|
 |
Rookie Year 2006
(left to right): Dr. Falke, Chase Engel, Beth Walsh, Jill Jackson, Kate Prather, Matt Kastner. |
|
 Program Links
|
|
About the Program
Lab Chaperonin works on Chaperonin-facilitated protein folding. The central dogma of biology states that the flow of cellular information is from DNA to RNA to Protein via transcription and translation. However, there is another step in information flow: protein folding. In order for the protein product to become active, it must first fold into a correct three-dimension shape. While some proteins fold just fine all by themselves, others require assistance (a kind of “proofreading”) from a class of proteins termed “molecular chaperones”. Chaperonin proteins are ATP-dependent molecular chaperones that are found in all cell types from bacteria to humans and are absolutely required for cell survival under all growth conditions.
Lab Chaperonin takes a multidisciplinary research approach to studying the structure/function relationship of the Chaperonin protein called GroEL (pronounced: grow-eee-el). We make mutated versions of GroEL and test the functional effects on protein folding in vivo and in vitro. Lab Chaperonin uses cryo-electron microscopy, proteomics, wet bench biochemistry and bioinformatics to investigate the function of GroEL.
Students working on various aspects of the project get experience in one and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, proteomics, enzymatic assays, environmental effects on bacterial growth, electron microscopy (to include two and three-dimensional single particle structural analysis), molecular biology (site directed mutagenesis), protein purification and differential bacterial growth kinetics under stress.
Beginnings
In 2005, Lab Chaperonin began with two undergraduate students working in the back of the biology department microbiology teaching lab. By 2006, Lab Chaperonin had six students and in the summer it moved into a 1250 square foot research lab with bench space for 16 students. By December of 2006, the Lab Chaperonin research space was taking shape and the “Lab Chaperon Undergraduate Research Training Program” was born. The 2007 Lab Chaperonin research group consisted of twelve research students. Eight Lab Chaperonin students filled funded summer research internship positions at WJC or the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUMC) in 2007.
The summer of 2007 was the first year for the High School Summer Research Internship Program and two Kansas City area high school students did research with Lab Chaperonin over the summer months.
The Mission
Lab Chaperonin’s mission is to train excellent undergraduate scientists with: the personal foundation necessary to become future leaders in their career field, a commitment to advancing the scientific base of knowledge in the form of original research results and interpretation, a strong sense of commitment to serving the scientific community and, an excellent grasp of the interdisciplinary nature of life sciences research.
Our major goal is more complicated and infinitely more difficult to achieve. Lab Chaperonin strives to become the best undergraduate molecular biology and biochemistry research group in the United States. We don’t want to be “pretty good”, in the “top ten” or even “excellent”…we want to be the very best in the United States. In order to reach our goal, we have to be more inventive and imaginative, work harder, write better, communicate more clearly and be more dedicated to research than all of our peers.
-- Back to top --
Research Training Program
The Lab Chaperonin Research Training Program focuses on teaching multiple aspects of life sciences research to include bench research, experimental development, troubleshooting, research presentations, grant writing, mentoring and career development. The Lab Chaperonin Research Training Program is set up to clearly document four years of continual student development in life sciences research allowing students to spend their entire four years at William Jewell building an early career in the life sciences. Clearly documenting early career development is a benefit for any student planning on a career in life sciences research or medicine (particularly students interested in performing clinical research as a physician). Students build mentoring skills by working with summer high school students and less experienced Lab Chaperonin research students; students are also encouraged to take mentoring roles in the WJC junior high school science summer camps (JAWS and JAMS). Lab Chaperonin students are encouraged to take leadership roles in scientific communities (TriBeta and the Association for Women in Science). Over the past three years, several students have had the opportunity to spend the summer in a lab at the University of Kansas School of Medicine working in a big biomedical research lab.
Research funding
- Freshman students generally write in-house grants for summer research funding. These grants consist of Oxbridge Summer Research (Oxbridge students only), Lab Chaperonin Summer Research Internship grants and/or Lab Chaperonin/KUMC Summer Research Internship Grants.
- Sophomore students move into a local or national funding arena using results generated in their freshman year research as support. Sophomores write American Society for Microbiology grants for summer research funding and some students work in fully funded summer positions in labs at the University of Kansas School of Medicine to fulfill this portion of the research training program. For students that are interested in graduate school, show an intense interest in research and advanced capability in the lab, the sophomore year represents their first application for a national Goldwater Scholarship.
