Susan Bailey, PhD (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Environment, Biotechnology
Aim: To understand fundamental processes driving variation in evolutionary adaptation and diversification across organisms and environments.
Methods: Mathematical and statistical modelling, bioinformatics, microbial experimental evolution.
Applications: Predicting how and when species of interest will evolve in response to environmental changes; modelling the evolutionary dynamics of human pathogens and cancers.
Broader impacts: Inferring evolutionary history of populations and communities and predicting future evolutionary dynamics in a changing world.
Dr. Bailey’s research aims to understand the fundamental processes driving evolutionary adaptation and diversification. She uses a combination of mathematical/ statistical models and microbial lab experiments with two current focuses: 1) investigating the dynamics of adaptation and diversification in spatially heterogeneous environments, and 2) identifying potential factors driving parallel or convergent evolution. By evolving the bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens in varied environments in the lab, Dr. Bailey tests the effects of a range of genetic and environmental factors that play potentially important roles in populations living in the complex natural world, but are difficult to tease apart without controlled experiments. Replication of these kinds of evolution experiments and characterization of the varied outcomes, then allows for exploration of if, and when, evolution is predictable. Dr. Bailey uses comparative genomics to explore resulting genetic changes in her experimental bacteria populations, and other natural populations, and builds mathematical and statistical models to generate and test hypotheses describing the evolutionary dynamics underlying the observed genetic changes.
Andrew A. David, PhD (Universiteit van Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Environment
Aim: To understand the scope of biological invasions through an integrative approach that spans all levels of biology; from the genetic to the ecosystem level.
Methods: Designing and maintaining experimental larval cultures, Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy, Field sampling and water quality measuring, Polymerase Chain Reaction and genotyping of specimens, bioinformatics, oceanographic modelling
Applications: Management of invasive species, coastal conservation, design of aquaculture farms,
Broader impacts: Improving the design of marine protected areas (MPAs), prioritizing localities for the management of invasive species, informing aquaculture farmers and shareholders on best practices for farm operations, contributing to the natural history of benthic invertebrates
Dr. David works on a widely researched area in marine ecology; understanding dispersal and range expansion of invasive species. Anthropogenic disturbances such as introductory events and climate change are expected to significantly alter species ranges on a global scale and developing methods to predict these changes are crucial for conserving marine biodiversity. His research involves designing culture methods to rear non-model organisms (e.g. obligate symbiotic polychaetes) in the laboratory and investigating the effects of changing temperature and salinity regimes, (as predicted by climate change models) on their development. Furthermore, his research uses population genetics to measure larval connectivity and gene-flow among spatially separated populations. This method is often used to detect evolutionary significant units, which are the targets of many conservation programs. His most recent research involves developing an integrated approach that combines genetic studies with high resolution transport/circulation models to predict the spread of invasive species. This method is expected to be a more powerful measure of estimating connectivity as the model rules out human-mediated movement, and therefore acts as a control for anthropogenic influences. The study is an ongoing collaborative effort with researchers from both South Africa and the United Kingdom. Dr. David’s teaching interests involve the use of active learning instruments such as data nuggets and case-based studies as a method of increasing student engagement in freshman Biology courses.
Ginger Hunter, PhD (Duke)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Biotechnology
Aim: To understand how local signals are integrated across developmental space and temporal scales during patterning.
Methods: Molecular genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, microscopy, biophysical manipulations.
Applications: Organismal development.
Broader impacts: Development of new tools to study the dynamics of cell fate decision making, experimental and theoretical approaches to cell signaling and pattern formation.
Dr Hunter’s research focuses on how local cell behaviors and interactions are integrated across tissues during successful developmental patterning, using the fruit fly model system, Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, this research takes an experimental approach towards understanding the mechanisms of signaling filopodia-mediated lateral inhibition; initially considering the regulation of the filopodia structure as well as the dynamics of Notch-mediated cell fate change during lateral inhibition. Collaborative efforts have helped to develop a mathematical model of long-range lateral inhibition, which contributes to guiding the experimental framework focussed on understanding the molecular mechanisms at the interface of cell shape and signaling. Dr Hunter takes genetic, cell biological, and biophysical approaches to ask (1) how cells engage in lateral inhibition via filopodia; (2) what are the dynamic cell responses as a function of distance; (3) what is the role of cell shape and behavior during lateral inhibition.
