David Keller

Research Interests:

• Cellular and molecular aspects of type 2 diabetes.
• My lab studies gene expression and signal transduction pathways in pancreatic beta cells.
• Tissue-specific gene expression and currently study the regulation of microRNA and micropeptide genes.

CURE-E Course: Principles of Cell & Molecular Biology (BIOL 163)

Project Title: ‘Cure-ing’ an introductory biology course

Our first research goal will be: Can microbes be isolated from various environments that cause zones of clearing on yeast plates? Several experiments would support this goal, some of which are currently being run in the current version of Biol 162. The second research goal is: Are there microbial products that affect (either + or -) yeast cell growth in culture? Potentially new compounds that enhance cell growth or inhibit cell growth could be identified, though in the first iteration of the class we wouldn’t be expected to purify the compounds. But regardless, students could potentially generate new knowledge by showing that bacteria from the local Chico State environment inhibit or enhance eukaryotic cell growth, with implications for cancer biology.