Ten undergraduates will engage in cutting edge bench research in marine, molecular physiology for an 8-week period at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory on the coast of Maine. Each student will be assigned to a research group of his/her choice in fields such as reproduction, endocrinology, osmoregulation, cell membrane transport, cardiovascular, kidney function, cell structure and function, or environmental toxicology. Experimental models will include sharks, skates, flounder, sculpin, crabs, snails and other invertebrates. Research techniques will encompass molecular biology (PCR, cloning, sequencing), tissue culture, electrophysiology (patch clamping, expression in xenopus oocytes), confocal microscopy and other commonly used physiological techniques such as organ perfusion and Ussing chamber studies.
Students participate in several Laboratory-wide activities including weekly Monday morning cell membrane transport lectures, Tuesday evening basic concept talks by scientist and the students working with them, Wednesday evening formal lectures given by invited speakers who address topics of interest to the Lab, Thursday noon ethics in science seminars, and Friday noon "brown bag" seminars given by MDIBL scientists about their ongoing research.
Towards the end of the research experience, undergraduates present short talks about their summer' s research results and write, with the senior scientist, a scientific paper on their work for publication in the Bulletin of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
