Mary's Project Page

Who:  I was born in Miyazaki, Japan and grew up in Utah. I applied to the U because there are  many opportunities for research and I can be close to family.

My scientific/engineering interests:  My fascination with biology and psychology lead me to choose my major in biology with an emphasis in neurobiology. I would love to be able to prescribe medication to patients while understanding the chemical and biological mechanisms behind how the medication works.

Academic goals:  I am working towards attaining a degree in biology with an emphasis in neurobiology and double minor in chemistry and psychology. I will continue working in my ACCESS lab and hope to be published before graduating.

Career goals:  After graduation, I hope to go to medical school to become a psychiatrist. I am especially passionate about mental health, and my favorite thing to do is help others through their problems. I love listening to people vent about their feelings and I find it easy to relate to them. I  hope to impact people’s lives by understanding their inner battles and finding solutions that work for them.

MutY is a protein that prevents mutations through a process called base excision repair. Base excision repair is a cellular mechanism that corrects base mispairs due to oxidation. The nucleotide bases, guanine and cytosine, normally base pair together by hydrogen bonding. However, due to guanine’s low redox potential, it can easily become oxidized and mispair with adenine. If this mispair is not corrected at early stages, the mutated cell can multiply and become cancerous. Understanding the mechanisms and structure of this DNA repairing enzyme may provide insight on how to increase its function.

Many organisms have MutY that carry precisely the same amino acid sequence DGNV. This conserved sequence is found at the MutY structure and contributes key contacts with the DNA substrate. Some cancer patients have been found to have “altered” MutY. Instead of Asparagine (N) cancer patients have Serine (S). Additionally, the altered MutY with the N->S replacement allows for the interaction of calcium as seen below. The purpose of calcium is unknown; therefore, the aim of the research is to investigate the role of calcium.

It is hypothesized that calcium will inhibit MutY’s activity, allowing for more mutations. This will be determined by comparing both the mutation and growth rates at different concentrations of calcium. To test the effect of calcium on MutY, DNA will be extracted from G. stearothermophilus, purified, and transformed into reporter cells. Tests for toxicity, growth and mutation rate can then be performed. The growth rate test will compare the rates of the exponential phases between varying concentrations of calcium to show its effect on growth. The mutation rate test will compare frequency rates between varying concentrations of calcium and to show its effect on the functionality of MutY.

The Effect of Calcium on MutY Download The Effect of Calcium on MutY