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Undergraduate opportunities summer 2018

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Undergraduate opportunities for Summer Fellowships. For more information visit https://www.prcen.org/

Click Lab image to visit site

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Patricia A. Burrowes, PhD. Principal Investigator

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Amphibian Disease Ecology

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The Amphibian Disease Ecology Lab studies the mechanisms involved in host-pathogen relationships. Specifically, using the Amphibian-Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis =Bd) system. The goals of the lab expand from the organisms and their environments to the use of molecular biology techniques to detect pathogen loads and  investigate the evolution of immune defense.

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José E. García-Arrarás, PhD. Principal Investigator

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Developmental Neurobiology

The Developmental Neurobiology Laboratory uses the sea cucumber Holothuria glaberrima, as a model system to study different aspects of organogenesis and regeneration as well as comparative neuronal anatomy and evolution. Sea cucumbers, which comprise the group Holothurians, are coelomate organisms of the phylum Echinodermata. They are closely related to chordates but, in contrast to chordates, exhibit an impressive ability to regenerate complex structures. In Holothurians the regenerative process is evidenced following evisceration in which all major viscera are discarded. In H. glaberrima, regeneration of the intestine is completed in a 4-week period. Our overall goal is to use this model system to understand the process of organogenesis and how the multiplicity of cell types are generated and assembled into a functional organ.

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Ricardo Betancur-R. PhD. Principal Investigator

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Evolutionary Biology of Fishes

Research at the Fish Phylogeny Lab is broadly concerned with the evolutionary biology of fishes and is oriented around five major aims: (1) inferring relationships and testing evolutionary hypotheses in the context of such relationships, (2) uncovering drivers of morphological and lineage diversification, (3) elucidating patterns and processes in spatial and temporal distributions of species and populations within species, (4) understanding the genetic basis of adaptive traits, and (5) documenting the diversity of fish faunas. My research approach currently implements high-throughput sequencing technologies for robust inferences of phylogeny and phylogeography, and integrative approaches that combine neontological and paleontological evidence to address macroevolutionary questions using phylogenetic comparative methods.

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José L. Agosto PhD. Principal Investigator

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Homeostasis and circadian Rhythms

José Agosto's Lab is oriented towards gathering a better understanding of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythms using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the honey bee Apis mellifera as model organisms.

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Riccardo Papa, PhD. Principal Investigator

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Origin and evolution of natural diversity 

Riccardo Papa's Lab tries to understand the origin and evolution of natural diversity.  Understanding how new phenotypes arise and evolve in association with the surrounding ecosystem is vital to comprehend the origins of biodiversity.  To be able to describe the history of life and explain why the organisms are the way they are is fudamental to understand how organisms respond to selective pressure.

Riccardo Papa's Lab explores phenotypic plasticity as a source of variation for natural selection and adaptation to work upon.  To investigate what governs patterns diversity, what limits it, and what promotes its potentials, the lab combine methods of pure genetics, phylogenetics, developmental cell biology, and functional genomics.  Riccardo Papa is especially interested in butterfly wings patterns, due to the great possibility  of combining population biology (natural selection and adaptation), with genetics and developmental biology.
 

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