August 2009: GDCB Professor Carolyn Lawrence receives additional funding from the Department of Energy

Additional funds in the amount of $23,472 were awarded to GDCB Professor Carolyn Lawrence by the DOE as a subcontract to her research project entitled "DNA Isolation, SNP Genotyping for the Mo17 Genome Sequencing Project" (Dr. Lawrence, PI; Dr. Candice Gardner, professor in agronomy; and Dr. Patrick Schnable, professor in agronomy and genetics, development and cell biology, Co-I). This work aims to clarify which accession of Mo17 germplasm has been sequenced and will enable researchers to request Mo17 seed for which the genome sequence is known.

This work is being carried out in tandem with the NSF-supported Summer Outreach to American Indians program organized by Drs. Lawrence and Gardner each summer. As an outreach component of the NSF grant entitled “Cyberinfrastructure for (Comparative) Plant Genome Research Through PlantGDB” awarded to GDCB Professor Volker Brendel, (Plant Genome Database, http://www.plantgdb.org, Dr. V. Brendel, PI and Dr. C. Lawrence, co-PI), Dr. Lawrence has recruited and mentored American Indian student interns during the past few summers and this summer was no exception. Interns worked to genotype accessions of the maize inbred line Mo17 for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mo17 Maize Genome Sequencing Project. Dr. Lawrence designed and executed the molecular laboratory training and Dr. Gardner designed and coordinated the plant genetic resource training for the interns.

American Indians are under-represented in the plant biological science areas, and are under-served in terms of educational and scientific research opportunities. Dr. Lawrence collaborates with the ISU George Washington Carver Summer Minority Internship Program to ensure that in addition to research training, interns’ transportation, lodging, meals, and cultural enrichment activities are provided. Interns complete a research project, prepare an abstract and written report, and present their work (oral or poster) at the Research Symposium at the end of the program.