Karen Beljan, BS '05, Environmental Engineering
Beljan, of Eden, New York, evaluated remediation alternatives to improve the water quality of Onondaga Lake, ultimately helping to develop a method to aerate the lake that would improve the water and ecosystem.
(Photo: KC Kratt, MFA '84)
Our lab is involved in sequencing the nuclear genome of the aviocado plant, Persea americana, in collaboration with a research group in Irapuato, Mexico. Avocado is not only an extremely important subtropical crop plant, but it occupies a basal (or "primitive") position within the flowering plant "tree of life". As such, sequencing and understanding the intricacies of the avocado genome will be of importance to agricultural development as well as any aspect of plant biology where evolutionary information from near the base of the family tree is important.
As part of our sequencing effort, we are in the process of constructing a physical map using DNA fingerprinting techniques; this map must be verified using in situ hybridization "chromosome painting" technologies whereby we match large (up to 150,000-base) segments of DNA directly onto the chromosomes to confirm that the segments are contiguous, as suggested by the fingerprint map.
- This project will involve assisting other project researchers in the molecular preparation and microscopic analysis of the chromosome painting experiments.
Note: A significant part of this research may take place at New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, 701 Ellicott Street, Buffalo
Date Open: Apr 15, 2009 to Dec 30, 2013
Suggested Skill Set: General cell and molecular biology (hands-on experience preferred); basic organismal biology; knowledge of botany preferred.
Compensation: Credit, Voluntary
Professor(s): Victor A. Albert (vaalbert@buffalo.edu)
Department: Biological Sciences
Address: 637 Hochstetter Hall; NYS Center For Excellence In BioInformatics B4-320
Phone: 645-2363x166; 881-7823
Website: http://biology.buffalo.edu/Faculty/...