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Department: Vet Biomedical Sciences More Information A Hughes Scholar Guide to Doing Research in Dr. Kotlikoff’s LabAlthough our lab primarily focuses on the molecular workings of excitation-contraction coupling in muscle cells using transgenic mouse models, my project involves developing a genetic tool to conditionally silence target genes in animal models by regulating the expression of Pol III-driven small hairpin RNA (shRNA) with tetracycline.I started working in our lab at the start of last semester. From searching through faculty webpages and the list of faculties and their research in the summary packet, I narrowed down my choices to a few labs I wanted to work in. This lab was one of my top two choices because the research in the lab encompasses a wide range of fields from genomics to proteomics to physiology and to clinical implications. This is possible because our lab is one of the largest labs in the Vetrinary Research Tower (VRT) – we have eighteen current lab members including several undergraduates and there are always plenty of research projects to suit your specific area of interest. I e-mailed Dr. Kolikoff over winter break about the possibility of joining his lab. I also mentioned that I was looking for a mentor for the Hughes Scholar Program for the summer. He wrote me back promptly saying that there was a project involving RNA interference technology that I may be interested in and that I could come in for an interview. Frankly, I had never heard of RNA interference until then but when I started reading the literatures, I was absolutely fascinated. After an interview, I started working in the lab right away but since I had no previous research experience, I spent about a month learning the basic techniques like making plasmid preps, PCR, restriction enzyme digestions, and transformations. This is one of the greatest things about our lab. Our lab is very receptive towards undergraduates – even freshmen without much lab experience – and has a very organized system to train you and orient you to the lab. Jane, a research support specialist in charge of the undergraduates in the lab, is simply fabulous and knows how to solve all of life’s, or at least lab’s problems. ;) By mid February, I started working on my current Hughes project with an assistant professor Dr. Hong-Bo Xin. I had to learn many new techniques as they became necessary in our experiment like subcloning transgenes into expression vectors, purifying DNA, culturing cells and transfecting them with vectors, isolating RNA and protein from culture cells, and doing reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR), RNA protection, and western blot assays. Working with Dr. Xin has been great because he teaches you the principles behind experimental designs, troubleshooting, and using specific techniques. Instead of handing some mysteriously labeled sample tubes and protocol, he also gave me the liberty to design and set up my own experiments. I also regularly met with Dr. Kotlikoff to give him updates and to discuss negative results and possible future directions. Dr. Kotlikoff is the Chair of Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Director of Cornell Core Transgenic Mouse Facility. Yet despite his busy schedule and responsibilities, Dr. Kotlikoff always finds the time to chat with all the lab members about their experiments and go out to the Dairy bar for ice-cream J. I have no regret in choosing to work in Dr. Kotlikoff’s lab this summer and I have no reservation in recommending him as a superb Hughes mentor. |