Laboratory Supervisor

M.S. State University of New York at Albany
Cell Biology

Office: Science Center 3W11

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180

Introduction to Biology Laboratory
This freshman course is a hands-on, research-based experience. Students learn a variety of techniques, which can then be applied to group mini-research projects that culminate in a poster session open to the Rensselaer community. Using the Wisconsin Fast Plant, Brassica rapa, as a model system, the students learn how to utilize cytochemical staining of tissues, computer image analysis of leaf shape, hormone manipulation in developing tissues, TLC separation of plant pigments, and SDS-PAGE analysis of cellular proteins to answer experimental questions about plant physiology and biochemistry. They then design and conduct a project. During this process, the instructors offer advice and guidance, but the students prepare all their own reagents, apparatus, etc. This is a very labor-intensive experience that requires the students to spend considerable amounts of time in the lab outside the regularly scheduled lab period.

Introduction to Cell & Molecular Biology Laboratory
This is our other freshman laboratory experience, which has the same format as Introduction to Biology Laboratory. Using E. coli, the students address experimental questions involving protein biochemistry, bacterial growth dynamics, enzyme kinetics, and regulation of gene expression. Again, the group projects culminate in a poster session open to members of the campus.

Cell & Developmental Biology Laboratory
This is my advanced undergraduate laboratory course that is based on mammalian cell culture. I use the same format as our freshman labs, whereby students learn a number of techniques used to study in vitro cell behavior and then apply these techniques to a group research project (involving normal cells, cancer cells, or both), which culminates in a group-authored paper and poster presentation. Initially, normal human fibroblasts are used to learn cell culture techniques. Other methodologies include immunofluorescence microscopy, computer image analysis, affinity chromatography, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, and a variety of other biochemical and cellular protocols. With these, students are able to address a number of topics involving interactions between the extracellular matrix (particularly the glycoprotein fibronectin) and the cytoskeleton, cell-cell interactions, growth dynamics, and cell adhesion. With respect to cell adhesion, classical methods are used to study the adhesion process to a substrate as well as, in collaboration with Drs. Charles Keese and Ivar Giaever of Rensselaer and Applied BioPhysics, Inc., the use of ECIS (electrical cell-substrate impedance sensing) to measure cell adhesion to a substrate in real time.

Cancer Cell Biology Group
This is an intensive undergraduate independent training/research program in my laboratory for highly motivated students interested in cancer cell biology. Students can apply for admission to this program in the second semester of their freshman year. If accepted, training begins during the sophomore year with the first semester devoted to learning the same techniques used in Cell & Developmental Biology Laboratory. The entire experience can last up to six semesters and is designed to allow students to begin a long-term independent research project. The current research area of the Cancer Cell Biology Group revolves around the interaction of human cancer cells with the normal tissue microenvironment during metastatic invasion. Using a simple co-culture model system, members of the Group are currently investigating the interactions between the extracellular proteins of normal and cancer cells, alterations in signal transduction and migration in co-cultures, and changes in fibronectin isoform expression on cancer cells as a function of interaction with normal cells.