Great research opportunities for UA Undergraduates

 

Last summer, Jordan Bolling, a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native, was exploring the social behavior of hydra, a simple polyp organism that lives in all types of fresh water. At the end of her study she concluded that they showed rudimentary signs of social behavior but there was more work to be done. This was capped with a poster entitled “Does Hydra Have Social Behavior”.

 

This research was performed as a summer student fellowship with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.  This prestigious award provided 10 undergraduates from across the country the opportunity to spend 10 weeks participating in seminars, career building workshops, and performing research.

 

Following this research experience, Jordan joined the UA research lab of Dr. Stanislava Chtarbanova in the Department of Biological Sciences. In her lab, Jordan is studying how the Drosophila brain responds to infection.  Specifically, she is examining how systemic and brain-specific exposure to bacteria causes activation of immunity and seeks to identify the exact cell types in the brain involved in this activation.

 

Over all, Jordan feels that her summer experience at the Marine Biological Laboratory was a springboard for her long-term career.  The program allowed her to make professional connections with scientists around the US.

 

Jordan Bolling is a junior Biological Sciences major with a Neuroscience minor.  Next year she plans to apply to graduate school for a doctoral degree in neuroscience.