Projects
Below are some of the major projects I undertook during my undergraduate degree, which best showcase my research experience and capabilities.
NSERC Research Proposal (2020)
Seminar Course
My major project in my fourth year Molecular Genetics seminar is a proposal aimed to provide experience in formulating a research proposal based on my personal research interests. This required an NSERC notice of intent and grant application, as well as a formal proposal and presentation to my peers (full copies attached). I chose to investigate the Xa21 gene known to confer resistance to bacterial blight caused by the pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, specifically in the indica Rice Cultivar LT2. My study model employed the incorporation of specific transposable element-like regions known to contribute to the Xa21 disease resistance to shed light on emergence of novel specificity, and thus resistance by means of the insertion of TEs in non-resistant sister species.
Formal Research Proposal
Notice of Intent (NOI)
NSERC Grant Application
Queen's University Biology Station Field Work (2018)
Ecology Course
For the lab component of a third year Ecology course, I was given the opportunity to take part in hands-on Biological field work. In small groups, we gathered data in field notebooks, later compiling that data to perform statistical analyses that would allow for investigation of ecological themes at the Queens University Biology Station (QUBS). To perform these statistical analyses, I used R programming software and excel. Such data was based on beetle trapping, fish habitat observation, and bird foraging.
Fish Foraging Report
Bird Habitat Report
Investigating lab populations of Drosophlia melanogaster
Evolutionary Genetics Course
This course examined the genetic mechanisms of evolutionary change on a molecular and species level. The lab portion of the course allowed me to gain hands-on experience with formulating testable hypotheses and carrying out an experimental framework. By examining lab populations of Drosophila melanogaster, specifically the deleterious nubbin allele, I was able to carry out an experiment that tested the effects of this allele on fitness. This was achieved through use of chi-squares to test data in the lab fly population, as compared to the expected data at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The goal of the experiment was to analyze phenotype frequencies to evaluate the possibility that natural selection has taken place at the nubbin locus.
