Two GDCB faculty were mentors to interns participating in the Iowa State University George Washington Carver (GCW) Internship program this summer.  Professor Steven Howell was a faculty mentor to Alex Mitchell-Lindsey, a high school student from Little Rock, Arkansas; and Professor Michael Muszynski was a faculty mentor to Andrea Nuedorf, a senior at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Alex Mitchell–Lindsey is a high school student and worked in Professor Howell’s lab on a project entitled “Ecotype variations in ER stress response in Arabidopsis.”  Alex analyzed Arabidopsis ecotypes from different regions of the world to determine whether they had more or less tolerance to stress.  Professor Howell said, “It was a world-hopping tour for Alex right from the lab bench.”  Alex hopes to go on in Chemistry.

Andrea Nuedorf is an undergraduate and in Professor Muszynski’s lab she worked on expression analysis of a new recessive mutation in maize, early flowering1 (efl1).  Andrea assayed how the efl1 mutation affected the expression of a number of maize floral transition genes in an effort to position efl1 within the context of the maize floral transition gene network.

Andrea is now a senior in Bradley University and would possibly like to get a Master’s degree in plant science and would eventually like to work in the plant biotechnology industry.  Professor Muszynski said “she was a very diligent worker and was always asking questions about the biology of the maize mutation and the techniques she was using.  She brought a lot of enthusiasm to her internship and was a pleasure to have in the lab.”

To apply for the internships, students have to be at least 16 years old, U.S. citizens, maintain a 3.0 grade point average and plan to pursue a degree in science.   See July 1, 2013 CALS news release about Summer 2013 interns.