Potential Projects for 2024
Below are a sampling of projects that are available for 2024 interns:
Humans and chimpanzees exhibit remarkable differences in skeletal biology, particularly related to human walking/running, childbirth, throwing, and using tools. But where in the human genome are the sequences that underlie human-specific traits? Using functional genomics techniques to identify expressed genes and regulatory sequences from human skeletal tissues, we previously isolated genomic sequences that appear relevant to these phenotypic differences. We are seeking a student to work on a project related to gene regulation and skeletal development.
Project 1: Interactions between heritable and acquired traits in domestic dogs
Why do dogs think and behave the way they do? To address this question, we are studying interactions between brain organization, heritable genetic traits, and experience-dependent results of early life experiences and training. Two current, related projects in the lab are studying (1) differences in brain organization between dog breeds selected for different learned working behaviors like herding and hunting, comparing trained and untrained members of the same breed; and (2) differential effects of early life stress in dogs with risk and non-risk alleles for fear and aggression behavior. We are seeking a summer research student to provide hands-on assistance with dog MRI scanning, behavior analyses, and study recruitment. This will involve learning about domestication, neuroimaging, and the evolution of behavior.
Project 2: Neural mechanisms of social behavior in experimentally domesticated foxes
For over 50 years, a landmark experimental evolution study has been examining the effects of selection pressure on social behavior. At the Institute for Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a tame strain of farm-raised foxes has been undergoing selection pressure for prosocial behavior towards humans, while an aggressive strain has been selected for the opposite behavioral profile, and a control strain has been bred on the farm continuously without explicit selection on behavior. We are using immunohistochemistry and histological approaches to examine differences in brain organization across these strains. We are seeking a summer research student to provide hands-on assistance with analyses of neuroendocrine systems in fox brain tissue. This will involve learning to operate a microscope and apply quantitative, stereological analyses on microscopy images, as well as learning about domestication, neuroscience, and the evolution of behavior.
Yan Gong, OEB Postdoctoral Fellow, Kramer Lab
Angiosperms are the most speciose lineage in the plant kingdom, and much of this diversity is attributed to the evolution of their unique floral organs. During the past 150 million years of angiosperm evolution, many floral traits have evolved to facilitate plant-pollinator interactions and promote pollen transfer. Among these, the development of nectaries and the production of nectar are of the utmost significance. In many angiosperm lineages, nectar, the sugary solution produced by nectaries, is the primary reward to pollinators. This interaction boosts the sexual reproduction success of angiosperms and ultimately accelerates the expansion of angiosperm habitats and their diversification. We are using the model system Aquilegia (columbine) to study the development, function, and evolution of both nectaries and nectar. This lab-based project will provide an intern with training in a wide array of techniques from traditional histology to cutting-edge microscopy and genome-scale molecular biology. There will also be opportunities to work with an array of Aquilegia species.
Sarah Dendy, OEB Graduate Student, Mallet Lab
How do insects use habitat fragments in a city? Once, the Boston urban area hosted thousands of species of moths, an incredibly diverse group which would have been the dominant herbivore in historic forests. Now, very little habitat remains, but a small network of parks called the Boston Urban Wilds persist as green spaces in a relatively undisturbed state. Which moths exist in habitat fragments today, and what factors allow them to live there? Which parks are best for which moths, and why? For this project, the student will travel to field sites and catch moths over the course of about an hour after nightfall. During the day, the student will photograph the captured moths, pin them and identify them from a set of guides. Pinning is a delicate, and time consuming, but rewarding process, so patience is desirable. Tentatively the student should expect to work four days per week, to make up for time spent working at night. Days off will also be given around the full moon due to diminished moth catching efficacy.
Research projects at the Laboratory for Invertebrate Paleobiology and Evolution (Prof. Javier Ortega-Hernandez)
The Laboratory for Invertebrate Paleobiology and Evolution at Harvard University hosts several exciting research projects focused on understanding the origin and early evolutionary history of complex animals and the early biosphere during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, approximately 500 million years ago. We combine extensive work on specimen-based research with cutting edge imaging techniques (e.g., micro computed tomography) to investigate the morphology, ecology and significance of exceptionally preserved soft bodied fossils from the Cambrian and Ordovician marine deposits from North America, China, and Morocco. We offer ample opportunities to develop skills in museum curation, database organization, quantitative techniques and high-end three-dimensional imaging, all of which can involve access to exceptionally preserved invertebrate fossils curated at the Museum of Comparative Zoology that are currently the subjects of ongoing high-profile research.
We study the evolutionary biology of birds and relatives, combining field, museum and genomics approaches to understand the basis of avian diversity, evolution and behavior. Our guiding approaches include population genetics, which provides a quantitative framework for studying speciation, geographic variation and genome evolution; systematics, which acknowledges that the focal species of any study has relatives that are behaviorally and ecologically no less interesting; and natural history, which gives meaning to the genes and genomic patterns we study. Summer projects cover a range of topics, ranging from work in the MCZ collections to comparative genomics.
