The 20th annual Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

DNA damage & repair: a look at the Hobo Element in Drosophila Melanogaster
Norris 100, 8:45 AM

Dontae  Jacobs,   '09 2
   Major: Biology
   Hometown: Nassau, Bahamas

Sponsor(s): Ken Saville
Support:  

Abstract: 
Transposable elements are repetitive genomic sequences that are able to move or transpose from one location to another on a chromosome. This ‘jumping’ of elements can cause sequence gaps in chromosomes, a form of DNA damage called double stranded DNA breaks (DSB). DNA damage needs to be repaired in order to prevent genetic anomalies which may lead to the development of diseases. The goal of my project is to determine how the gap of a particular transposable element called the hobo element is repaired by analytical observation of the third chromosome of Drosophila Melanogaster, otherwise known as common fruit fly. Upon successful completion, it may further research towards finding out how these DSB’s are repaired in human DNA and, therefore gain a better understanding of genetic diseases such as certain immune deficiency syndromes and cancer.

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