This project uses several functional genomic approaches to begin to discover the genes involved in the specification and morphogenesis of the epidermal cell layer. Epidermis is the largest organ in typical chordate animal, and the interface between the organism and the environment. Students will take on one or two target genes previously identified for further study in reconstructing gene regulatory connections. Quantitative real-time PCR and in-situ hybridization will be used to look for effects on target genes in embryos where candidate gene expression has been altered using engineered transgenes, which have already been generated by the Irvine lab.

The students are intended to participate in all aspects of the project, which is mainly lab work based in the Biological Sciences Center (BISC). Students would perform qRT-PCR, electrophoresis, and in-situ hybridization. If time permits students would clone cDNA fragments into transgene vectors for the misexpression and loss-of-function constructs. Students will also collect sea squirts at a local marina and maintain them in aquaria at the URI Bay Campus and in BISC in Kingston.