- Junior students write grants to TriBeta, the American Society for Microbiology or Olive Thomas (in-house WJC biology grants). Some students apply for REU summer positions at other institutions. Students producing excellent research results can apply for a national Goldwater Scholarship in their junior year.
- Senior students concentrate on writing grants/fellowships for graduate school and can apply for TriBeta research funding.
Presenting Research Results
Lab Chaperonin students present at local, state, regional and national meetings and student competitions. These meetings consist of the annual Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute meeting, the Missouri branch of the American Society for Microbiology, The Missouri Academy of Science meeting, The Midwest Stress Response and Chaperonin Meeting, the annual American Society for Microbiology meeting and The Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology Protein Folding in the Cell bi-annual meeting (students do not present at every meeting). This portion of the research training program prepares students for an advanced degree or a career in the life sciences by showcasing their achievements, learning to communicate their findings, and meeting leaders in the life sciences community (potential graduate school mentors).
Weekly lab meetings
Lab Chaperonin has weekly research meetings in which one student presents either recent results or a recent research article related to their project. This is an excellent informal troubleshooting forum where the entire research group works as a single unit to resolve experimental problems. These meetings give students a better understanding of how their individual research project fits into the broader Lab Chaperonin research goals. Additionally, each student has a weekly one hour research mentoring session with Dr. Falke; during these sessions conversations include career development, grant reviewing, experimental design, troubleshooting, preparing presentations and weekly research schedules.
When to begin
Students can contact Dr. Falke in the first semester of their freshman year. It is even possible to spend the summer before the freshman year doing research with Lab Chaperonin. Interested students that have committed to attending William Jewell College can contact Dr. Falke for more information on doing research the summer before they begin classes; students do not have to be excellent at science or have a history of research – you just have to be interested with the desire to become excellent…the Lab Chaperonin research group will train you to be a scientist. To provide the important aspect of one-on-one mentoring time between Dr. Falke and each research student, no more than five freshman students are allowed into the Lab Chaperonin Research Training Program each year.
Honors requirements for Lab Chaperonin Research Students
Students at WJC can graduate with honors. In order for Dr. Falke to chair a committee for Lab Chaperonin students wishing to pursue graduation with honors, the student must:
- get external funding (sources beyond normal departmental research funding)
- present research results at a regional or national meeting and,
- spend at least two full years (four full semesters and two full summers) doing research at WJC or another institution (REU or KUMC summer internships).
- Note: a first author peer-reviewed publication negates all of the three requirements listed above.
These achievements represent excellence in undergraduate research and clearly go “above and beyond” normal departmental research requirements for biology and biochemistry majors.
-- Back to top --
High School Summer Research
The Lab Chaperonin High School Summer Research Internship Program represents an opportunity for Kansas City area high school students to spend a summer doing research with Lab Chaperonin. The program offers a summer stipend for 6-8 weeks of research for up to four KC area high school students.
The high school student will pair up with a Lab Chaperonin undergraduate research assistant that will mentor the student in experimental design, protocols, carrying out experiments and presenting results. The student will present their research project and their results during two Lab Chaperonin weekly lab meetings.
Students & Achievements
Krystle Chase - Class of 2008
Krystle is majoring in biochemistry and intends to go to medical school upon graduation. As a member of Lab Chaperonin she is working on testing the cell growth effects of mutant and wild type GroEL under amino acid stress. She is currently mentoring a less experienced research student and training him (Kyle Lehenbauer) to carry on with this project when she leaves William Jewell. Krystle received an Olive E. Thomas grant for undergraduate research from the biology department to spend her 2007 summer doing research. Over the course of the summer she also participated as a teacher and Resident Scientist for the Jewell Academies of Science. Two summers ago Krystle participated in the Summer Medical and Research Training program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX where she was able to spend the summer doing research, shadowing physicians, and volunteering. On “The Hill”, Krystle spends her time participating in Greek Life, Pryor Leadership Studies Program, Mortar Board (the senior honor society), Tri-Beta (the biological honor society, of which she is the president), Cardinal Blazers, Cardinal Hosting and Symphonic Band. In her free time she enjoys reading, playing tennis and watching movies.
