Capstone VI: Genetics and Organizational Development

Catalog description

Capstone Lab 6: Genetics and Organismal Development. Students build on the skills they developed in BIOL 370W to design their own experiments to observe the connections between genotype and phenotype at the level of organismal development, tissue structure, and behavior. Students will have the opportunity to select genes of interest and use molecular genetics strategies to silence gene expression in an animal system to study the effects on cellular differentiation and organ function. They will characterize novel phenotypes using gross observation, fluorescent microscopy, and behavioral assays, and will relate the phenotypes observed in their model organisms to relevant applications in human disease.