2009 Undergraduate Researchers
- Sultana Peffley
Ribble Research Group
I am broadly interested in adaptations of organisms, primarily mammals. More specifically, I am interested in the adaptive nature of social and mating systems in deer mice (Peromyscus) in North America and sengis or elephant-shrews in Africa. I have had the good fortune of studying these animals in the field over the past few years where we documented the home ranges and social organization of these individuals using live-trapping and radiotelemetry. I also have tissue samples from these field-studied individuals and I am eager to examine paternity of offspring to test if these individuals are mating with whom we think they are…….. To examine these kinds of questions we will use microsatellite loci - loci that are composed of short tandem repeats that are ideal genetic markers for paternity analysis. These loci are first amplified using the polymerase chain reaction and the products are visualized on a genetic analyzer. The laboratory techniques and methods of analysis in this research are useful in a variety of other genetic studies.
Qualifications of successful applicants
Interested students should at least be comfortable with quantitative approaches in the sciences, and be persistent, careful and neat in the laboratory. Interested students are also encouraged to meet with Dr. Ribble to ask questions.
Sources of student funding
Students in this group will be supported by Trinity's NSF-funded program in Biomathematics. Students wih HHMI or McNair funding are also accepted..
