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uuid: 8f4e78f3-05e5-46e0-92d1-ea39ac10f9a3
uri: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal
created: '1693016665'
completed: '1693021234'
changed: '1697065932'
in_draft: '0'
current_page: ''
remote_addr: 128.186.63.52
uid: '0'
langcode: en
webform_id: urop_project_proposal_portal
entity_type: node
entity_id: '1116'
locked: '0'
sticky: '0'
notes: ''
data:
  approximately_how_many_hours_a_week_would_the_research_assistant: '8'
  are_you_currently_looking_for_students_: 'No'
  confirmation_1: '1'
  contact_email_fsu_email: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email2: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email_if_affiliated_: csolis@fsu.edu
  fsu_college: Education
  fsu_department_if_applicable_: 'Health, Food and Nutrition (aka Nutrition and Integrative Physiology) '
  headshot_optional_: '27271'
  if_the_project_location_is_off_campus_does_the_student_need_to_p: N/A
  mentoring_philosophy: |
    My mentoring philosophy is simple: you can reach the stars if you are in a supportive environment. My goal as a mentor is to provide the right conditions for my mentees to thrive. Examples of how I achieve this are by first and foremost, being available for my mentees to ask questions and get help at the earliest possible. Second, I provide the motivation and the key information for trainees to understand what is the main problem and why it must be solved. Third, I provide my trainees with the career advice they need to that from day one they can start getting feedback of where they can go with their careers. I am cognizant that motivation is an important driver of success because without the right catalyst the smallest challenge ahead will become daunting. 
  mentor_handbook_and_faqs: '1'
  name_of_other_faculty_collaborator_if_applicable_: ''
  number_of_assistants_needed_faculty_postdoc_max_6_graduate_stude: '3'
  other_faculty_collaborator_s_preferred_pronouns: ''
  overall_research_project_description: 'The heart is able to grow in response to exercise. This healthy growth stems from the enlargement of every heart muscle cell in the heart. Heart muscle cells grow by assembling more and more cytoskeleton, known as sarcomere in muscle cells. In the lab, we can force this growth by making cells work harder and their natural response is to build more sarcomeres. One of the proteins that is a structural member of these sarcomeres is alpha-actinin, which acts as a cross-linker to anchor other structural proteins like actin. We recently published a paper demonstrating that the protein alpha-actinin gets phosphorylated during this growth phase of the heart muscle cells (https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/febs.16925). Given that we found this phosphorylation sites, our aim is to provide causal evidence that these modifications indeed affect the assembly of alpha-actinin. To test this we will take the alpha-actinin plasmid and we will mutate this plasmid by introducing Serine --> Aspartic/Glutamic Acid substitutions (a.k.a. pseudophosphorylation). Likewise, we can introduce Serine --> Alanine susbstitutions to disable the changes of the Serine to be phosphorylated inside cardiac muscle cells. The synthesized proteins will be tested subsequently by biochemical assays such as co-precipiation assays with F-actin. '
  please_add_any_additional_information_here: |-
    My former lab page: https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/russell-lab/
    My lab page will come online soon. 
  please_provide_a_link_to_your_publications_a_video_clip_or_a_web: 'https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vAoAMrwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao'
  please_select_the_choice_that_most_accurately_describes_your_exp: 'Partially Remote'
  please_select_the_location_of_your_project_: 'On FSU Main Campus'
  position_availability_for_student_research: 'Flexible schedule'
  position_title: Faculty
  primary_research_mentor_name: 'Christopher Solis, PhD, MBA'
  project_keywords: 'Muscle proteins, hypertrophy, myocardium, sarcomere, mutagenesis '
  relevant_student_major_s_: |
    Biology/biological sciences, computer and information sciences, Exercise physiology, Information technology, Health services/allied health/health sciences, Mechanical engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemical engineering, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Electrical and electronics engineering, Computer engineering, Clinical nutrition/nutritionist, Chemistry, Physics, Bioengineering and biomedical engineering, Computational science, Computational biology. 
  research_mentor_preferred_pronoun2: ''
  research_mentor_pronouns: Him/his
  research_mentor_supervisor_if_different_from_above_: ''
  research_tasks_for_student_research_assistant_s_: |-
    1) Sequence the plasmid for quality control purposes using the Molecular Cloning Facility at the Department of Biological Sciences.
    2) Identify the optimal ORF plasmid substitutions using software such as Serial Cloner
    3) Design the primers using online tools (https://www.agilent.com/store/primerDesignProgram.jsp). 
    4) Find most cost-effective vendor for primer synthesis.
    5) Once the primers are received, work with the Molecular Cloning Facility at the Department of Biological Sciences to produce the plasmids.
    6) Once the plasmids are made, perform the the quality control from necessary from the data provided by the Molecular Cloning Facility
    7) Afterwards, amplify the alpha-actinin protein by molecular cloning techniques in E. coli cells.
    8) Once enough plasmid is made, express the alpha-actinin protein in HEK293 or HeLa cells. 
    9) Purify the alpha-actinin protein using chromatography techniques. 
    10) Once the alpha-actinin protein is purified, conduct co-precipitation assays with F-actin to estimate the extent of interactions of alpha-actinin with F-actin
  roundtable_times_and_zoom_links: |-
    Wed, Sept. 6: any 30-min block between 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm.
    Fri, Sept. 8: any 30-min block between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm.
    https://fsu.zoom.us/j/6263906254
  skills_that_research_assistants_may_need_: 'Molecular biology, biochemistry. '
  title_of_the_project: 'Protein engineering of alpha-actinin mutant proteins to test biological role in the heart muscle '
  update_url: 'https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=ehRuJ-nEvuOrUewrA25DgBYhzmQjOBjmVWXgGUit3aE'
  urop_performance_evaluation: '1'
  urop_poster_presentation: '1'
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_2: ''
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_wh: ''
  when_students_are_reaching_out_via_email_what_is_your_preferreda: Dr.
  would_you_like_to_participate_in_the_urop_research_mentor_roundt: ''
  year: '2023'