Congratulations to Dr. Dayle Daines and Dr. Eric Walters on their Early Career Distinguished Research Award for Pre-tenure faculty. Both faculty have been productive and both have recently been awarded federal research grants from NIH and NSF respectively.
Dr Daines' research is in the toxin-antitoxin system of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae
Dr Walters research relates to community ecology, and in particular woodpeckers
Biology@ODU
This is a site where the hard work of the faculty, students and staff of the Biology department at ODU will be highlighted. The views, opinions and comments expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department, the College or the University.
ODU BIOLOGY
- WLH
- The department has teaching and research interests in many aspects of Biology from the cellular and molecular level to organismal to global ecological and conservation issues
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Protection for Threated Corals
Dr Kent Carpenter and colleagues influential in getting corals listed as threated:
http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/9/odu_coral_research#.VZP4ZeG2VVo
http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/9/odu_coral_research#.VZP4ZeG2VVo
Butterflies continue to recieve help from Monarchs
Dr Tatyana Lobova continues to expand the "Monarchs for Monarchs" program:
http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/9/monarchs_for_monarch#.VZP3aeG2VVo
http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/9/monarchs_for_monarch#.VZP3aeG2VVo
Healthy lobsters avoid sick ones
Dr Mark Butler and colleagues have shown healthy lobsters avoid those that are infected with a contagious virus. Check it out:
http://www.odu.edu/news/2015/6/biologist_published_#.VZP0VOG2VVo
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126374
http://www.odu.edu/news/2015/6/biologist_published_#.VZP0VOG2VVo
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126374
Bees....Strawberries
Dr Lisa Horth is hoping that the pollination by Mason bees will produce bigger strawberries - check it out:
http://www.odu.edu/news/2015/5/lisa_horth_s_bees#.VZPxCOG2VVo
http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1925&DateTime=5%2F21%2F2015+5%3A44%3A29+PM&Term=ODU&PlayClip=TRUE
Dr Horth also created a pollination garden at the Norfolk Fire Department station at 43rd Street and Hampton Boulevard. http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/11/pollinator_garden#.VZP2K-G2VVo
http://www.odu.edu/news/2015/5/lisa_horth_s_bees#.VZPxCOG2VVo
http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1925&DateTime=5%2F21%2F2015+5%3A44%3A29+PM&Term=ODU&PlayClip=TRUE
Dr Horth also created a pollination garden at the Norfolk Fire Department station at 43rd Street and Hampton Boulevard. http://www.odu.edu/news/2014/11/pollinator_garden#.VZP2K-G2VVo
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Amarilis Dyer: Undergrad research project
Here is what one of our undergraduate students (Amarilis Dyer) did during the 2013-14 academic year with funding from the Biology department in the lab of Dr Dayle Daines:
A new cis-complementation system for nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) isolates
A new cis-complementation system for nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) isolates
The
objective of this experiment was to design and construct a cis-complementation system for clinical isolates of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi).Two
strains were used in this study: a nasopharyngeal isolate from a child
with chronic otitis media, and a blood isolate from a child with
meningitis. The green fluorescent protein gene, gfp, was the reporter used in these experiments to insert as a
single copy. A pseudogene in the NTHI chromosome was chosen as the
recipient site for cis-complementation. A set of forward and reverse primers were
created that annealed to the 5’ end of the gene (first arm), amplifying 784
base pairs by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and another set that bound to
and amplified 791 base pairs of the 3’ end of the gene by PCR (second arm). The purpose for cloning
the first and second arm of the gene was to know exactly where the inserted DNA
was located.
To
create strains expressing gfp, a spectinomycin
antibiotic resistance cassette was added as a selection marker. Once the antibiotic cassette was inserted,
a gfp gene controlled by a strong
promoter was amplified and inserted between the two arms of the psuedogene. The
reason for the insertion of the reporter gene was to run assays and determine
if the gene was present. The antibiotic
cassette was used to insure that the gene would stay in. This resulted in the
antibiotic resistance cassette and the reporter gene being flanked by NTHi DNA
that is homologous to the pseudogene
locus. This construct was introduced into
the two NTHi strains by homologous recombination. The antibiotic-resistant transformants were
tested for GFP expression using fluorescence microscopy. By amplifying the
flanking regions and sequencing the products, we determined that the location
of the gfp gene was within the pseudogene. An immunoblot was performed to confirm gfp expression in both strains. Our next steps include using this
approach to complement existing NTHi deletion mutants in cis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)