The stages of embryo development in Xenopus Laevis (frog) that were studied.
An example of a gel used to analyze the effectiveness of a PCR reaction I ran.
IDENTIFYING WHICH BIORECEPTORS ARE INTEGRAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HEALTHY EMBRYO
About the Project: This is currently one of the projects that is underway at the Davidson (MechMorpho) Lab, a bioengineering lab at the University of Pittsburgh. The goal of this project is to identify which, and how, genes affect the development of a frog embryo in order to eventually apply these discoveries to the mammalian model.
My Role: Undergraduate Researcher
What did I do?
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I focused on the wet lab part of the experiment (lots of PCR reactions, image analysis, embryo injection, in-situ hybridizations, etc.)
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I ran different samples in order to help identify which genes developed into critical bioreceptors and how much of each receptor was necessary.
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Participated in lab meetings and group discussions.
Takeaways/What I Learned:
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Experience with wet lab techniques
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How to analyze images
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Analyzing and interpreting collected data
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How to read technical research papers
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Experience in designing data collection methods and experiments
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How to access and proficiently use databases