TGG/CMI Undergraduate Summer Internships

April 6, 2016 Staff

By Dr. Trudy Mackay

Faculty from the Translational Genetics and Genomics (TGG) Program met bi-weekly during the Fall 2015 semester to develop ideas for eight collaborative research projects between at least two CMI members to launch in the 2016 Spring semester, involving undergraduate students majoring in Genetics. We held a ‘speed-dating’ event the evening of January 27, 2016, attended by faculty project leaders and 14 undergraduate Genetics majors. The faculty gave brief presentations of their projects, and then the students visited each faculty team in which they were interested. At the end of the evening the students ranked the projects in which they wanted to participate, after which the faculty teams held further interviews and ranked the students. We were able to award eight inaugural TGG undergraduate research internships, all of which were top choices of both students and faculty members! The TGG awards $5,000 to each student for paid research from May 9 – July 31, 2016 as well as $4,500 to each project for research expenses. The students will present their research results at the Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium.

The projects, faculty teams and undergraduate interns are:

Project 1: Allele Specific Gene Expression in Hybrid Dogs Faculty PIs: David Aylor (Department of Biological Sciences, COS), Kate Meurs (Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, CVM)Student: Christina LaMaire
Project 2: Cardiac Expression Patterns Associated with Feline Cardiopathy Mutations Faculty PIs: Mary Anna Carbone (Department of Biological Sciences, COS), Trudy Mackay (Department of Biological Sciences, COS), Kate Meurs (Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, CVM) Student: Josh Slaydon
Project 3: Characterization of Microbiota Associated with the Reproductive Organs of the Prairie Vole Faculty PIs: Reade Roberts, Lisa McGraw (both Department of Biological Sciences, COS) Student: Nishi Shah
Project 4: Genetics of Intestinal Resistance to Salmonella Infection Faculty PIs: Johanna Elfenbein (Department of Clinical Sciences, CVM), Trudy Mackay (Department of Biological Sciences, COS) Student: Dana Truempy
Project 5: Role of Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Retinal Degenerative Disease Faculty PIs: Freya Mowat (Department of Clinical Sciences, CVM), Michael Cowley (Department of Biological Sciences, COS Student: Kelly Buddin
Project 6: Skin Infection in Dogs After Routine Surgery Faculty PIs: Julie Hovarth (NC Museum of Natural Sciences), Dan Dombrowski (NC Museum of Natural Sciences), Seth Faith (Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, CVM), Rob Dunn (Department of Applied Ecology, CALS) Student: Mariah Teague
Project 7: Clinical and Genetic Characterization of an X-Linked Form of Hereditary Blindness in a North Carolina Population of Red Wolves PIs: Freya Mowat (Department of Clinical Sciences, CVM), Mathew Breen (Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, CVM) Student: Emma Marx
Project 8: Molecular Genetics of Glaucoma in a Canine Model Faculty PIs: Mary Anna Carbone (Department of Biological Sciences, COS), Robert Anholt (Department of Biological Sciences, COS), Kate Meurs (Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, CVM), Hans Westermeyer (Department of Clinical Sciences, CVM) Student: Leslie Shannon