche.
After graduating from UCLA, Manish intends to attend Doctorate program in Biomedical Research. His ultimate goal is to clinically apply his knowledge and talents in genetic research to fight many of the heredity and non-heredity diseases more effectively. Though a lofty goal, he does not consider it to be far from as more and more scientists in the field today are beginning to turn to clinical applications.
Manish would like to greatly thank U. Banerjee, J. Olson, J. Marshall, and J. Zaretsly for their guidance, assistance, and dedication at every step in this research study. He would also like to acknowledge the support from the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and particularly the Wasserman family for their generous and continuous support of undergraduate research in general.
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Ms. Sarah Page
Mentor: Dr. H. Thomas Hahn, Tony Pereira
Funding: Bonner & Van Trees Scholar
Title: Solar Powered Permanent Flight UAV
(Dr. Thomas Hahn, Sarah Page and Tony Pereira)
Sarah Page is a senior aerospace engineering student. She is currently conducting research on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with Professor Hahn's Multifunctional Composites Laboratory group and on campus group SAMPE. As the name suggests, a UAV is an aircraft that maintains flight without a human onboard. This is accomplished by utilizing advancements in computer controls, wireless communication, aerospace materials, and energy harvesting.
Sarah will primarily focus her research on solar powered UAVs. Solar UAVs are important because without human or fuel constraints they have the capability to stay in the air for very long periods of time. UAVs use solar power in daylight hours and resort to an alternative duel source, such as batteries or fuel cells, at night. Sarah's research will hopefully optimize the integration solar panels and composites for super endurance flight.
Sarah would like to thank Professor Hahn for presenting her with this opportunity. She would also like to express her appreciation for the entire MCL group, especially Tony Pereira, for spending so much of his time with her on this project. Sarah is also very thankful to Bonner and the Rex Van Trees Estate for making this research possible.
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Ms. Tina Keun Park
Mentor:Dr. Ting-Ting Wu
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Two Viral Trans-factors essential to recruit RNA Polymerase II to Late Gene Promoters in a Gammaherpesvirus
Tina Keun Park is in her fourth year at UCLA, and working on obtaining a degree in Molecular Cell, and Developmental Biology. After graduation, she plans to attend a dental school. She also plans to continue with research to acquire Ph. D. in the field of biology. Tina has been working under the guidance of Dr. Wu since her sophomore year and now Dr. Wu's training and discipline has prepared Tina to become a more independent researcher. Through research, she has not only obtained technical training but also gained the ability to walk through the steps to think critically, to plan effectively, and to draw logical conclusions. She is really pleased to be selected as one of the recipients of the EDITH & LEW WASSRMAN Scholarship.
Her laboratory is using murine gammaherpesvirus-68 as a model system to study replication and pathogenesis of tumor-associated herpesvirus. Coupling of viral late gene expression to genome replication is a hallmark of productive infection by DNA viruses. However, the regulation of late gene expression in herpesviruses remains largely uncharacterized. Two crucial viral trans factors required for activation of MHV-68 late gene transcription, ORF 30 and ORF 34, have been recently discovered. Now they want to study the molecular mechanism of how these trans-factors control the expression of late genes. Using Chromatin Immunoprecipitation as their main tool, they are trying to see if these trans-factors regulate late gene expression by recruiting RNA Polymerase II to the late gene promoters.
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Mr. Shahriar Rajaee
Mentor: Dr. Linda Nelson
Funding: Wasserman Scholar
Title: Examing Spatial Memory in a high risk population for Alzheimer's Disease
Shahriar Reza Rajaee is a fourth year undergraduate Physiological Science major. Working under Principal Investigator Dr. Linda Nelson in the department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Studies, his research consists of studying Down syndrome individuals to help gain a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. Down syndrome adults are a high risk population for Alzheimer’s disease making them a good model to study Alzheimer’s disease.
In past studies on Alzheimer’s disease, research has been on a post-mortem basis only. Dr. Linda Nelson’s study is the first ever attempt at diagnosing signs of Alzheimer’s disease in living individuals, specifically Down syndrome individuals. Two methods by which brain pathology is measured in individuals of this study include: (1) special cognitive and memory tasks derived from animal studies (2) by using Positive Emission Tomography (PET).
Reza’s independent role for the upcoming year focuses on the spatial cognition element in the study sample of Down syndrome adults. Memory is clearly the hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, but preliminary results with Down syndrome adults have shown signs that spatial cognition is one of the earliest symptoms in cognitive decline. The question Reza will be addressing is, what area of cognition declines as a function of age in adults with Down syndrome? He predicts that measures of spatial cognition will show the greatest decline over other cognitive measures. Reza plans to continue his scholarly path of discovery in the field of medicine as he continues to medical school in the fall of 2008. He would like to thank the Wasserman Family, the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center, and his faculty mentor, Dr. Linda Nelson.
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