Amber Neal

Funding provided by the College of Sciences Dean’s Office

During the summer of 2015 I continued my research on the molecular analysis of recA mutants in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1. Previous successful work on this project includes the construction of an in-frame deletion mutant (ΔrecA) in vitro. This summer it was a primary focus of our lab to construct an in-vivo in-frame deletion of recA, and to clone the deletion allele in a pLO1 vector. As a member of the lab, my lab partner, Michelle Harrel and I, work under the guidance of Madhusudan Choudhary, a microbial geneticist in the Department of Biological Science. My role as a part of this lab is to work as an effective team member, with great communication, and provide thorough and accurate work skills.

An ultimate goal in this project is to enable future researchers to repair genes from the SOS response pathway so that they may be augmented, and the protein product utilized for medicinal applications to repair UV-damaged DNA. I have gained great professional development and experience while working in this lab. I learned an array of molecular and microbiological techniques including construction of in-frame deletion, DNA cloning, sequencing, polymerase chain reaction, bacterial conjugation, and UVR-induced DNA damage repair analysis, as well as how to perform statistical analysis on the collected data. My future career plans include going to medical school and becoming a great physician. The work accomplished in my research lab has granted me tremendous knowledge, and prepared me for the use of scientific research in technology driven medical diagnostics to treat human diseases. Research has furthered my passion for science and this experience has enabled me to appreciate that my hard work will always pay off. It is with my utmost gratitude that I thank the EURECA Center for investing and supporting my education and providing FAST research grants to me and my research mentor.