Hi! My name is Mia Crawford and I am a rising junior studying Cellular and Molecular Biology and English with a long term goal of attending an MD-PhD program. This summer I have been having the most amazing experience working at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) in Bar Harbor Maine. JAX is a biomedical research institution known for many things, especially their mice. They have many locations around the world including here in Bar Harbor Maine, Connecticut, Florida, California, Japan and even a new location in Manhattan. Last summer I was selected and participated in the JAX Summer Student Program, otherwise known as SSP. I spent 10 weeks here working under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Kevin Peterson in the Murray Lab. My research focused on the genetic regulation of the lower mandibular prominence. After my experience last summer I absolutely fell in love with developmental biology specifically in terms of gene regulation and when I was offered the opportunity to come back I knew I had to take it. This summer my main goals are to make progress on my project from last year as well as develop a multitude of new laboratory techniques.
For some more context, my specific project continuing from last year focuses on a transcription factor that binds to a specific segment of DNA and influences genes involved in mandibular development. The unique thing about this transcription factor is that it needs to form a dimerization partner. I like to think of it as a buddy, with either itself or another transcription factor. Last summer and this summer my main goal has been to determine possible dimerization partners and understand how each combination determines specific downstream gene regulation. In order to do so I have been working with a fibroblast cell-line derived from mice embryos. Once my cells had grown enough I was able to use a piece of circular DNA containing the information needed to make my dimerization partners of interest along with information for a system that integrated my DNA containing the transcription factors into my fibroblasts genome. I was then able to image which cells had uptaken the foreign DNA and get some pretty amazing images. Right now I am just waiting for my cells to grow up a bit more after uptaking the foreign DNA before doing some more analysis about how they regulate downstream gene expression.
Beyond my cells I have also expanded my skills with mice working on dissections, tissue isolation and overall mice handling. JAX being world renowned for their mice has been an amazing place to learn many techniques with mice that I know I will integrate into my research in the future. I have also freshened up my cryosectioning skills, working on getting mice heads on slides so that in the coming weeks I can do immunofluorescence to look at specific genes expressed within the lower mandible.
Being able to work at JAX has truly changed my life. I come into work everyday surrounded by mentors who inspire and push me to reach my full potential. I am beyond honored and grateful to the Barnard Biology Department Summer Grants for providing resources allowing me to come back this summer and continue my journey of scientific research and discovery. I am looking forward to the next two months here and the learning and development that will come along with it.