Proline rich protein

Transcription

(music playing) Allisyn Gillet: Originally, I wanted to become a veterinarian, so I actually signed on with Dr. Barry Jesse who works in the Animal Science department at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. I was doing honors research through him and then that slowly developed into my G.H. Cook Senior Honors Thesis, and what I studied there was the small proline rich protein genes, which to break it down, they encode for what becomes the epithelium, so that outer layer of your skin. I did a comparative DNA analysis to resolve the evolution relationships. Several domestic animals that are ruminant, so they break down cellulose materials, and using a specific gene which was the paired small proline rich protein gene and I basically sequenced the gene and compared them amounts the sheep, cow, goat, and deer and a pig which was just a really distantly related species and then when I sequenced them I used the differences within the comparisons and saw how much, how many bases were different and then was able to resolve how related each species were to one another. What I found was that the cow and the goat were more related to one another than the sheep and the goat were to each other. Because you'd assume that the sheep and the goat would be more related because of their size and just what they look like, and it was like those distinct characteristics. It helped me with just, the planning and the design of an experiment. He basically gave me the project and said, okay, you figure out the methods and you do this and on your own, which was great for my experience. So, now I'm able to take that experience and do that for my graduate dissertation, and he also even, I guess, expose me to just the nitty gritty of how do you get funding and where do you get the approval to work on animals and cells and things like that and how do you get that approval and who do you go to. In a way it was a very invaluable experience. I would recommend people to do their independent projects because it really prepares you for just the professional world. If you intend on going into research, you know, just being able to present the product and you'll develop it in the beginning and then present the product to symposium and then to a thesis community in the end, so I would highly recommend for people to do research, especially through this institution. (music playing)