| Faculty Advisor |
Kristi Montooth
|
|---|---|
| Contact Email | kmontooth2@unl.edu |
| Website | |
| Advisor College: |
Arts and Sciences
|
| Potential Student Tasks |
The FYRE student will be part of a very active research team with undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers both at UNL and meeting virtually with our collaborator lab at UC Berkeley. The student will participate in all aspects of research, including group meetings, field collections, culturing the colony, and breeding and genome sequencing to understand the genetic basis of the wing dimorphism that enables dispersal and flight across these crickets species. |
| Student Qualifications |
We are looking for a student who is responsible and curious, who works well both in a team and independently, and with some interest in genetics, physiology, or evolution. |
| Training, Mentoring, and Workplace Community |
The cricket research team at UNL is a very active group with 2 postdocs, 2 graduate students, and 3-4 undergraduate researchers. Undergraduates in the Montooth Lab are fully engaged members of the lab who participate in lab meetings, lab activities, and work collaboratively in a space that is designed to empower students through discovery. The lab serves as a home base for students, with computers and lunch/break spaces where undergraduates can work and have fun with other members of the lab. Dr. Montooth has an open-door policy and likes to work with students both at the lab bench and on the computer to collaborate on experimental design, data analysis, and presentations to disseminate results. Students know that their work will lead to co-authorship on manuscripts that include their data, which fosters both ownership and belonging. The cricket team within the Montooth Lab is a dynamic and active research group with 2 postdocs, 2 graduate students, and 3-4 undergraduate researchers, who also meet biweekly and in person at an annual retreat with our collaborators at UC Berkeley. Our weekly group meetings provide opportunities for collaborative design, presentation of data and results, and positive and constructive feedback. The lab provides mentoring that supports student academic success and professional development toward diverse careers for many undergraduate researchers that are active participants in FYRE, STEM-POWER, and UCARE, providing a vibrant environment for student belonging and success through peer mentoring and professional development activities, such as preparing and disseminating research results at local and national meetings and providing resources to assist students as they apply for jobs or further training in graduate or professional degree programs. Secondary contact: Colin Meiklejohn, cmeiklejohn2@unl.edu |
| Available Positions |
1
|
Many traits, including disease states in humans, come in two discrete forms (i.e., are dimorphic), but their genetic basis is not caused by a simple single genetic factor. The role of genetics and the processes that generate discrete forms from continuous genetic and environmental inputs are not well understood, limiting our ability to predict traits from genomic information and to understand the evolution of these complex traits. The project uses a powerful model system, North American field crickets in the genus Gryllus, to discover the genetic, developmental, physiological, and environmental processes that convert genetic variation and environmental inputs into a dimorphic trait in this species group--the ability to fly. The project will impact society through improving our ability to predict complex traits across environments, potentially improving disease interventions, enhancing outcomes for selective breeding of domesticated and managed species and populations, and predicting species responses to global change. Crickets are increasingly used as an alternative food source, and the insights into cricket biology and genomes generated by this project will be a valuable resource for those developing these insects as a sustainable food source.