Brittany Kitchens - Class of 2008
Brittany is a biology major coming to Jewell from Sand Springs, Okla. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. when she leaves William Jewell. For prospective students: “I would like to express my passion for research that has emerged from being here at William Jewell. In doing research, I have learned many techniques from culturing bacteria to purifying proteins. I am able to explore different approaches from other labs and apply them to my own experiments. This has helped me formulate my own procedure, and I feel real accomplishment when the results are profound. The mentors at William Jewell are extraordinary and come from different backgrounds. I love collaborating with them and it has changed my perspective on how I look at research problems. I am forced to find my own answers by searching (sometimes endlessly) and never giving up. I have gained confidence in myself and I have been taught the skills needed to be a prepared and confident graduate student. I have made many mistakes, but my mentors have helped me fix them and learn what to do differently next time. I am able to write a procedure, run an experiment, read the result, and analyze the next step. I have become a better scientist by doing research here”. - SF replies: “Who can say it better than that?” Brittany is working on cystein mutations within glutamine synthetase, a substrate protein of GroEL. She will attempt to use nanogold labelling to observe how Glutamine Synthetase (GS) binds to GroEL. This is important to get a better understanding of where GroEL binding sites located on GS.
Kate Prather – Class of 2008
Kate Prather is a biochemistry major and intends on pursuing a degree in medicine when she leaves William Jewell. She has been a member of Lab Chaperonin since the “Rookie Year” and has worked with GroEL for the past 3 summers. Currently, Kate is working on purifying C-terminal truncated mutants of GroEL made by “Hall of Famers” Beth Walsh and Jill Jackson-Morris. She enjoys being the social director of Lab Chaperonin and is currently very excited about planning the first annual “Lab Chaperonin Black Tie Mocktail Barbeque”. Lab Chaperonin does more than research: Kate feels as though the Lab Chaperonin research group is a “home away from home”. On campus, Kate is involved in Student Senate, Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, and is a Resident Assistant. Kate spent two summers working in a lab at the University of Kansas Medical Center and earned co-authorship of a peer-reviewed publication.
Carina Collins – Class of 2009
Carina is a biochemistry major coming to us from St. Louis, MO; she intends on pursuing a Ph.D. upon leaving William Jewell. She is working on designing a suicide vector with the intent of replacing the chromosomal groEL gene with mutated forms. This is an important advancement for our research group because right now, all of our groEL mutants are differentially expressed from plasmids. Getting the mutated groEL back under the wild-type promoter is important for studying the in vivo effects of mutation. In 2007 Carina received a Lab Chaperonin Summer Research Internship Grant so she could work on her research. She was also the Resident Director for the Jewell Academies of Science in the summer of 2007. On campus Carina does more than just study and do research. She is the president for the Association for Women In Science (AWIS), a member of Student Senate, a Cardinal Host, and a Pryor Fellow. In her copious spare time, Carina enjoys reading (she loves books!), music (concerts are the best!), and eating ethnic food (currently Ethiopian is her favorite). Carina is really enjoying her time in Lab Chaperonin; she loves the crazy fun and “scientific feel” of the research group.
Chase Engel – Class of 2009
Chase is a biochemistry major hailing from a small town in western Nebraska; he intends on pursuing a Ph.D. when he leaves William Jewell. Chase was awarded a WJC Hall Family Foundation Grant for summer research in 2005 and presented his research results at the 2006 FASEB “Protein Folding in the Cell” meeting in Saxtons River, Vermont (during his freshman year). He was awarded an American Society for Microbiology grant and gave a research talk at the Missouri Branch of the American Society for Microbiology meeting in 2007 (as a sophomore). During the summer of 2007, he spent his time working between a lab at KUMC and Lab Chaperonin. He has been spearheading the Lab Chaperonin C-terminal Chaperomics project for the last two years. Chase is being nominated by WJC to apply for a national Goldwater Scholarship in 2007/2008. Chase is a member of the William Jewell Track Team and a resident assistant for the Kappa Alpha; his hobbies include hunting, fishing (especially ice fishing) and being with friends and family. He is a native of Western Nebraska and bleeds BIG RED. Go Cornhuskers!!!
Liz Mckee – Class of 2009
Liz is a biochemistry major that joined the Lab Chaperonin research group in the summer of 2007. She is working on testing the effects of GroEL mutation on the ability of E. coli to survive harsh Oxidative environments. Liz (“spike”) is a member of the William Jewell Volleyball team.
