Summer 2013 REU Internship Campbell Laboratory, Department of Oceanography Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
http://ocean.tamu.edu/profile/LCampbell We are studying Karenia brevis, the dinoflagellate responsible for harmful algal blooms or "red tides" in the Gulf of Mexico. Karenia brevis makes a potent neurotoxin, known as brevetoxin, which binds to and activates sodium channels. The function of brevetoxin in K. brevis is unknown, but we have shown that hypoosmotic stress increases brevetoxin production. Our hypothesis is that brevetoxin plays a role in osmoregulation in K. brevis. We are conducting physiological experiments, imaging-in-flow cytometry, transcriptome analysis with next generation sequencing, and metabolomic profiling to investigate the responses ofK. brevis to osmotic stress. Initial experiments have produced transcriptome data for two clones of Karenia brevis under control and osmotic stress conditions. During the summer internship, the student will help to evaluate the results obtained to date from analyses of differential expression and protein sequence discovery. The student will use BLAST, Blast2GO for functional analysis, and search for specific motifs and then identify potential protein families using the PFAM database. A particular focus will be ion channels and aquaporins, which are thought to be important in osmoregulation by dinoflagellates. Once candidate proteins have been identified, the student will conduct growth experiments to examine results under osmotic stress conditions and compare differences among strains for selected proteins. Preferred: Biology major, experience with bioinformatics tools Availability: You must be available from June 3-Aug 10 for full stipend award Please submit a CV and the names and contact information for 2 professors who are willing to provide a reference for you. Submit by May 5, 2013 to: Lisa Campbell lisacampb...@tamu.edu ----------------------------- Deana Erdner University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute 750 Channel View Dr. Port Aransas, TX 78373 361-749-6719 derd...@utexas.edu
