Research

We include students in our personal research because we believe that students learn biology best by conducting biological research. Get involved! Talk to a professor today and help discover something new about the living world around us.

Faculty Research

Dr. Sean Beckwith

Students in the Beckwith Lab participate in his study of a transposon (nicknamed a “jumping gene”) in the model organization baker’s yeast, in order to better understand:

Virus life cycles, particularly retroviruses like HIV
Protein misfolding in transmissible and neurodegenerative mammalian diseases like Alzheimer”s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (aka “Mad Cow Disease”)
Genome evolution

The research is led by genetics, informed by bioinformatics and employs techniques used in biochemistry, cell biology and genomics.

Dr. Aaron Best

Dr. Best’s research includes understanding the unique process of transcription in the human parasite Giardia lamblia, the integration of large scale data sets into models of metabolism for bacteria and the microbial ecology of the Macatawa Watershed. Each project hinges on the use of DNA sequences to guide questions and hypotheses.

Dr. Jennifer Blake-Mahmud

In the Blake-Mahmud Lab, we are curious about the ways in which living organisms navigate trade-offs, especially in the area of reproduction. We study how the environment affects life history strategies in plants by evaluating changes in gender, sex ratios, physiology and mortality and what this means for the long-term persistence and conservation of these species.

Dr. Maria Burnatowska-Hledin

The action of vasopressin is essential for body fluid homeostasis and blood pressure regulation. Recently, we have cloned a vasopressin binding protein (VACM-1) from the kidney that mobilizes cytosolic free calcium in response to vasopressin. This protein shows no homology with known vasopressin receptors and represents a novel family of receptors. Thus, the research conducted in our laboratory is directed at characterizing this new protein and the role it may play in water reabsorption by the kidney and in blood pressure regulation. Students will work on individual projects relating to the ongoing research of the lab. They will learn new techniques in molecular biology and biochemistry including making cDNA libraries, PCR, cloning techniques, mutagenesis, DNA sequencing, mRNA, DNA and protein isolation and purification, electrophoresis, Northern, Western and Southern blotting, spectrophotometry, tissue culture and intracellular ion measurements.

Dr. Erika Calvo-Ochoa

Dr. Calvo currently works with the zebrafish brain, since it exhibits a remarkable degree of plasticity, regeneration and neurogenesis throughout life. With this model, Dr. Calvo explores both neurodegeneration and regeneration mechanisms following brain injury and disease.

Dr. Leah Chase

In the Chase lab, we are very interested how the activity of System xc- is acutely regulated by reactive oxygen species to combat oxidative stress. We are interested in the specific effects peroxide has on intrinsic transporter activity and the trafficking of the transporter to the plasma membrane. Students working on this project will examine the regulation of System xc- by intracellularly produced H2O2 in a dopaminergic cell line. In order to do this, students will learn to grow mammalian cells in culture, examine System xc- expression by immunocytochemical and western blot analysis, and perform a variety of enzymatic assays to measure glutathione and peroxide levels in cultured cells.

Dr. Jimena Golcher-Benavides

Dr. Golcher-Benavides’ research team focuses on why some freshwater ecosystems readily accumulate diversity. She pursues this question from different angles and focuses on groups of freshwater fishes that have diversified rapidly relative to other vertebrates. Her research team will involve bio monitoring tools, proof-of-concept experiments involving behavioral observations, and comparative anatomy using museum specimens. Students in her lab will also gain experience with standard molecular lab techniques and bioinformatic tools used to inform conservation efforts.

Dr. Benjamin Kopek

Dr. Kopek integrates advanced imaging methods with molecular biology techniques to investigate how viruses replicate and how they interact with hosts.

Dr. Jianhua Li

Dr. Li works on plant systematics of various plant groups that are distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, with a focus on those that show a disjunct distribution between the Old and New Worlds.

Dr. Virginia McDonough-Stukey

Dr. McDonough-Stukey’s lab investigates how cells sense which lipids have been made available to them in their diet, and, in turn, regulate their gene expression to control lipid synthesis. She and her team work with the model eukaryotic organism, baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. She is currently in the process of identifying genes whose products are involved in this sensing, the subsequent signal transduction and gene expression regulation.

Dr. Cody Porter

Dr. Porter’s research is currently focused on three major areas:

Evolutionary ecology of seed-eating finches called crossbills
Thermoregulatory physiology of songbirds
Merging comparative approaches and foraging theory to better understand broad ecological and evolutionary patterns in nature

Dr. Kelly Ronald

The Ronald Lab is currently asking questions about how the urban environment alters the sensory physiology and behavior of an urban-adapted songbird, the house sparrow. Urban environments have unique physical (e.g., pollution, buildings) and sensory (e.g., lights, noise, and smells) components that can alter an organism’s physiological and behavioral response.

Dr. Joseph Stukey

Dr. Stukey’s research area of interest is bacteriophages, or phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. He studies a particular diverse group of phages known as the mycobacteriophages, investigating how they infect a common host bacterial cell and how their genomes evolve.

Hope College

Research

Faculty Research

OFF CAMPUS RESEARCH

GENERAL, MULTI-FIELD SITES (ACROSS SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES)

EPIDEMIOLOGY/BIOMEDICAL/GENETICS

ECOLOGY/CONSERVATION/WILDLIFE/MARINE BIOLOGY

PLANT BIOLOGY