Department of Biological Sciences,

1000 Hilltop Circle

Baltimore, MD 21250

Applied Molecular Biology at UMBC

 Department of Biological Sciences

Laboratory Instructor:  Julie B. Wolf

Laboratory Courses:  Biol. 635L and Biol 636L. 

The core of the Applied Molecular Biology Program at UMBC is a two-semester laboratory course in which the students work on independent research projects in collaboration with UMBC research faculty.  These courses are only open to students in the 9-month Master's Degree Program.

Projects for 2009-2010

1. Rescuing the immune system: The regulatory effect of cancer vaccines expressing co-stimulatory molecule CD80 on the inhibitory molecule programmed death ligand 1
2. Addition of HIV Trans-activator of Transcription (TAT) Domain to Endolysin Triple Fusion Protein may enable Intracellular Killing of Disease causing Microbes
3. Shrimp viral promoter-based baculovirus shuttle vectors for gene delivery in insect and Mammalian cells
4. Creating siRNA Expression Plasmids to Elucidate the Genetic Role of the longitudinal lacking (lola) Gene in the Immunosenescence of Drosophila melanogaster
5. Genetic analysis of an archaeal-like C1 transfer module in the deeply branching bacterium Planctomyces limnophilus
6. Ribosome biogenesis and chromosome segregation
7. Discovering protein functions using a simple model system: Dictyostelium discoideum
8. Comparison of potency of shrimp viral promoters by in vitro assay in insect cells
9. Identification and characterization of the defense gene eds1 in citrus
10. Effects of Using RNAi to Down-Regulate S100A9/A8 Protein that Suppresses Anti-Tumor Immune Response

Projects for 2008-2009

1. Elucidating alternative roles of CD80, a co-stimulatory molecule in MHC Class II Cancer Vaccines
2. Monitoring the expression of a SAP containing gene within Dictyostelium discoideum
3. Mutational Analysis to Characterize the Unique DNA Binding Properties of the C. elegans TCF/LEF Protein POP-1
4. Understanding the Role of Microtubules on Centrosome Migration by Expressing Katanin p60, A Microtubule Severing Enzyme in Zebrafish
5. Volvox, regA, and the Evolution of Cellular Differentiation: Generating RegA Protein for Antibody Production
6. Cloning and Expression of AKT1 to Identify its Protein Substrates
7. Examining the Versatility of YebF as a Carrier for Excretion of Eukaryotic Proteins in E. coli
8. Analysis of the role of Ribosomal Protein L17 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
9. Molecular Characterization of the Red Swamp Crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, Visual Pigments
10. Identifying the Expression Patterns of Gamma and Beta Subunits of G-Protein in the Olfactory Epithelium of Mus Musculus
11. Cloning of Melanopsin from the Blind Cave Fish

Projects for 2006-2007

1. Optimization of a dual luciferase reporter system to analyze the effects of codon usage on levels of gene expression
2. Construction of additional alleles of MHC Class II-expressing retroviral constructs for use in breast cancer vaccine  research
3. Construction of a Volvox rlsA epitope-tagged construct for localization studies
4. Construction of reporter vectors for analyzing the effects of different signal sequences on heterologous gene expression
5. Identification and cloning of opsin genes in Stomatopods
6. Generation of SUMO-deficient Dictyostelium mutants and the effect of SUMO expression on AmpA localization
7. Construction of SUMO-resistant mutants of Dictoyosteium in the AmpA gene product
8. Identification of Lin-39 targets using YFP fusions to genes identified in microarray analyses
9. Determination of disease-resistant properties of Arabidopsis mutants defective in Acd-6-like genes 

Projects for 2005-2006

1. Generation of TAP-tagged antiadhesive protein AmpA and expression in Dictyostelium discoideum
2. Identification of heterotrimeric G alpha proteins expressed in melanopsin-specific retinal cells
3. Elucidation of the intracellular trafficking of MHC Class II proteins in the absence of invariant chain using GFP protein fusions
4. Cloning and in situ expression of N-cad-like gene in zebrafish embryos
5. Development of an improved method for quick and accurate synthesis of optimized genes
6. Construction and testing of a dual luciferase reporter system to analyze the effects of codon usage on levels of gene expression
7. Generation and analysis of DNA-binding properties of bacteriophage T4 gene 32 protein
8. Construction and purification of SoxS-SUMO protein fusions to elucidate the contacts with RNA polymerase
9. Generation and purification of sumo-src and erk protein fusions for in-gel kinase assays
10. Generation and purification of sumo-beta amyloid protein fusions

Projects for 2003-2004

1. Cloning, expression, and binding site determination of the C. elegans transcription factor, egl-18.
2. Optimization of codon usage for expression of the human NKX3.1 gene in E. coli using gene assembly PCR.
3. Cloning, expression and functional analysis of the human RGR protein in COS cells.
4. Comparative sequence analysis of the catsup gene in sister Drosophila species.
5. Construction of mutant and epitope-tagged variants of the nitA gene from Volvox for use in transformation.
6. Construction of MHC Class II-expressing and her2 antigen-expressing retroviral constructs for use in breast cancer vaccine research
7. Development of methods for detecting SNP's in genomic samples of bird species using real-time PCR
8. Determination of ddc expression levels in Drosophila melanogaster in response to wounding
9. Random mutagenesis of hexokinase gene

This Web page is maintained by Julie B. Wolf, UMBC;
Last updated on 3/2/2010