Trisha Stan – Class of 2009
Trisha is an Oxbridge Molecular Biology major intending to pursue a Ph.D. when she leaves WJC. Trisha is the “lone wolf” in Lab Chaperonin. She is the only member of the lab working on Three-dimensional reconstruction of cryo-electron microscopy images (collected at the Scripps Research Institute). Trisha spent the summer of 2007 in an REU position at Stanford. She is spending the 2007/2008 academic year overseas (in the UK).
Josh Brettmann – Class of 2010
Josh is a biology major and (currently) is considering pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. when he leaves William Jewell. In Josh’s words: “Research allows me to explore what I (and others) have never known. It allows me to get involved in new frontiers and has helped me grow in my ability to understand concepts and think creatively. It also is a good method to prepare for a future career – in research and/or medicine”. Josh received a Lab Chaperonin/KUMC Research Internship grant in the summer of 2007 allowing him to work in a research lab at the University of Kansas Medical center. At KUMC he learned to use the physical biochemistry technique of Circular Dichroism (CD). He is currently trying to get the Lab Chaperonin CD machine up and running so it can be used for structural and kinetic studies of GroEL and its substrate proteins.
Alexis Fay – Class of 2010
Alexis is a biochemistry major that comes from Colorado. She intends to pursue a degree in medicine when she leaves William Jewell. Alexis is working on the cellular growth effects induced by C-terminal GroEL mutants during metal stress. In 2007, she was awarded a Lab Chaperonin Summer Research Internship grant so she could stay at William Jewell to work on her research project over the summer months.
Sarah Henke – Class of 2010
Sarah is a biology major and the newest addition to Lab Chaperonin. She intends on pursuing a Ph.D. when she leaves William Jewell. Sarah is working on producing C-terminal truncations of groEL and inserting the mutated genes into high copy number/high expression plasmids for large-scale expression and purification of C-terminally truncated GroEL. She will use her purified proteins to test the in vitro folding of substrates identified by the C-terminal Chaperomics project (Chase and Jason). Sarah spends a lot of her free time playing the cello in the Liberty Symphony Orchestra and WJC Chamber Orchestra
Tina Lam – Class of 2010
Tina is a biochemistry major intending to pursue a career in medicine when she leaves William Jewell. She is currently the Lab Chaperonin manager, helping to keep the lab running smoothly (and doing a great job). Tina received a Lab Chaperonin Summer Research Internship grant in 2007 so she could continue advancing her research over the summer months. She is currently working on E. coli pH-stress survival systems and how they are affected by mutating the Chaperonin protein (GroEL).
Jason Steenstry – Class of 2010
Jason is an Oxbridge Molecular Biology major that is in the process of changing his career goals from medicine to research. He received a Lab Chaperonin Summer Research Internship grant in 2007 and along with Chase Engel, successfully led Lab Chaperonin into the research realm of two-dimensional proteomics. Jason and Chase are working on parallel projects that fall under the heading of “C-terminal Chaperomics”. They are attempting to identify a subset of cellular proteins that require the function of GroEL’s C-terminal tail in order to fold properly. One could say that Chase is mentoring Jason in research but in reality, they are mentoring each other. Chase and Jason have recently “teamed up” and are making rapid advancements in the C-terminal Chaperomics project – together, they will be an undergraduate research machine second to none in generating results.
Hang Vu – Class of 2010
Hang is an Oxbridge Molecular Biology major intending on pursuing a degree in medicine when she leaves William Jewell. As a freshman, she received an Oxbridge Research grant to do research with Lab Chaperonin during the summer of 2007. Besides being a vice president of finances for CCAC, a member of AWIS, AMSA, and Alpha Lambda Delta, she is also a member of Lab Chaperonin. Hang loves research because “it is fun, exciting, and it makes me feel like a real scientist”. In Hang’s words: “With research, there is a kind of excitement that comes with the possibility of discovering something unknown; something that could contribute to the knowledge of the scientific world”. She also thinks research will train her to become an independent thinker and explorer - the two qualities that she most wants to possess.
