BMED PhD Proposal Presentation

Date: 3/25/2020

Time: 2PM

Location: EBB 5029

BLUEJEANS:  https://gatech.bluejeans.com/2139398713

Committee Members:

- Hang Lu, PhD (Advisor, BME, Georgia Tech)

- Ahmet Coskun, PhD (BME, Georgia Tech)

- Shuichi Takayama, PhD (BME, Georgia Tech)

- Annalise Paaby, PhD (Biology, Georgia Tech)

- Patrick Phillips, PhD (Biology, University of Oregon)

Title: Microfluidic-based tools to investigate gene expression and regulation with tissue-specificity during aging in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract:

Aging is a complex, universal process that impacts us all differently. An important aspect of aging research is studying gene expression and regulation. To fully quantify gene expression, we must be able to measure it on an individual level with cellular resolution. Current techniques to study gene expression either fail to capture these details (e.g. RNA-sequencing) or lack throughput (e.g. single molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization (smFISH)). In this thesis, I am to engineer a microfluidic-based pipeline to improve smFISH-based studies. In Aim 1, I propose to adapt smFISH to C. elegans in a microfluidic device to couple live-imaging information with gene expression. In Aim 2, I propose to enhance reagent exchange kinetics using a microfluidic/electrokinetic hybrid device to drive transport of macromolecules to achieve multicycle smFISH in whole C. elegans. With these established technologies, I propose in Aim 3 to investigate changes of gene expression and variability within differently aged cohorts of C. elegans. By quantifying a network of genes, we can further understand the importance of tissue-specific gene expression and its variability during the aging process.