Presenter(s)

    Joseph Kash, Devon Seibert

    Comments

    10:45-12:00, Kennedy Union Ballroom

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    Description

    The regulation of gene expression is essential to animal development, physiology, and behavior. Mutations that alter gene expression are a major contributor to phenotypic variation, including evolutionary diversity, disease risk, and genetic disease. Hence understanding the molecular mechanism by which regulation occurs and evolves is of high interest. One general mechanism by which gene expression is regulated is through the selective interaction of transcription factor proteins with short DNA sequences that function as binding sites in the gene regions where control is imparted. These interactions have been traditionally studied in vitro through the production and purification of proteins and testing their interaction with potential binding site sequences in Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays or EMSAs. While effective, the traditional methods have been hit or miss, costly, and tedious. This research project is exploring different purification strategies and EMSA methods to make the characterization of transcription factor binding sites more efficient.

    Publication Date

    4-23-2025

    Project Designation

    Independent Research

    Primary Advisor

    Tom M. Williams

    Primary Advisor's Department

    Biology

    Keywords

    Stander Symposium, College of Arts and Sciences

    Institutional Learning Goals

    Scholarship; Practical Wisdom; Vocation

    Refining an in vitro approach to study the interactions between transcription factors and the DNA-binding sites that regulate gene expression

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