Elias Jacobs Email & Phone Number

Buffalo, New York, United States

Elma, New York, United States

Buffalo, New York, United States

Syracuse, New York Area

Lab Of Dr. Scott Ferguson

Accepted through application, I worked in PI Dr. Scott Ferguson's genetic research lab. I took 3 credit hours (15hrs a week) of independent/mentored research per semester beginning in the fall of my sophomore year. The primary focus of this project was to map the third chromosome of particular lines of Drosophila with the goal of locating a novel and induced mutation that plays a role in by-passing a damaged signaling pathway. The damaged signaling pathway is caused by a lethal homozygous mutation in the spn-B gene. This project began at Princeton University with Dr. Ferguson as a post-doc working under Trudi Schupbach. There, flies carrying the spn-B mutation were randomly mutagenized and underwent a forward genetic screen to identify any new mutations that suppressed the existing lethal mutation. Multiple lines were generated that contained a novel suppressing mutation with the new goal of locating and identifying these mutations within the genome. When I began, we were using manual mapping including analysis of SNPs, Indels, and RFLPs to compare and cross examine the different lines’ 3rd chromosomes. This was done to study the same chromosome position simultaneously in each line while looking for similarities/differences and using these to narrow the region of search for this novel mutation. Eventually, we switched to complete genome sequencing and had over 70 different fly lines completely sequenced at Roswell Park. Upon my graduating, we had located and narrowed multiple regions a considerable amount. However, we were working on creating a new approach to analytically interpret and analyze the data to pinpoint more specific genes that may be affected. Other lab tasks and procedures I was responsible for being efficient at included: the preparation/maintenance of fly food and stocks, genomic preps, PCR, primer design, cleaning and concentrating of DNA, gel electrophoresis and imaging, mini preps, the creation of fly crosses generating novel genotypes, and more.

Lab Of Dr. Allen Gibbs

In the summer of 2015, I was accepted into an REU program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. This REU program was titled Mechanisms of Evolution and focused on both macro and micro evolution within a wide variety of labs across the campus. I worked in a physiology lab under Dr. Allen Gibbs that primarily worked with Drosophila melanogaster. My project looked at how altering the diets (caloric content, dietary sugar and protein) would effect the development and energy content in wild type flies versus a line of starvation resistant flies (generated at UNLV). For this project, I developed 15 food types with varying caloric levels and sugar:yeast ratios, created and maintained replica fly stocks, collected eclosing flies every 24 hours and record development data (sex ratio), and performed both triglyceride and protein assays using a 96 well plate reader to quantify the data. This data was then statistically analyzed and recorded. After completing this project, I attended and presented at a poster session for the REU program. I also presented this research formally at my home university of SUNY Fredonia in October of 2015.