Julieann M. Colón Sarriera
Undergraduate Student
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Dept. of Biology
Minor, Medical Humanities and Health
University of Puerto Rico
Río Piedras Campus
Home Research
Mentor: Alfredo Ghezzi-Grau, PhD
Project: Long-lasting transcriptional responses of developmental alcohol exposure in Drosophila
Project Description:
Chronic alcohol use leads to tolerance and dependence due to neuroadaptations in the brain, while promoting deficiencies in behavior and cognition. Using Drosophila melanogaster as model organism we aim to understand Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and other alcohol-related diseases, such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), by performing chronic ethanol treatments at different stages of the organism’s life cycle. Because we propose that continuous alcohol consumption promotes changes in genetic expression that are the underlying cause of the previously observed deficiencies in behavior and cognition, we work by targeting genes whose expression is changing in response to this stimulus.
Summer Research
Mentor: Pending
Project: Pending
Project Description: Pending