Stefanie Kring, PhD (Clarkson University)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Environment
Aim: To increase the understanding of the St. Lawrence River ecosystem, and understanding the role of phytoplankton and zooplankton role in the algal biofuel industry
Methods: Fieldwork that involves the measurement of phytoplankton, zooplankton, nutrients, and other water quality parameters. Laboratory experiments include the use of phytoplankton and zooplankton cultures to conduct controlled experiments that include the measurement of lipids and growth rates.
Broader Impacts: Dr. Kring conducts research on water quality and the sustainability of algal biofuels. Phytoplankton dynamics is the common theme in all of Dr. Kring’s research. She has studied wastewater lagoons as a potential biofuel source due to their phytoplankton and zooplankton populations. She has also examined the accuracy of an in situ fluorometer for measuring phytoplankton biomass in freshwater ecosystems. Dr. Kring is currently assessing the fate and transport of mercury and methyl mercury on the north and south shores of fluvial Lake St. Francis (St. Lawrence River).
Beatrice Hernout, PhD (University of York, England)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Environment
Aim: Assessing the effects of anthropogenic contaminants in wildlife species.
Methods: Molecular toxicology, analytical chemistry, spatial analyses, ecological monitoring and computational biology techniques.
Applications: Predicting the potential risks and improving environmental risk assessment for regulatory purposes.
Broader impacts: Helping in mitigating risks and contributing to the conservation of wildlife species.
My main research aims focus on 1) assessing the exposure and bioaccumulation of chemicals in wildlife; 2) evaluating the potential adverse effects and predicting the associated risks; and 3) extrapolating risk predictions from individual to populations or communities. I have previously investigated the effects of trace metals and organic pollutants in several taxa: bats, birds, reptiles and fish.
Current research involves the monitoring of body burdens of PAHs (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) in fish from the Gulf of Mexico (using GC-MS techniques). These pollutant body burdens will be associated with the activities of hepatic enzymes (involved in the biotransformation and biodegradation of organic contaminants). These monitoring data will provide a deep insights into the effects of marine pollutants in fish from the Gulf.
Petra Kraus, PhD (University of Ulm, Germany)
Assistant Professor, Clarkson University Department of Biology
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Biotechnology
Aim: Develop quality control measures for the use of human stem cells and reprogrammed pluripotent cells in regenerative medicine therapy with a focus on intervertebral disc disease.
Methods: We have established the bovine intervertebral disc (IVD) as suitable human-related experimental animal model system for the identification of markers of the different cell lineages of the IVD and for the development of much needed quality control assays at single cell resolution to improve culture conditions towards the derivation of the different IVD cell lineages for clinical applications.
Applications: Quality control of human cells generated for regenerative medicine based therapeutic approaches with a focus on cells of degenerated or injured intervertebral discs.
Broader impacts: Development of gene and protein markers for quality control assays with single cell resolution to ensure homogeneity of cell lineages and patient safety when receiving therapeutic cell and tissue transplants. We are committed to identifying and characterizing the different cell lines present in the adult IVD. Using advanced gene editing methodologies we are engineering visible markers for the different IVD cell lineages to establish conditions for the isolation and maintenance of homogeneous cell lines. This will help understand their individual contributions to the mature IVD and their response to transcriptional regulators in order to develop robust and safe clinical protocols for culturing these cell lines for use in human cell and tissue based regenerative medicine therapies.
Michelle Mi-Jeong Yoo, PhD (University of Florida)
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Environment, Biotechnology
Aim: To understand the impact of polyploidy on plant speciation/diversification and crop domestication.
