Name: Hannah Tobin
Class Year: 2025
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
Internship Organization: ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï
Internship Title: Summer Science Research
Location: ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï, PA
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
For some mammalian genes, expression is based on the parent of origin. Either the mother’s copy is always expressed or the father’s copy is always expressed, while the other allele is silenced. Differential DNA methylation, where a methyl group is added to cytosine, is generally used to mark the DNA of a specific parent, so the mother’s and father’s DNA can be distinguished and their expression regulated accordingly. This is referred to as genomic imprinting. Misregulation of imprinted genes is responsible for human imprinting disorders, or diseases inherited in a parent-specific manner; this can be caused by genetic alterations or epigenetic defects that cause changes in which parent’s copy of a gene is expressed. Prader-Willi syndrome, Angelman’s syndrome, and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome are examples of human imprinting disorders. Better understanding the mechanism by which DNA methylation is acquired and maintained might lead to the future development of therapies for such diseases.
I am analyzing the consequences of a DNA methyltransferase mutation in mouse liver DNA. P allele mice have a lethal mutation in the Dnmt1 gene which is responsible for maintaining DNA methylation, reducing methylation levels and preventing the mice from surviving after birth. This summer, I amplified the differentially methylated regions associated with imprinted loci from liver DNA derived from different developmental stages of wildtype and homozygous P allele mice. Then I compared the liver methylation levels to levels of methylation in the brain, which were previously determined in the Davis lab, to determine whether activity of mutant methyltransferase is different in different tissue types. This research will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of gene imprinting and ultimately how variation in methylation impacts expression.
Why did you apply for this internship?
As a junior Biochemistry major, I was looking for a research project that I could work on through the summer and during the next academic year to build my lab skills, increase my understanding of the research process, and to develop a senior thesis. I knew that it was very important to get as much lab experience as possible as an undergraduate. Beyond the practical lab skills I would learn, I also wanted to improve my communication of science, both in presentations and in writing. I was also hoping to better understand what doing research really means, and to get a sense for what type of lab culture I would want to be a part of in the future.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I have become more comfortable in a lab setting and improved lab techniques. I am now very comfortable doing PCR, running agarose gels, and extracting DNA from gels. I have also learned about research related to our project. I think that all of these things are really important preparation for graduate school.
Was this internship what you expected it to be?
I expected to feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed when I first joined a lab, because that was how I had heard other people describe their experience. I didn't end up feeling that way at all! Whenever I didn't know what to do, even if it was something as small as forgetting where we stored a particular primer, I was able to ask my lab mates or Dr. Davis, my PI, for help.
Career & Civic Engagement Center Biochemistry and Molecular Biology