Dr. Silvestrini’s Lab Research Takeover
Students from Dr. Melissa Silvestrini’s lab of the Department of Biology:
I am a biology major from Albany, N.Y. Thanks to the Walsh Summer Research Fellowship, I worked with C. elegans in Dr. Silvestrini’s lab to explore the link between autophagy, a cellular recycling system, and lipid metabolism; I am interested in how these pathways impact stress and aging.
Megan Kutey ’22
I am a music and biology major from Fall River, M.A. I received a Summer Undergraduate Research Grant for my project: Determining the mechanism through which sulforaphane reduces α-synuclein aggregation in a Parkinson’s yeast model. My project may reveal a new therapeutic mechanism to alleviate Parkinson’s disease.
Angela Mitsuma ’23
I am a biology and psychology major from Portland, Maine. My research in Dr. Silvestrini’s lab focused on the role of autophagy in aging and stress, as I am particularly interested in neurodegeneration. I performed developmental assays in C. elegans to assess endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which may play a key role in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Kevin Ly ’22
I am a sociology and biology major from Cumberland, R.I. This summer I visualized lipid droplets in C. elegans using a compound light microscope to better understand the relationship between lipid metabolism and endoplasmic reticulum stress.
Edy Pineda ’22
I am a biology and health policy and management major from Rumford, R.I. I worked on optimizing PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a reaction that amplifies DNA. I would then use gel electrophoresis to visualize the amplified DNA. I genotyped two new strains this summer (PVD-1 and PVD-2) that I will use for further investigation in the fall.
Zachery Medeiros ’22
I am a biology major from Westborough, Mass. I have been studying autophagy in C. elegans. I performed several genetic crosses, so that I can use fluorescent microscopy to measure autophagy levels of the human Bax Inhibitor ortholog in C. elegans. Understanding conserved cellular and genetic pathways may lead to new therapeutic approaches to treat cancer.
Grace Kelley ’22
