TEAM K-RAT :
A COLLECTION OF HARDWORKING INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO KANGAROO RAT GENETICS IN THE DEWOODY LAB.
Jennifer McCreight (May 2007 - present)
jmccreig@purdue.edu
Jennifer is a Sophomore majoring in Biology. She joined the DeWoody lab in the summer of 2007 and has performed genotyping on the 2006 population of D. spectabilis. She has also learned DNA sequencing using an MHC locus in Merriam's kangaroo rat (D. merriami). Jennifer has an interest in molecular and evolutionary genetics, and is planning to use mitochondrial DNA to find clues about the historical demography of D. spectabilis. A look at pairwise mismatch distributions of mtDNA sequences will allow her to ask whether Arizona populations have been historically stable or if a recent population expansion has occurred.
Anna Fahey (Fall 2007)
afahey@purdue.edu
Anna is a 1st year graduate student in the Purdue PULSe program. PULSe students receive interdisciplinary training in their first year through 4 rotations with different lab groups. In the Fall 2007 semester, she collected genotypes at a new D. spectabilis microsatellite locus that is closedly linked to an MHC class II gene. These data will allow us to test for signatures of selection that may be acting on the nearby MHC gene. In addition, Anna worked on genotyping animals at neutral microsatellite loci collected in July 2007.
Jessie Jacques (Fall 2007)
jjacques@purdue.edu
Jessie is a 1st year graduate student in the Purdue PULSe program. PULSe students receive interdisciplinary training in their first year through 4 rotations with different lab groups. In the Fall 2007 semester, she generated genotypes for hundreds of new kangaroo rat samples that had been collected in July 2007. These genotypes will be important in helping Peter Waser determine the location of related kangaroo rats during his upcoming field work in the winter of 2008.
Melissa Berning (2006-2007)
Melissa (B.S. Biology 2007) joined the DeWoody lab in 2006. She genotyped kangaroo rats at 8 microsatellite loci in order to study patterns of kin recognition for her Honor's Thesis research with Peter Waser. After completing her bachelor's degree in May 2007 (Biology), Melissa worked as a laboratory technician to fill in a (daunting) list of missing genotypes from our DNA archive - ask her how fun it can be to perform redo genotyping!! Melissa is currently a first year student in Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University.
Zafer Bulut PhD, DVM (2006-2008)
zbulut@purdue.edu
Dr. Bulut is a visiting scientist from Turkey. While he is currently working on MHC expression in tiger salamanders, Zafer began his training in the DeWoody lab on...(you guessed it)...kangaroo rats! Zafer assisted in DNA extractions from the 2005 sample season.
Stephanie Hucko (2004-2006)
Stephanie joined the DeWoody lab as a freshman in 2004. (student viewers: it is never too soon to look for lab opportunities at Purdue!). Stephanie worked on DNA extractions & genotyping in D. spectabilis and tiger salamanders. Stephanie is currently attending the Pre-veterinary program at Iowa State University. TEAM K-RAT seems to attract a lot of students interested in veterinary medicine!
BACK