Prospective graduate students are presented with various choices of research projects that are tailored to serve as the basis for thesis work. The research is usually related to ongoing work in the laboratory but are stand-alone projects that overlap very little, or not at all with work by other lab members. While we encourage collaborations within our group the student will be the sole proprietor of their thesis work. Independence and creativity are encourages of the students during there thesis work. Enterprising students are granted considerable leeway in choosing their projects and pursuing their own scientific curiosity.
Guidance and evaluation of progress comes from individual meetings with Dr. McDonald, works-in-progress presentations at lab meetings, and Departmental advisory committee meetings.
Past Graduate student projects:
- "Molecular Regulation of the HERG Potassium Channel": Anna Kagan, Winner 2002 Julius Marmur Award.
- "Control of KvLQT1 Gating by KCNE Proteins": Yonathan Melman, Winner 2003 Julius Marmur Award.
- "MODELING HUMAN MEMORY DISORDERS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER, AND THE RESTORATION OF MEMORY IN THOSE MODELS BY PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENTS ": Sean McBride., Winner 2007 Julius Marmur Award. Einstein News Article .
- "Regulation of HERG Channel Bio-Processing": Jakub Sroubek
For visiting or rotation students interested in laboratory rotations, a smaller, well-circumscribed project will be designed. The goal is to give the student an interesting experience and hopefully teach them a new concept or technique.