Current Research I am currently working on exploiting photosynthetic organisms to produce macronutrients from CO2 and sunlight. Graduate Research I recently finished my PhD with Professor Michael Laub in the department of biology at MIT. The Laub lab is interested in how cells process information and make decisions. Individual bacterial cells have complex genetic regulatory networks that allow them to do things like sense nutrients in the environment and move toward their source (chemotaxis) or to form protective spores under extreme environmental conditions (sporulation). One focus of the lab is the study of the genetic regulatory network that allows bacteria to divide (cell cycle). The Laub uses the model bacterial system of Caulobacter crescentus because its unique life cycle allows us to identify discrete stages of the cell cycle. Roughly speaking, in order to replicate itself a cell must copy its DNA and make the proteins necessary to execute cell division. In Caulobacter, the response regulator CtrA is the master cell cycle regulator because it controls both of these critical functions. CtrA is both a DNA binding protein that sits at the origin and prevents the initiation of DNA replication and a transcription factor that controls the expression of many genes necessary for cell division. Changes in CtrA activity drive progression of the cell cycle and our lab has recently proposed a genetic regulatory network model that describes how CtrA activity is controlled. I discovered a novel regulator of CtrA transcriptional activity, a gene we've named sciP. SciP controls CtrA through a unique protein-protein interaction which is essential for the proper progression of the cell cycle. Previous Research Experience Before starting graduate school at MIT, I had the opportunity to do undergraduate research in two labs at Caltech. Freshmen year I began working in Professor Eric Davidson’s lab. The Davidson lab works on a model of the sea urchin endomesoderm gene regulatory network (GRN) that describes the genetic program underlying early embryonic development and specification in S. purpuratus. I worked with a postdoctoral fellow in the lab on the cis-regulatory analysis on tbr, a gene required for development of one of the embryonic cell types. After taking an environmental microbiology class with Professor Jared Leadbetter senior year, I took the opportunity to explore another field by working in the lab as a research assistant. The Leadbetter lab is interested in the termite gut and the microbial communities that inhabit it. I worked on a project in collaboration with another postdoctoral fellow, Eric Matson, to examine gene diversity in the termite gut community of the CODH (carbon monoxide dehydrogenase) gene, a key enzyme in carbon metabolism. Publications Gora KG, et al. A cell-type-specific protein-protein interaction modulates transcriptional activity of a master regulator in Caulobacter crescentus. Molecular Cell. July 2010. Matson EG, KG Gora, and JR Leadbetter. Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase Diversity in the Homoacetogenic Hindgut Microbial Communities of Lower Termites and the Wood Roach. PLoS. 2011. Wahl ME, Hahn J, Gora K, Davidson EH, Oliveri P. The cis-regulatory system of the tbrain gene: Alternative use of multiple modules to promote skeletogenic expression in the sea urchin embryo. Developmental biology. 2009 Aug. |