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Project Descriptions
Fall 2025

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Showing 4 projects out of 4 found. On page 1 out of 1.
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The Biology of Peroxiredoxin 6

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Oxidative damage to mitochondria has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes, stroke, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and many other metabolic syndrome disorders. Recent work shows that deletion of the antioxidant protein peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) dysregulates mitochondrial function. PRDX6 is a multi-functional enzyme that expresses at least 2...

 Biological & Health Sciences

Fasting-associated changes in elephant seal blubber during postnatal development

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project seeks to characterize cells isolated from the blubber of northern elephant seal pups during the post-weaning fasting period. Elephant seal pups nurse from their mothers for ~1 month, after which they are abruptly weaned and carry out a terrestrial post-weaning fast for several months prior to...

 Biological & Health Sciences

Developing ex vivo tissue culture systems for reptiles

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The focus of this project is to develop tissue culture models to answer mechanistic questions that are relevant to physiological responses during diving and under stress conditions in sea turtles. This project will examine sea turtles’ adaptations to hypoxia by characterizing gene expression and reactive oxygen species generation under differential...

 Biological & Health Sciences

Studying Gene Expression During Breath-Holds in Elephant Seals

Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Elephant seals are expert divers that can hold their breath for long periods without sustaining any injuries, even in low-oxygen conditions. Unlike humans, they avoid the harmful effects of reduced blood flow and reoxygenation by using strong antioxidant defenses. This project will explore how their genes change during natural...

 Biological & Health Sciences

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