Jill Zeilstra-Ryalls, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences

Students will have the opportunity to actively participate in ongoing research in my lab, which is focused on investigations of transcription regulation of genes in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. With the supervision of other lab members and myself, they will learn how to achieve highly defined growth conditions such that the regulatory consequences of changes in environmental parameters can be determined, including oxygen availability, light intensity, temperature, carbon source, nitrogen source, and so on. They will also learn how one measures the outcomes of those regulatory events. They can anticipate mastering a variety of standard techniques used in molecular biology research, including preparation of defined and undefined growth media, sterile technique, DNA manipulation (purification, restriction, electrophoresis, and so on), preparation of crude cell lysates, protein quantitation assays, enzyme assays, affinity purification, immunoblot analysis, and so on. They will learn how to maintain research notebooks, and they will attend and participate in lab meetings, presenting their own results to the entire group. More than 20 undergraduates have similarly participated in and contributed to the research in my lab. Five among them were supported by NSF-REU stipends. Many have presented their findings at regional and/or national meetings, and have been co-authors on peer-reviewed publications.

jzeilst@bgsu.edu
(419)372-2332
217 Life Science Bldg

SETGO Summer Research