The Summer Student Program began in 1924 when University of Maine President C.C. Little (our founder) brought six undergraduates to Mount Desert Island for a summer of biological field studies. The Summer Student Program officially became a part of the Jackson Memorial Laboratory's operation in 1931.

Students participate in an ongoing research program with the support of an experienced scientific mentor. They develop an independent project, implement their plan, analyze the data, and report the results. At the end of the summer, they present their findings to researchers, other students, and parents.

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Submissions from 2017

 

Assessing Alzheimer's disease phenotypes in a type 2 diabetic mouse model., Bansri Patel

 

Identifying genetic variation with diet and sex-dependent effects in diversity outbred mice., Douglas Perkins

 

Modeling the differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells using single cell RNA sequencing data, Tossapol Pholcharee

 

Using a HeLa cell filopodia assay to investigate binding interactions of inner ear proteins crucial for hair cell development, Kate Romero

 

Spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal in the mouse, Danielle Smith

 

The selection of specific auto reactive T cell populations in diabetes and the effects of Nfkbid on the selection of specific T cell populations., Isabel Stewart

 

Chracterization of the effect of the Mnm(c) modifying allele on a new, CRISPR-based mouse model of SMARD1, Alex Thele

 

The effects of diet induced changes of Kir4.1 function in astrocytes and the modulation of homeostatic mechanisms of the regulation of food intake., Violet Witchel

Submissions from 2016

 

Comparative genomics to determine the genotype responsible for a bacillus subtilis mutant phenotype., Amber Acquaye

 

Analysis of autoreactive type one diabetes contributory CD8 T-cell frequencies in Nfkbid deficient NOD mice., Jennifer Allocco

 

Determination of the mutation responsible for tachycardia in ENU mutant strain HLB468., Emma Anderson

 

The effects of high-fat diets with varied carbohydrate content on the development of diabetes in obese mouse models., Emma Anderson

 

Determining the genetic framework of hereditary deafness using bioinformatics., Alina K. Andrews

 

Communicating science at The Jackson Laboratory, Tamsyn Brann

 

Application of the metabolic inhibitor 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose to treat autoimmune disease in mice., Rachel Burke

 

From function to dysfunction: gene ontology and cancer., Yoojin Cha

 

Modifiers of healthy aging: evaluating the effect of diet and physical inactivity on age-dependent dysfunction of the neurovascular system., Yoona Chun

 

Methyltransferase activities of recombination initiator PRDM9: separating H3K4me3 and H3K36me3 with single amino acid mutations., Max Coffey

 

Gene mapping of glaucoma related phenotypes in a forward genetics ENU screen., Sherley Collado-Justiniano

 

What can the genomics of normal development tell us about disease?, Raphael B. Espinoza

 

Examining expression of Scgb1c1 in developing and adult murine hearts., Adam Fasman

 

Tracking spontaneous hair cell regeneration in wildtype mice., Michaela Flonard

 

Testing the paradigm: cancer gene sets and the hallmarks of cancer., Jesus Roberto Franco

 

Shedding light on microbial dark matter: reference-based species identification in microbiomes., Nicole Gay

 

Functional interrogation of human T cell co-stimulatory molecules., Jordana Graveley

 

Innovating high school genomic education with hands-on and classroom teaching methods., Ashley Greaves

 

The role of androgen receptor in meiotic progress of male germ cells., Nadia V. Harerimana

 

Characterization of Crichton mutation leading to age-dependent, behavioral phenotypes., Molly Herman

 

Establishing a role for the kinesin-8 superfamily member Kif18a during cell migration., Ashley Hudson

 

Elucidating retinal transcripts correlated with changes in the aging brain of an Alzheimer's mouse model., Julia Huesa

 

Determining the relationship between spermatogonial stem cells and blood vessels in mouse testis., Yuzhao Hu

 

Varying non-synonymous/synonymous rate ratios (dN/dS) in TCGA data points to prevalence of Darwinian tumor evolution, Alexander Iyabor Jr.

 

Tandem duplications affect gene integrity/expression in triple negative breast cancer., Tyler Jackson

 

Lethality in hspn mutant mice., Se Rin (Julie) Kim

 

The relationship between the adaptive immune system and aging., Samuel Elliot Krause

 

Discovering the role of pathogenic BRCA1 mutations in tandem duplicator phenotype development., Conner Lajoie

 

Preserving fertility in the face of oncotherapy: investigating the mechanisms responsible for DNA repair in immature oocytes and implications for fertoprotective treatment., Haleigh Larson

 

Manipulating beta cell regulatory circuitry using CRISPR/Cas9 epigenome editing., Rujia Lian

 

Heightened human red blood cell survival in genetically and chemically engineered next generation NSG mice., Cedric Lozano

 

Modulation of the adaptive immune system by cardiac fibroblasts., Maddie Mara

 

Analysis of the expression pattern of the Egr2-cre driver in the mouse brain during postnatal development., Kiersten Marr

 

Investigating the effects of sodium channel dysfunction on chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy., Carla Martinez

 

Evaluating shared system-level phenotype annotations as an indicator of the strength of mouse models for human diseases., Natachi Mez

 

Building regression models for predicting age from human blood epigenomes profiled with the ATAC-seq technology., Gokul Parakulam

 

Polygenic and Mendelian mechanisms of inherited anemia., Tejal Patwardhan

 

An exploratory analysis of international mouse phenotyping consortium (IMPC) data., Stephen Price

 

ADAD2: a new player in RNA granule biology., Cassandra Rios

 

Survey on variation in epigenetic histone modification across nine inbred mouse strains., Arya Royal