Methods: Evolutionary “-omics” tools of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, bioinformatics, physiological response to environmental stress, phylogenomics using target enrichment method
Applications: crop improvement, development of conservation program
Broader impacts: Predicting the target genes and networks in crop species which lead to improved yields and increased stress-tolerance capabilities; development of conservation program based on a population structure and species diversity
Dr. Yoo’s research have encompassed diverse areas of biology, including molecular evolution, phylogenetics, evolutionary developmental biology, evolutionary genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, physiology, and genetics. The primary focus of her research is on how plants adapted to their environment and how evolutionary processes, such as polyploidy, hybridization and domestication, contributed phenotypic modification and diversification of higher plants. Dr. Yoo tries to address the following questions using comparative and integrative approaches with omics technologies: 1) how human selection has shaped the evolution of spinnable cotton fibers?, 2) how polyploidy or whole genome duplication triggered the diversification of flowering plants, focusing on two model systems, cotton and Tragopogon?, 3) how polyploids better cope with environmental stresses than their diploid parents using Brassica polyploid system?, and 4) what evolutionary and molecular processes have shaped the plant diversity and trait evolution in flowering plant lineages?. The improved understanding of plant genome evolution and plant adaptation to the environment may provide effective biotechnology targets and strategies for the improvement of crop species.
Ali Boolani, Ph.D. (Oklahoma State University)
Adjunct Associate Professor, Clarkson University Physical Therapy Program
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Health
Aim: To use science to better understand how physiology influences how we feel and our cognitive decline and how our moods and cognitive decline influence how we move.
Applications: To create systems to help identify people who have mood disturbances or cognitive decline.
Broader Impact: Identifying sub-clinical mood changes through human movement, creating interventions to reduce the onset of clinical mood changes, creating better objective measures to identify sub-clinical mood states, identifying sub-clinical mood changes through changes in human physiology, identify cognitive decline through human movement and human physiology
The research in the Boolani lab is four fold: 1) Understand how human physiology influences mood and how those moods manifest themselves in human movement; 2) Develop interventions to improve moods; 3) Identify the physiological mechanisms behind cognitive decline and how they influence human movement; 4) Develop interventions to reduce cognitive decline. Currently our lab is trying to understand the influence of mitochondrial function, heart rate variability and pulmonary function on moods and cognitive decline and how these moods and this cognitive decline influences human movement. Additionally, we are trying to develop interventions to improve moods and reduce cognitive decline.
Deborah M. Brown, PhD (University of Rochester Medical Center)
Adjunct Associate Professor, Trudeau Institute
Clarkson Strategic Theme: Biotechnology/Health
Aim: To understand the immune response to viral infection in order to improve vaccines for influenza.
Methods: Mouse models of infection and immunity, flow cytometry, ELISA, influenza infection
Applications: Vaccine design, generation of immune memory, T cell biology
Broader impacts: Better understanding of the immune response to vaccination, improved vaccine design and development for influenza vaccines, preparing undergraduates for research careers
The overall goal of Dr. Brown’s research program is to understand how T cells are activated, differentiate into memory and provide protection against viral infections. We aim to understand how the innate immune response shapes the development of resident T and B cell memory as a prerequisite for developing vaccine strategies that induce broad protection against influenza infection.protection against infection in order to facilitate novel vaccine designs for emerging infectious disease. Project 1 utilizes synthetic small molecule activators of innate immunity as vaccine adjuvants to promote protection against lethal, highly pathogenic influenza infection. Dr. Brown’s group has demonstrated that using small molecules in combination can provide dose sparing effects of both vaccine and adjuvant and promotes an immune state that more resembles infection, unlike current vaccine strategies for influenza. Project 2 involves understanding the signals required for differentiation of distinct T cell subsets that provide anti-viral, anti-bacterial or homeostatic immune responses, while at the same time, avoiding autoimmunity.
Dr. Brown’s teaching interests include using innovative and student based learning techniques to make a complex subject like Immunology accessible for undergraduate Biology students. In addition, Dr. Brown is actively involved in creating unique laboratory experiences and career development training for undergraduates interested in a biomedical research career.