This summer I worked Dr. Pan Young Jeong in Dr. Joel Rothman’s lab in the Molecular Cellular and Developmental Department at UCSB. This lab dedicates its time to researching the model organism C. elegans, a soil nematode.  This round worm is the focus of intense research around the globe and this is partially due to the fact that it was the first species to have had its entire genomic sequence mapped out. 

Our focus was on determining the minimal conditions required to activate a certain protein (pHS;CED-4::FLAG) in a phenotype of the worm in which this protein had been intentionally integrated. This specially engineered protein allows researchers to isolate and study the CED-4 protein and thereby determine the role it plays in the worm’s genetic development. Scientists know that CED-4 is a key player in apoptosis, programmed cell death, but Dr. Jeong is interested in finding out what other functions it might have in C. elegans development, including embryogenesis and as a cell cycle “checkpoint” . By the end of my internship we were able to identify some of the requirements needed to induce CED-4 activation in the mutants we’d been using.