UBM: Analysis of Stress in Biological Systems

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This effort provides an integrated educational and research experience for teams of Loyola Marymount University (LMU) undergraduate students, at the applied interfaces of biology and mathematics. Each year, teams of students will undertake research projects designed to explore organismal responses to environmental stresses. A broad range of organisms from single-celled microbes to plants to invertebrate and vertebrate animals will be studied. Much of the experimentation will take place at the nearby Ballona Wetlands, a unique 350 acre wetlands habitat adjacent to LMU and surrounded by metropolitan Los Angeles. Problems of an applied environmental nature, including the impact of pollutants on the local species, as well as basic research questions concerning reactions of yeast to stresses, will be examined using a variety of mathematical and statistical tools, connected intimately with high performance computing power. Problems of DNA sequence analysis, animal asymmetry, and spider-web shape analysis will require techniques for very high dimensional multivariate statistical analysis and computer vision and image processing. Students will undergo rigorous mathematical and biological coursework to prepare for research, and continuing courses during the program will reinforce learning objectives. Capstone courses in the final year will allow students to integrate a large body of research and coursework. LMU has a strong tradition of integrating research into the curriculum for undergraduates, as well as an exemplary record of bringing underrepresented minority students into research activities. This UBM project will strengthen interdisciplinary ties among biologists and mathematicians both on the faculty and in the student body.