Professor Beth De Stasio

My lab uses a small roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans, as a model system to study the assembly and structure of muscle and the control of muscle contraction by the nervous system. Several projects are available for student research. In one project, we are working to understand the role of myosin in constructing functioning muscle. Students are making mutant myosin genes that encode only portions of the myosin protein. They then micro-inject these genes into young adult worms and look at the muscle structure and function of the offspring. This work has been generously funded by the NSF-RUI program.

A second line of research is aimed at determining the role of a putative potassium channel in male mating behavior. Student in my lab previously isolating some interesting alleles of the gene sup-9, thought to encode one such potassium channel. These mutant alleles seem only to affect male worms, making them unable to mate, despite being able to move normally. Current students are investigating whether this defect is do to abberant channel activity in muscle cell membranes or in the nervous system. This work has been funded by several grants from the NIH-AREA program.

Recently, we have begun collaborating with the laboratories of Bart De Stasio (biology) and Jerry Lokensgard (chemistry) to determine the effects of a kairomone released by a predator on Daphnia morphogenesis. My lab is interested in determining the gene expression patterns of Daphnia grown in the presence kairomone. The long term goal is to link the kairomone signal to altered gene expression that then controls the formation of anti-predator morphologies (spines, neck teeth). This research is funded by an interdisciplinary grant to the biology and chemistry departments at Lawrence from AAAS/Merck.

The lab is composed entirely of Lawrence University undergraduates, with an occassional highly motivated high school student (all of whom have matriculated at Lawrence!). While I would love to identify all of them by name, that would require permission and all, but I will tell you a bit more of the human side of the statistics you see below. The first three brave souls who worked in my lab their senior year all went immediately on to graduate or medical school. One had her graduate work (also in worms!) published on the cover of the prestigous journal 'Science!' No students have been permanently harmed by lab research, and many have had a lot of fun. See pictures for proof!

2007 Crystal River Canoe Trip, Labs of Bart and Beth De Stasio, Ron Peck, and Nancy Wall
(Click for full-scale image)
Front Row: Ken Weinlander '10, Dan Berg Dec. 07, Lydia Luy Tan '08, Sarah Mohrmann '08, Jenna Reichel '09, Stacy Miller '08, Beth De Stasio
Back Row: Dan Shank '08, Paul Stevens '10, Ben Glover '08, Brendan Cornwell '08, Jessica Beyer '09, Ron Peck, Bart De Stasio

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The education and training of new scientists is the best job in the world. In my courses, I'm able to explain, synthesize, and place into a broader context the very latest discoveries in genetics and molecular biology (what fun!). The laboratory investigations for these courses continually evolve as new technologies and techniques are invented. Students thus learn the most up-to-date technques as well as concepts and mechanisms of inheritance and gene expression. My goals, however, are not limited to the transfer of information. My goals for students include that they should learn to think critically, to have a healthy skepticism that includes searching out alternative explanations and hypotheses. Students need to learn to think like scientists. Through the biology curriculum, they will learn to design experiments that test their hypotheses, learn patience and creativity as they execute their experiments, and they will add to their analytic skills as they determine the significance of their data and prepare it for dissemination. Students in my courses will practice their communication skills: clear and cogent writing as well as articulate speaking. These skills serve our students well no matter what field they chose to enter after graduation from Lawrence.