Graduate Students
Shurjo Kumar Sen
Ph.D. Candidate - Biological Sciences (2004-present), Louisiana State University
M.S. Zoology 2003, University of Calcutta, India
B.S. Zoology 2001, Presidency College, Calcutta, India
Research Interests:
My graduate work involves an analysis of how SINEs and LINEs, both during and after their insertion, can contribute to various changes in local sequence architecture. These changes may be insertion or recombination-mediated deletions, or potential cases of atypical, endonuclease-independent pathways of mobile element insertion in the human genome.
E-mail: ssen1@lsu.edu
CV
Jungnam Lee
Ph.D. Candidate - Biological Sciences (2005-present), Louisiana State University
M.S. Microbiology 2003, Dankook University, Korea
B.S. Microbiology 1999, Dankook University, Korea
Research Interests:
The different evolutionary fates of species-specific retrotranspons in primates.
The long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) is a highly successful retrotransposon in mammals. L1 elements have continued to actively propagate subsequent to the human-chimpanzee divergence, ~6 million years ago, resulting in species-specific inserts. I want to characterize chimpanzee-specific L1 subfamily diversity and to compare them with their human-specific counterparts. 9
E-mail: jlee59@lsu.edu
Deepa Srikanta
Ph.D. Candidate - Biological Sciences (2005-present), Louisiana State University
M.S. Biodefense 2005, George Mason University
B.S. Biology 2003, University of Missouri - Columbia
Research Interests:
I am interested in retrotransposons and their role in genetic diversity and human population genetics. I am currently working on experimentally retrieving recently integrated Alu elements in human-specific subpopulations. This research will allow for a clearer answer of genetic relationships between subpopulations. In addition to this work, I am also interested in characterizing Rhesus-specific Alu elements for comparison to their human-specific equivalents.
E-mail: dsrika1@lsu.edu
CV
Josh Meyer
Ph.D. Candidate - Biological Sciences (2005-present), Louisiana State University
B.S. Biology 1999, University of South Alabama
Research Interests:
Prior to coming to LSU, my research was largely ecological, but my more recent studies here have focused on my other passion: evolution. Developments in bioinformatics over recent years have lent speed and power to the analysis of many evolutionary questions, opening up avenues of research that were simply not possible before. Mobile elements have proven to be a valuable source of phylogenetic data for many groups, and the tools of computational biology are well suited to such studies. I am currently working on a program that simulates the evolution of aligned sequences under mixed models of evolution.
E-mail: tmeyer5@lsu.edu
CV
George Cook
Ph.D. Student - Biological Sciences (2008-present), Louisiana State University
B.S. Chemical Engineering 1975, University of Arkansas
Research Interests:
Science is the pursuit of an understanding of the fundamentals. From thirty-five years of problem solving as a chemical engineer, one lesson is clear, when you know the fundamentals, you own the game. The fundamentals of life are inexorably linked to DNA. The cures for cancer, hereditary disease, and tissue regeneration, as well as the details of our evolutionary history, will all ultimately yield to our understanding of genetics. Grasping the fundamentals of the architecture and function of the human genome is both the great privilege and the sober responsibility of our generation. Being part of this pursuit is one of the greatest privileges of my life. Explaining my interest in human genetics is easy. A harder question would be to ask why would anyone not be interested. My current research is identifying and comparing Alu target site triplications in several primate genomes. The goal of this work is to construct an evolutionary narrative of this phenomenon.
E-mail: gcook2@lsu.edu
CV
Sidney Marlborough
Ph.D. Candidate - Biological Sciences (2006-present), Louisiana State University
M.S. Toxicology 2004, Louisiana State University
B.S. Environmental Management Systems 1998, Louisiana State University
Research Interests:
E-mail: smarlb1@lsu.edu
CV
Tae Yoon Lee
Visiting from the lab of Dr. Michael C. Murphy
Ph.D. Candidate - Mechanical Engineering (2003-present), Louisiana State University
B.S. Mechanical Engineering 2002, Kyunghee University, Korea
Research Interests:
BioMEMS (Bio-Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and Microfluidics: My work of primary interest is to develop a modular system for the detection of mutations in the human genome.
E-mail: tlee15@lsu.edu