Kyle Lehenbauer – Class of 2011
Kyle spent the summer prior to starting classes at WJC doing research with Lab Chaperonin. He worked on differential growth effects of bacteria transfected with mutated GroEL. He is presently being mentored in research by Dr. Falke and Krystle Chase. When Krystle graduates in 2008, Kyle will continue advancing the C-terminal groEL mutant effects on amino acid stress research project. Outside of the lab, Kyle is a member of the William Jewell Men’s Tennis Team. Kyle really enjoyed his experience in the lab during the summer and hopes to work “full time” during the summer of 2008.
Scott Falke – Professor of Biology (yes, still a student and still learning…research is a lifetime of learning)
-- Back to top --
Hall of Fame
Past students pursuing advanced degrees:
Jill Jackson-Morris
My experience in Lab Chaperonin at William Jewell has helped me in many ways. During my years of research at Jewell, I was exposed to many different techniques and became confident in my abilities. In addition, working as a team with other lab members helped me learn how to play a role in a larger group of researchers. Most importantly, I learned that I really did enjoy research, and we had a lot of fun in the lab. Looking back, I have great memories of the Yalvard program (see Dr. Falke for details) and I credit Lab Chaperonin and the WJC Biology and Chemistry departments for helping give me some career direction. Undergraduate research helped me realize that I wanted to pursue an advanced degree and continue in the research field, perhaps someday returning to college as a professor to create a lab of my own.
Jill Jackson-Morris is presently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She was awarded TriBeta Honorary research grant in 2005 and presented her research results at the annual American Chemical Society meeting in 2006.
Beth Walsh
I am proud to call myself a founding member of Lab Chaperonin; working in this lab was one of the best experiences of my undergraduate career. Dr. Falke encouraged not only learning from other members of the lab, but also from other students and faculty. In the short year I was a part of the lab, I learned so much about what it takes to be a successful scientist and about one of my (now) favorite types of proteins - chaperones! My experience in Lab Chaperonin was full - I had my share of frustrations as I had to repeat many failed experiments and quickly learned why it's called "research". After all, if everything worked the first time, it would just be called "search". I also had the satisfaction of being successful in the lab after so many failed attempts - there's no feeling of accomplishment like it! I left the lab very enthusiastic about this field and will always enjoy working in the lab because I had a fantastic experience.
Beth Walsh is currently pursuing a master of science in Public Health Microbiology & Emerging Infectious Disease at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She hopes to pursue a career in bioterrorism/biodefense research.
Matt Kastner
Matt was president of the Lambda chapter of TriBeta in 2006/2007, awarded a TriBeta Honorary Research Grant in 2006 and presented his research results at the annual American Chemical Society meeting. He spent two summers working in a research lab at the University of Kansas School of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2005 and 2006).
Matt Kastner is presently pursuing a Ph.D. at Southwestern University.
Dr. Falke
Dr. Falke graduated from High School in Lee’s Summit, Mo. He entered the U.S. Army and spent three years as a light infantry soldier in the 10th Mountain Division. After leaving the Army, he attended Longview Community College and then moved to the University of Missouri-Kansas City to complete his bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. While at UMKC he was introduced to biophysics research by Dr. Ed Gogol in the division of Cell Biology and Biophysics.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Falke learned the basics of cryo-electron microscopy and single particle image analysis. His undergraduate research (helping a graduate student with his dissertation research) resulted in co-authorship on a publication in the Journal of Molecular Biology. He entered the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Science at the University of Kansas School of Medicine where he worked on his Ph. D. in biochemistry under the guidance of Dr. Mark Fisher in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His dissertation research utilized cryo-electron microscopy and single-particle image analysis to calculate three-dimensional reconstructions of a GroEL-substrate protein complex. Dr. Falke’s dissertation research resulted in three publications. Following completion of his Ph.D., he spent a short postdoc with Dr. Gerry Carlson working on the structure/function relationship of Phosphorylase Kinase. It was while working with Dr. Carlson that the position at William Jewell College became available. Dr. Falke joined the faculty ranks of the biology department in 2005 and immediately began building the Lab Chaperonin research group. He is presently a member of the Missouri branch of the American Society for Microbiology leadership council. Dr. Falke enjoys nothing more than mentoring students in research. His professional philosophy: get yourself to a position of influence by being focused on excellence…then, be more concerned about building the careers of others than building your own career; this is the definition of true leadership.
Email: falkes@william.jewell.edu
Phone: (816) 781-7700
-- Back to top --
|
