Research & Fieldwork

The Department of Biology encourages its students to take advantage of undergraduate research opportunities both within and outside of the department. Students may choose to assist faculty in their research program or to develop a project with faculty supervision. Summer research positions have been funded by the College as well as through external grants. Alternatively, students can often participate in undergraduate research programs at other institutions. Students regularly present their work at local and national scientific meetings, such as the California Academy of Sciences meeting, the Southern California Undergraduate Research Conference (SCCUR), and the Ecological Society of America's national meeting.

Each faculty member in the department has an active research program that involves undergraduates. Following are brief descriptions of the kinds of projects in which students can participate.

David Bourgaize

Dr. Bourgaize's r esearch mostly involves using the green alga, Volvox, as a model system for cellular and developmental processes. Volvox have only two cell types—the structural cells of the body, and the reproductive cells. Since there are only these two cell types, and each has the same genetic information, it is an ideal system in which to study how genetic information is used by individual cells. We are currently investigating the role of reversible phosphorylation in the development of Volvox, using a combination of recombinant DNA techniques in order to isolate genes of interest and cell biology techniques in order to study changes in phosphorylation during the development cycle. In addition, we have a particular interest in how light regulates protein synthesis in embryogenesis. We have determined that a cGMP signaling pathway is most likely involved, and are now trying to learn how this signal works within cells to control protein synthesis.

Erica Fradinger

Dr. Fradinger's research interests involve understanding the development and degeneration of the brain. Changes in the expression of factors involved in neuronal development may be linked to neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, the levels of neurotrophins have been shown to change during aging and disease. My research will seek to understand the role of another class of neuropeptides belonging to the glucagon superfamily in aging and disease.  Undergraduate research projects will involve: (1) Identification of age related changes in neuropeptide levels, (2) Identification of disease related changes in neuropeptide levels, (3) examination of the neuroprotective effects of these neuropeptides in cellular models of Alzheimer’s disease, and (4) Determination of their mechanism of neuroprotection. Additionally, Dr. Fradinger is interested in examining the effect of environmental toxins on vertebrate development. These studies will utilize the zebrafish, an elegant vertebrate model for development, to examine the morphological and physiological impact of toxins on the developing embryo.

Stephen Goldberg

Research interests include parasitology, vertebrate reproductive cycles (fishes and reptiles), and arachnology (spiders and scorpions).

Cheryl Swift

Dr. Swift's research focuses on the relationship between plants and the environment. I am interested in strategies that plants employ to cope with environmental problems such as flooding, drought, and fire. I am also interested in how these strategies for coping with environmental problems limit the distribution of plants in different types of habitats. Most recently, she have been working on the role of drought tolerance in limiting the distribution of trees that grow along rivers and streams, riparian habitats, in Mediterranean type ecosystems with extended summer drought. Dr. Swift's research involves using instrumentation to measure plant response to the environment in the field and in the lab, assessing the ability of plants to transport water in the lab, and characterizing community structure in the field. She is currently working on two projects. One involves the trade-off of light limitation and water availability in determining the distribution of Baccharis salicifolia, and the other is a comparative study of South Africa and Southern California riparian woody species.

Hector Valenzuela

The initiation of the adaptive immune response begins when naive T cells recognize a pathogen, which activates the T cells to mount an immune response that culminates in the elimination of the pathogen. During the resolution of the immune response, most T cells will undergo apoptosis and a fraction of these cells will become memory T cells. In subsequent encounters with the pathogen, memory T cells will repeat the immune response cycle with such increased efficiency, that individuals will not know they are infected. This cycle of pathogens clearance initiated by our memory T cells is the basis for vaccines and was until just recently believed to repeat itself during our life course. Despite this intricate system of immuno-surveilance, evidence indicates that memory T cells are lost during aging, an observation that helps explain the correlation that with increased age we have increase susceptibility to diseases. The goal of Dr. Valenzuela's research is to study the age-related changes in T cell differentiation and function. There are many reports that have documented T cells changes in the elderly. However, it still remains unclear why these cellular changes occur and how they influence the many functions of the immune response. During his graduate training, his laboratory established a cell system that accurately mimics T cell aging in vitro. This model system will be used to explore the age-related changes that affect T cells. Dr. Valenzuela's overall goals can be divided into two parts: 1) to determine the mechanism for memory T cells senescence and 2) to study the effect that memory T cell exhaustion has on the immune system. These aims can be broken down to many different projects that undergraduate students can pursue.