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 2013

Genomic analysis of transcription regulation in drosophila., Jacqueline Duhl

Identifying the gene responsible for a new spontaneous mouse model of neuromuscular disease., Jakub Dziedzic

Design, construction and evaluation of a LEGO Skinner box for educational use., Andrew Gallup

Evaluation of semantic similarity measures as search tools in the Gene Ontology and Mammalian Phenotype Ontology., Daniel Galvez

Molecular dissection of the role of VEGFA in development of Schlemm's canal., Sneha Goswami

Comparison of inference reliability of ovarian cancer purity., Jared Graveley

Identification of candidate gene regulators linking obesity to sleep., Jasmine Johnson

Expression of mammalian U2 snRNA genes., Parixit B. Joshi

Investigating pleiotropic and epistatic effects in the BTBR x C57BL/6 mouse model., Bo Kane

Developmental genotyping and phenotyping of a novel mouse mutant, Olivia Katz

Investigating neurovascular changes in aging and alzheimer's disease., Jake Radell

Electrical stimulation as an alternative method to terminal sperm freeze., Robert Rounds

The role of complement proteins in cancer., Ruchi Shah

Transcriptome analysis of spontaneous and induced lung tumors in mice using RNA Seq., Janaya Shelly

The function of Netrin5 in the development of the mouse nervous system., Liam Sigaud

Selective ablation of the NMDA receptor in somatostatin-positive GABAergic neurons: effects on mouse behavior and neuronal connectivity., Alison Smith

Discovering pancreatic islet function in an obese mouse model., Chelse-Amoy Steele

Dissection of tumor heterogeneity by the proteotoxic stress response., Xiaochen Sun

Investigating aspartoacylase activity in mouse podocytes through genomic and proteomic analyses., Yuka Takemon

Finding potential new candidate genes for the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia using mouse phenomics and bioinformatics., Gwenaelle Thomas

Examination of insulin signaling in an Alms1 gene trap mouse model for Alstrom syndrome., Charles Thorpe

Dendritic spine density changes: a correlation with age and behavioral phenotypes., Courtney Vaughn

Identifying differentially expressed genes in sleep deprived mice., Gabriel Vela

Alternative RNA isoform analysis in Adad1tm1Reb mutant testes., He Yang

Two disease models for congenital glycosylation deficiency., Xingjian Zhang

Submissions from 2012

Investigating the genetic connection between autism and epilepsy through the RNA binding protein CELF4., Parirash Abdolhosseini

In vitro removal of the androgen recepto from adult sertoli cells., Jenna Adams

Using bioinformatics to develop genome mapping tools for diabetes., Elizabeth Ann Omoluyi Adesanya

Identification of novel regulators of {beta}h1 and {epsilon}y., Aleena Arakaki

Examining mouse models to determine type 1 diabetes susceptibility candidate genes., Kiana Brown

Discovery of Wisp2 interaction protein., Nahum Buzaglo

Investigation on the effects of a 9bp sequence in Far2 on an increase in mesangial matrix expression., Carlos Diaz

Extraction of ribosome-associated mRNA from motor neurons of the spinal cord and brain., Connor Foster

Identifying PRDM9 binding sites in meiotic recombination hotspots., Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan

Effects of radiation on the inflammatory response in a mouse model of obesity and diabetes., Hailey Gosnell

Single nucleotide polymorphisms influence outcomes of Lamc2 induced JEB in mice., Fiorella Grandi

Using pleiotropy to model genetic interaction in the B6xC3H F2 intercross and visualization of results., Justin Hendrick

Vascular origins of the Schlemm's canal., Stephen Henrich

The role of XRCC2 in B-cell antibody production to antigen., Maile Hollinger

Identification of a genetic network linking sleep and obesity., Jasmine Johnson

Characterizing gene expression profiles for chronic lymphocytic leukemia samples via RNA-seq., Jean Juang

In vivo functional analyses of DICER cofactor proteins., Lindsey Krening

The role of mammalian HBS1L., Katherine Linder

Behavioral and molecular indicators of autism in a Celf4-deficient mouse model of genetically complex epilepsy., Katie Long

The effect of Dscam mutations on mouse vision., Gabriela Lopez

Understanding the role of Notch1 in cellular transformation and stem cell maintenance., Madison Luck

The effect of Src homology phosphatase 1(SHP-1) on type 1 diabetes development in NOD mice., Noah V. Lupica

Validation of therapeutic compounds A07 and A09 for the purposes of genetic chemotherapy., John McMichael

Elucidating the role of YAP1 in normal and cancer stem cell differentiation and survival., Rachael McMinimy

The role of p53 in AID-dependent cytotoxicity., Maya Merriweather

Characterization of deprenyl and potential lifespan-extending drugs on lifespan and aging in Caenorhabditis elegans., Sophia Ormond

