Dr. Robyn Lints from Texas A&M University was the REU program's most recent visiting mentor. She spoke to students and faculty on her work with the worm species C. elegans. One of the unusual and not very well-known features of this species is that there are hermaphrodites -- which can fertilize themselves -- and males, but no females. Dr. Lints is doing research on the neurobiology of how the males recognize and mate with hermaphrodites (who frequently do not particularly want to be mated, from all appearances). She had some truly amazing transgenic techniques she was using to investigate these questions.
Dr. Lints met with faculty and REU students individually, and also spoke briefly in the research ethics class that REU students are taking about some of the ethical issues she had cause to think about in her professional career.
We thank Dr. Lints, and hope she enjoyed her visit despite having over 8 hours of delayed flights (shudder!).
L to R: (back) Ammie Ortiz, Jess Valdez, Stephanie Castellanos, Stephanie Jimenez, Robyn Lints, (front) Ashley Longoria, Amery Yang
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