 

Investigation of the effect of structural variants on RNA secondary structure., Amber Salome

 

The experimental validation of structural variation candidates produced by the FusorSV algorithm., John E. Sargent

 

Positional cloning of the genetic mutation and histological analysis of femoral nerve axonal degeneration in the NM4803 mouse mutant., Allen Schroeder

 

Data integration & analysis of the epigenetics of drug and alcohol dependence: an application of GeneWeaver., Nkima J Stephenson

 

Optimization of Casilio for live cell imaging of nonrepeat genomic loci; comparison of Casilio and direct fusion methods for the targeted DNA methylation of SOX2 and MLH1., Gabrielle Sutton

 

Alternative splicing: approaching transcriptome complexity in human immune cell subsets., Christina Welch

 

IGF-1 and healthy aging., Madeline Williams

 

Predicting differential regulation of cell cycle genes in aging hematopoietic progenitor cells., Zollie Yavarow

 

Identification of long non-coding RNAs involved in modulating the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of airway epithelial cells., Stella Zhu

Submissions from 2015

 

Cell cycle and survival status of erythroid precursors in the Nan mouse model., Omorose Aighewi

 

DSCAM and DSCAML1 molecular mechanisms of self avoidance., Julia Bassell

 

The effect of repurposed drugs: sertraline, fluoxetine, and cannibidiol on spontaneous seizure activity in fitful mice., Jacqueline Bridges

 

Elucidating the function of Yap in normal and cancer stem cells in the brain., Xingyao Chen

 

Examining the antitumor activity of a monoclonal antibody via complement-dependent cytotoxicity in novel NSG mouse model., Julia Clemens

 

Neuroprotective drug treatment in DBA/2J glaucoma., Kelly Cochran

 

The influence of the NOD/ShiLtJ genetic background on a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease., Calvin Coffey

 

Acetyl-L-Carnitine: a potential therapy for alleviation of the neurophysiological effects of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D., Meagan Currie

 

The biological significance of hub genes found by weighted correlation network analysis., Reanna Dona

 

Exploring the genetic mechanisms of exfoliation syndrome and glaucoma., Annie Gagnon

 

The role of Hbs1l in the developing brain., Thomas Gallup

 

Neuroinflammation and early cognitive decline induced by short-term exposure to western diet in C57BL/6J mice., Weronika Grabowska

 

The role of 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) in Celf4 regulation of target mRNA., Daniel S. Hawkins

 

A pipeline to discover new genes involved in Cochlear hair cell differentiation., Lawrence Jacobs

 

Assessment of hepatic insulin signaling in a murine model for Alstrom Syndrome., Ayla Kanber

 

The challenges of mosaicism., Emily Keator

 

Identification of gene expression in the murine tissue surrounding tumors in patient derived xenograft mouse models., Adam Lavertu

 

Gene activation through enhancer epigenetic modifications using Casilio, a three-hybrid CRISPRzyme system., Phoebe Lee

 

Targeted therapeutic treatment of MLL-rearranged AML based on the cell of origin., Matthew A. Loberg

 

The effectiveness of CHK2 inhibitors for oocyte survival after induced DNA damage., Julia Loose

 

Identifying genome signatures of drug response in patient derived xenografts (PDX): a machine learning approach., Jacob Luber

 

Superimposing gene expression data onto gene interaction data to evaluate molecular networks during mouse development., Dylan Maghini

 

A novel Cux1 CRISPR-Cas9 knockout system to study mesangial matrix expansion in mouse kidney cells., Demetri Maxim

 

Examining the role of inhibitory GABAergic neurons in the pathophysiology of Rett Syndrome., Kevin Newhall

 

Orthologs and isoforms and conservation of function., Daniela Perry

 

The role of pancreatic Irx3 in the gut-brain axis., Jaye Sudweeks

 

Discovery of enriched variants for Alzheimer's disease., Carl Vitzthum

 

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase sensitizes a chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell line to Rad51 inhibition., Elise Wolf

 

Taking a BAT at obesity with Ucp1., Judy A. Yau

Submissions from 2014

 

Investigation into the immunogenicity of green fluorescence protein as a tool to eliminate populations of cells in vivo., Isaac Aderinto

 

The effects of histone deacetylase 6 inhibition on a mouse model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D., Opemipo Akerele

 

The role of the interleukin-2 receptor {gamma} gene in the development and progression of DBA/2J glaucoma., Ricky Anjorin

 

Development of a human macrophage migration inhibitory factor transgenic NSG mouse model to enhance engraftment of primary human chronic lymphocytic leukemia., Olive Baranowski

 

The role of telomere length in meiotic DNA recombination., Isabella Beroutsos

 

Exploring the efficiency of the codon optimized flippase in vivo., George Chen

 

Mastering the biological clock., Natalie Correa

 

Does ribosome stalling in the nmf205 mutant brain disrupt proteostasis?, Audrey Crane

 

PCR-based validation of structural variations predicted by whole genome sequencing using triple negative breast cancer cell lines., Jackson Dalman

 

Discovering the distinct genetic components contributing to anaplastic thyroid cancer using bioinformatics tools., Erika M. Estrada

 

Validity of heterozygous Dscam mice model (Mus musculus) for human ASD., Allyson Fulton

 

LIGER: a platform for Pacbio transcriptome analysis., Nicholas K.S. Grewal

 

Strain differences in Pavlovian sign-tracking and goal-tracking surveyed among Collaborative Cross founder strains., Lingfeng Hou

 

An improved approach to model epistatic interactions among multiple genetic variants., Tian-Shun Allan Jiang