Home Department: Human Biology
Mentor: Onn Brandman (Biochemistry)

“Characterization of a Novel Heat Shock Regulator”

YPL225W is a yeast protein of unknown function that has consistently appeared as a candidate modulator of cellular responses to environmental stress (namely heat shock response and heat-induced RNA granule formation). YPL225 has a human equivalent, PBDC1, also of unknown function, and therefore represents a valuable research target. Sebastian’s research over the summer will build upon his own prior work attempting to characterize YPL225W and use techniques that include yeast colony transformation, RNA purification, qPCR, flow-cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and western blotting. All data analysis will employ MATLAB, introducing an interdisciplinary component involving computer science, statistics, and image processing. Data analysis results will help to determine if YPL225W is involved in cellular response to stress.