On March 21 we had the opportunity of participating in the BioMinds Research Day at the Bioprocess Development and Training Complex in Mayagüez. There we hear talks from different prominent scientist of the island like Dr. Rosa Buxeda, Dr. Robert Ross, Dr. Tania Malavé, Dr. Héctor Ayala, Dr. Luz Muñiz, Dr. Doris Ramírez and Dr. Carlos González. As part of the activity we had the responsibility of visiting three posters and evaluate them. Here are the results of my evaluations:

In the evaluation sheet there were several of questions that we have to ask ourselves regarding on the poster and the student’s performance when presenting it. The option of answers for these questions was only yes or no, so in my opinion all of them have the same performance.

Their poster had all the components required: abstract, introduction, methodology and results. Their abstract provide an adequate summary of his work and his introduction indicates that there’s a previous knowledge about the theme and points out the problem to study. Their methodology established the procedure to evaluate the hypothesis and his results are presented in a clear way. The discussion of their results confirms the hypothesis. Finally, their posters were in a legible text and format.

They demonstrate a well knowledge in the theme; they answer with great clarity all my questions and they refer to the information in the poster time to time.

1. Ricardo Fernández                                                                                                                              

Humacao: Microbiology

“Diversity and Spatial Distribution of Navicula sp. and Pinnularia sp. in the Pond of the Forest of the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao”.

The relevance of his project relies in the study of the composition of the Pond of the Forest of the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao in order to determine which species of algae habituates there. He concludes that there’s great diversity of micro-algae that vary in abundance depending on the volume of the water. The algae predominant when the volume of the water in the pond was low were the ones from the gender of Navicula and Pinnularia. He also observed that when the volume of the water decreased the size of this algae increase.

2. Victor Ocasio

Mayagüez: Molecular Genetics

“Quantification HNL gene expression using qPCR as a mode for evaluating cyanogenetic glucoside breakdown in Cassava.”

The relevance of his project relies in the fact that if they determine the promoter that activates the gene of study they could produce a plant resistant to climate changes. He wants to determine the expression pattern of hn124 which has not been able to be determined. He also want to determine statistically the levels of hn14 expression in the root of the plants compared to hn110 as well as their expression pattern between varieties, using InfoStat and Genex software. This may help him to correlate the levels of the linamin of the plants with the expression of the gene.

3. Rosivette Santiago

Mayagüez: Metagenomics

“Generation and Small Size Insert Metagenomic Libraries from a Tropical Hypersaline Microbial Mats at the Cabo Rojo Salterns in Puerto Rico”.

Metagenomics allows you to have access to 100% of the cultivable organisms in a culture. She wants to improve some protocols to increase the number of clones in her Metagenomic library. She also wants to select Metagenomic libraries for diesel or biodiesel degradation. She wants to amplify clones that have a positive result, sequence and perform silico analysis.

-Jessie

Welcome back fellows!!!

My “research activities” are listed in the summer research section of this blog and my project’s methodology is shown in the project section. During the last semester we were able to select the genes that we want to look at from the list that was obtain from the results of previuos studies using micrarrays. We also look for the sequence of those genes, design the primers for each gene and order them. At the end of this semester I hope to:

1. Optimize the Real Time PCR.

2. Validate each of the 11 genes selected.

This project will help us elucidate the importance of certain specific genes in the consolidation of memories. I’m very exited with this project because I’m learning how to use the GenBank and the Molecular databases, how to design primers and order them, and Real Time PCR, between other things. This is the kind of project that I really love to do, and it also will complement my findings in the project that I’m running for MARC.

I have been working in learning how to design a primer and learning more about each selected gene. I hope that soon I can start validating the genes that I selected and order my primers so I can start working in my real time pcrs.

I have to say that until this point I have a progress of 3. This is because I have to work on the previous phase of this project in which I have to confirm the behavioral and synaptogenesis results and work on the gene’s list, like I said in the previous post.

-Jessie

PD. I still have to work on the behavioral and synaptogenesis pages in this webpage, so you guys can understand better where this little project fits and it connection with behavior.

I have been working in the list of genes that I want to look at. This is from the list obtain from the results of previous studies using Microarrays (results in the project section). The list is of more than 1,000 genes and it have been a very difficult task. Next week I have the Primer design workshop, so I hope that soon I can design my primers, validate the genes that I selected and order my primers so I can start working in my real time pcrs.

I have to say that until this point I have a progress of 3. This is because I have to work on the previous phase of this project in which I have to confirm the behavioral and synaptogenesis results and work on the gene’s list.

I still have to work on the behavioral and synaptogenesis pages in this webpage, so you guys can understand better where this little project fits and it connection with behavior.

-Jessie

Hi!!! Welcome back Biominds’ fellows!!!

My “research activities” are listed in the summer research section of this blog and my project’s methodology is shown in the project section. At the end of this semester I hope to:

1. Select the genes we want to look at. This is from the list obtain from the results of previous studies using Microarrays (results in the project section).

2. Look for the sequence of the genes of interest using GenBank.

3. Design a primer for each gene of interest.

4. Order the design primer.

5. Optimize the Real Time PCR.

This semester I have a new and different project from last semester, because the Machado Joseph Disease project is a brand new topic at the lab and I am more related to mouse models and molecular biology than neuropsychology. This project will help us elucidate the importance of certain specific genes in the consolidation of memories.

I’m very exited with this project because I will learn how to use the GenBank and the Molecular databases, how to design primers and order them, and Real Time PCR, between other things. This is the kind of project that I really love to do, and it also will complement my findings in the project that I’m running for MARC.

-Jessie