Current Lab Members and Projects
- Jared Bithell (2019): Improving TAL Effector binding site prediction for disease resistance QTLs in rice
- Craig Bramhall (2019): Using phage therapy with Propionibacterium acnes phages to treat acne
- Hailie Crull (2019): Isolation and use of bacteriophage specific to Propionibacterium acnes to treat acne
- Nick Iwata (2019): Automation of calibration grid detection on ninhydrin paper root blots
- Jade Prochaska (2019): Isolation of bacteriophage infecting Pseudomonas syringe pv. tomato and their effect on bacterial infections in the host plant Nicotiana benthamiana
- Kaitlyn Mahnke (Summer 2018): Use of SUP-TALs to suppress gene expression in prokaryotic organisms
Current Research Collaborations and Other Projects
Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation (CRRI)
Doane University Senior Research Projects From Other Years
- Blake Kostal (2018) and Dylan Mayfield (2018): Use of SUP-TALs to suppress eGFP expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14
- Michael Shavlik (2018)*: Epigenetic Modifications in Arabidopsis thaliana may contribute to plasticity of root gravitropic response patterns
- Zackry Stevenson (2018): Isolation of a bacteriophage specific to Propionibacterium acnes from human skin
- Jordan Zonner (2018): Image based detection of induced hypersensitive response in Nicotiana benthamiana
- Dalton Bichlmeier (2017)*: Naturally occurring Xanthomonas oryzae TALEs have the same number of predicted sites in both Xanthomonas oryzae pathovars
- Riley Jones (2017, co-mentored with Tessa Durham Brooks)*: Defense related gene expression in Response to Biofilm Formation on the Roots of Arabidopsis thaliana*
- Erin Keetle (2017): Incorporation of new experimental data improves prediction of TAL effector-targets in rice disease
- Katelyn O’Brien (2016): Clustering phages by tetra-nucleotide percentages may form groupings better displaying host range for mycobacteriophage
- Logan Berggren (2015): Measuring amounts of P. aeruginosa biofilm on short-wear and continuous-wear contact lenses after normal periods of growth
- Nick Chapek (2015): Genes involved in biofilm formation are regulated by a specific factor or set of factors
- Tanner Clark (2015) and Cole Morgan (2015): Gene expression changes in biofilm development and quorum sensing inhibition
- Renee Mandock (2015): Comparison of the genomes of known mycobacteriophages to novel mycobacteriophages assigns the novel mycobacteriophages to Cluster A
* indicates the project also met the requirements for the Computational Science minor
Other Research Students and Projects
- Gage Herron (Summer 2018): Exploring alternative hosts for bacteriophage discovery and isolation
- Truc Doan, Adreanna Ernest, and Danny Tran (Summer 2017): A low-cost imaging method for the temporal and spatial colorimetric detection of free amines on maize root surfaces
- Erin Lawyer, Allison Morrill, and Aubrey Schatz (Summer 2017): Development of custom Python code for image-based quantification and analysis of hypersensitive response in Oryza sativa and Nicotiana benthamiana
- Kaycee Bartels, Adela Chen, Nadezdha Hughes, and Jordan Zonner (Summer 2016). Using custom Python code to explore the evolution of Xanthomonas TAL effector proteins for plant disease susceptibility.
- Dalton Bichlmeier, Blake Kostal, and Michael Shavlik (2015-2016). Comparison of TAL effector EBE variation across 3,000 sequenced rice genomes.
- McKenna Ahrens and Dalton Bichlmeier (Summer 2015): Comparison of TAL effector binding site variation across 3000 rice genomes
- McKenna Ahrens and Kendall Kramer (March-May 2015): Identification of reverse-oriented TAL effector bindings sites in the rice genome sequence
- Nicolas Booher (Iowa State University, 2012), Development of a TAL effector-target prediction web interface. Project led to a publication with the student as a co-author
- Angela Chang (NSF REU project at Iowa State University, 2011). The effect of amino acid substitutions in the cryptic -1 st repeat on TAL effector binding specificity for base 0