Scholar Profiles
David Lefkowitz
2003 - 2004 University Scholar
Mentor: Christy Edwards
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
"I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to participate in this program. I recommend doing research to anyone interested in graduate school or professional school, and the USP is an excellent hands-on way to get involved."
David is a senior majoring in microbiology and cell science. He plans to pursue a career in medicine, and he is a member of the American Medical Student Association and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He has served as a senior teaching assistant for the course Exceptional People, EEX 3312, and is the manager of an Arby’s Restaurant.
Research Description:
My mentor, Christy Edwards, and I are using systematic analyses
to reconstruct the phylogeny of a clade of southeastern U.S.
mints (family Lamiaceae). We are currently working with roughly
nine species of mints and three outgroup species (for comparison).
To infer phylogenetic relationships we use DNA sequencing techniques
to compare and contrast a single target gene from each species.
Our gene of interest is glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
(G3PDH), a single-copy nuclear gene.
Lab procedures include DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction
(PCR), gel electrophoresis, DNA sequencing, and sequence editing.
Once the sequences are obtained, advanced computer programs
can be used to display the data in a cladogram. This allows
us to determine overall relatedness between each species.
This project will contribute to the field of systematics and
biology as a whole. It will show yet again that the relatively
young science of molecular genetics is substantially changing
taxonomy as well as present views on interspecific relatedness.
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