Mentor/s:
Roberto Rodriguez Morales, PhD
Project Title:
Development of the lateral line in sighted and blind populations of the Mexican tetra
Project Description:
We want to know how and when the mechanosesory organ called the lateral line of sighted and blind morphotypes of A. mexicanus begins to develop the contrasting phenotype observed in adults of the species. We are using immunohistochemistry to stain and image key structures of the system throughout early development.
Mentor/s:
Anuska Andjelkovic Zochowska, PhD
Project Title:
The role of Sirtuin 1 in the aging of the blood brain barrier
Project Description:
As Sirtuin 1 is a regulatory protein found in endothelial cells that has been shown to decrease in expression as mice age and to have vasoprotective properties when overexpressed in old mice, we wanted to know how an induced knockout in adult mice would affect the integrity and protein expression in blood brain barrier (BBB) endothelial cells. We used transgenic mice encoding tamoxifen dependent Cre with a BBB promoter and with LoxP sites flanking the Sirtuin 1 gene to provoke the conditional knockout with tamoxifen injections. The experiment did not result in a knockout of the gene so troubleshooting was necessary.
