Amplified experience: Grad students join UÈȵ㱬ÁÏÈë¿ÚDNA labs

Two Èȵ㱬ÁÏÈë¿Ú graduate students will wield DNA technology to support research at UÈȵ㱬ÁÏÈë¿Úand across the state. Julianna Silver and Esther Olabamire will help conduct lab operations at the flagship university’s Environmental DNA (eDNA) Service and DNA Sequencing Centers through paid graduate assistantships.

Silver, a second year masters student in aquaculture and aquatic resources program, will help lead the labs’ freezer program and assist with other operations. Olabamire, a first year student in the data science and engineering program with specialization in Bioinformatics/Biomedicine, will also help with lab operations and sequencing.  

The positions will provide on-the-job training that aligns with both students’ backgrounds and current research. Silver, who worked on the $20 million NSF EPSCoR RII SEANET program as an undergraduate, is currently investigating the shed rates of a harmful bacteria, vibrio anguillarum, in blue mussels. The goal is to use genetic testing to detect the amount of vibrio anguillarum filtered and then shed by the mussels to help select aquaculture sites. 

Olabamire previously worked at a genetics research laboratory in Nigeria for five years. At this lab, Olabamire helped process blood samples of patients of African descent with prostate cancer to learn more about the disease. She hopes to combine her previous lab work experience, new position at UÈȵ㱬ÁÏÈë¿Úand her studies to eventually continue similar work back home in Nigeria. 

With their help, the eDNA Service Center and DNA Sequencing Center will be better equipped to meet the demands of Maine’s research community and provide a higher level of service. Both centers operate through UMaine’s Coordinated Operating Research Entities (CORE), which represents ten units that provide technical, lab and administrative services to the public. Additional information about CORE is available online.Ìý

Written by Daniel Timmermann

Contact: Erin Miller, erin.miller@maine.edu