Blog Large Image – Page 3

May

May 22, 2016

University of Alaska Biomedical Research Conference

Maddie, Anastasia, and Devin attended the 9th annual University of Alaska Biomedical Research Conference (UA-BRC). For the undergraduates, this was their first research conference and they presented their work using the MinION nanopore sequencer to explore genomics. As you can see below, they drew a crowd to their poster.
UA_BRC_2016

This two-day conference showcased biomedical and One Health related research from graduate students, undergraduate students, researchers, and faculty through-out Alaska in the form of oral presentations and poster sessions. There were two workshops about career issues relevant to undergraduate and graduate student training including internship opportunities, STEM student recruitment, networking, entrepreneurship/innovation, and employer expectations.
UA_BRC2016

Apr

April 26, 2016

meeting, research

URSA Research Day 2016

Undergraduate research activities at UAF cover a broad spectrum of disciplines, from climate science to life science, engineering to anthropology, and music to theater. This year, Jackson Drew presented his URSA sponsored independent research project on the Alaska Soil Microbiome. The MinION Hackathon crew also presented their work using nanopore sequencing technology.

Apr

April 22, 2016

award, research, undergraduate

Identification antibiotic resistance in the microbial communities of a Fairbanks permafrost gradient

Undergraduate researcher Maddie McCarthy was recently awarded a BLaST Undergraduate Research Experience. Maddie will have a completely funded summer of research ahead of her. She'll be digging into the soil microbial communities of the Fairbanks Permafrost Experimental Station.

Apr

April 20, 2016

meeting, research

EVO-WIBO 2016

Devin and Jackson Drew headed down to Port Townsend, Washington for EVO-WIBO 2016, a gathering of evolutionary biologists of the Pacific Northwest. This regional evolution meeting provides an intimate meeting where researchers at all levels are welcome. One of the best things about the meetings is the lack of concurrent sessions. We all share the same experiences. The majority of talks are by graduate students and post docs. This time around the plenary talk was by Prof. Sarah Otto.
IMG_20160415_143944-COLLAGE

Apr

April 8, 2016

award, research, undergraduate

Does permafrost thaw alter methane cycling via a shift in the microbial community composition?

Undergraduate researcher Alex Wynne was recently awarded an URSA Summer Research Project. This includes funds for his project and a stipend for the summer. He'll use next-generation sequencing to characterize the relative abundances of methanogens and methane oxidizers found within a permafrost thaw gradient. By analyzing the relative amount of methane related microbes associated with each disturbance treatment, he will deduce how the thawing of permafrost may contribute to the net amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.

Apr

April 5, 2016

award, teaching

Honor Program Award

Today, Devin was awarded the Robert Piacenza Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Honors Program here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In her nominating statement, Sarah says

Dr. Drown is directly involved with students' mastery of the material. He will converse with us one on on, comes to lab, and offers thoughtful feedback on in class exercises. He expects a lot...but he also offers a lot with a positive, engaging teaching style.

Mar

March 30, 2016

research, teaching

MinION Hackathon 2016

Interested in Genomics and Technology? Sign up for the first MinION Hackathon at UAF. We’ll explore bleeding edge genomics technology in a two part mini-workshop.

The MinION (Oxford Nanopore) at just 87 grams and half the size of an iPhone is so portable that it will visit the International Space Station as a proof of concept in remote collection of DNA sequence data. This nanopore based machine demonstrates the future of genomic data acquisition by direct sequencing of single molecules without extra PCR amplification steps. In the near future, the machine will allow for the direct acquisition of data from biological samples (including saliva and blood) without lengthy time consuming steps. There are current applications identifying viral pathogens in near real-time and it was used during the recent Ebola outbreak.

This URSA sponsored, free workshop will take place in two parts: 1) Hands on genomics lab experience where we prepare genetic samples and initiate DNA sequencing. 2) Bioinformatics lab experience where we analyze our new genomic data. Each part will last around three hours and there will be opportunities for further research if you are interested. This workshop is meant to introduce you to the new technology available at UAF. The workshop will conclude with a poster presentation of our collective results at the 2016 URSA research day (April 26).

Dec

December 14, 2015

award, research

Testing the Effects of the Alaskan Microbiome

Undergraduate researcher Jackson Drew was recently awarded an URSA Spring Project Award. He'll now be completely funded to complete a pilot project related to microbiome engineering. Having grown up in Interior Alaska, Jackson is keenly aware of how climate warming is inducing rapid large-scale shifts in plant communities in the boreal biome. His research will measure the effects of soil microbes on plant growth as a means of elucidating plant-microbe interactions.

Oct

October 8, 2015

research, update

New tech, MinION

Thanks to the efforts of Ian Herriot who initiated the application to the Oxford Nanopore MinION Access programme (MAP), we have acquired access to a new nanopore sequencer (pictured above). The MinION at just 87 grams and half the size of an iPhone is so portable that it will visit the International Space Station as a proof of concept in remote collection of DNA sequence data. Working in collaboration with the IAB DNA Core Lab, the Drown lab will begin experimenting with this technology in the near future and expand access to potential undergraduate researchers in Spring 2016. This device can provide opportunities for student researchers to generate their own low cost DNA sequence data (as little as $500 / experiment).

Sep

September 29, 2015

award

INBRE Pilot Proposal funded

The news finally came through this past week that my first Alaska INBRE Pilot grant was awarded. The goal of the proposed research is to develop a general evolutionary theory to understand host-symbiont interactions. This is an important missing component of current investigations of the human microbiome and its interpretation in regard to human health. In terms of human pathogens, we may better understand the conditions for disease emergence as well as those that favor increases and decreases in disease virulence.

Previous page 1 2 3 4 Next page