Identifying novel genes that affect HDL cholesterol levels by verifying and testing point mutations of ENU mutagenized HLB 388/HLB 446 mice., Pooja Potharaju

Integration of the gene unification pipeline into Galaxy., Carlos Reyes

The characterization of an improved murine model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy: the D2.B10-Dmdmdx/J mouse., Allison Saunders

Using mice to understand the metabolic syndrome., Nicole Savignac

The effect of the Spcar3 mutation on meiosis in male mice., Muriel Schwinn

Treemap visualization of enriched gene sets., Timothy Sears

The detection and quantification of the HSF-1 oligomerization in situ by proximity ligation assay (PLA)., Elisha Solowey

Vitamin D pathway polymorphisms and their contribution to the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS)., India Stewart

TALEN targeting of mouse U2 snRNA genes., Yina Sun

The identification of differentially expressed miRNA in human pulmonary adenocarcinoma tumor progression., Megan Taylor

Identification of QTL and candidate genes underlying sleep., Gabriel Vela

Analysis of time series gene expression following nerve injury., David Wang

The subcellular localization of FMNL2., Tyana Warren

Analysis of RNA-seq data in fasting of C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ strains of mice., Lisa Zheng

Submissions from 2011

Visualizing gene expression for lung development., DeUntay Bennett

Partial loss of function of Clcc-1, an ER localized putative chloride channel, results in mild ER stress and slow progressing neurodegeneration in the NM2453 mouse strain., Hagit Benyamini

The regulation of heat shock factor 1 by Akt and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase., Terry Chen

Visualizing differential expression of RNA isoforms., Robert Costa

Characterizing a novel amyotrophic lateral sclerosis transgenic mouse carrying a human mutation TDP43(A315T)., Chelsea Culbert

The role of developmental processes in interstitial lung diseases., Krystal English

Investigation of factors involved in immunoglobulin homeostatsis., Christy Fitzpatrick

Identifying the causative mutation in high stepper mice., Courtany Hanley

Effect of combined drug therapy and genetic modifiers on hepatosteatosis and fibrosis in a mouse model for Alstrom syndrome., Ryan Hanusek

The search for depression-related genes in diversity outbred mice., Carter Harwood

3D gene clustering according to epigenetic state., Danai Kadzere

The role of ALT mechanism in telomerase-deficient (TERC-/-) mice., Gloria Kahamba

The effects of deprenyl and metformin on the developmental maturation and reproductive senescence in Caenorhabditis elegans., Michelle Kahn

Time-series analysis of neuropathic pain., Lillian Kang

Characterizing polo-like kinases 1, 2, 3 and 4 through G2/MI transition in mouse spermatogenesis., Jesse Karppinen

Characterization of cerebellar phenotype in mice with mutated Rreb1., Danielle L. Keahi

Characterization of the effects of mutations in Pla2g12b and Hpn that lead to low HDL cholesterol levels in the mouse., Rebecca Kim

A computational biology analysis of the genetic linkage between adrenal gland weight and anxiety behavioral assays., Sangeetha Kumar

In Vivo imaging of the glioma stem cell and interactions with perivascular niche., Maili Lim

The validation of novel humanized mouse models for biomedical research., Deidre Michaud

MouseMine: a flexible storage and retrieval solution for mouse biological data., Michael O'Keefe

The Role of XRCC2 in immunoglobulin isotype switching., Adeline Oursler

Visualization of position-dependent regulatory sequences., Rani Patel

Using spatial and temporal qualities of gene expression to prioritize autism candidate genes., Danielle Penny

QTL mapping analysis of a diabetic mouse backcross., Lauren Reagin

Molecular characterization of TMHS protein in stereocilia of auditory hair cells., Estee Rubien-Thomas

Inferring genetic interactions in an NZO/NON backcross, a mouse model for obesity linked diabetes., Kavya Sekar

How the nuclear lamina directs three dimensional chromosome organization., Sarah C. Selwyn

Nuclear transport-related mechanisms in neurodegeneration: mouse mutations (R86S and R487G) in nuclear export mediator factor (NEMF) provide a window into human neuromuscular disease pathogenesis., Anastasia Singalevich

Pcnx12 as a potential modifier of Gria4 associated absence seisures, Zak Strassberg

QTL analysis of endoplasmic stress in pancreatic {beta}-cells, Casey Thornton

Fatty Acyl CoA reductase 2 as a target for the prevention of renal function decline., Sarah Tran

The functional evolution of mammalian retrogenes., Anna Vesely

Identification of PRDM-dependent recombination hotspots, Jenny Wang

Discovering new mouse models for neurodegenerative diseases., Natalie Williams