Dr. Michele Meisner, TCNJ Alumna, PhD Program in Biostatistics
NC State University

April 27, 2016
11:00am – 12:00pm
SCP-229

“Elucidating Gene by Environment Interactions (GxE) Associated with Interindividual Variation in Response to Chemical Exposure”

Abstract: There are limited, and often conflicting, data on how the effects of environmental agents differ across susceptible populations. We hypothesized that gene-environment interactions (GxE) play an important role. We tested our hypothesis by studying the effects of the chemical, Abamectin on a large outbred zebrafish population. We characterized the correlation structure across morphological endpoints in order to describe a multivariate phenotype of altered eye, snout, jaw, and axis development in zebrafish. We exposed the fish to Abamectin and then isolated “affected” samples that displayed our multivariate phenotype from “unaffected” samples that did not respond to chemical exposure. DNA was then individually isolated and sequenced from each affected and unaffected sample. These data were then used to identify GxE as genetic variants associated with interindividual variation in response to chemical exposure. We hope to extend this approach to other chemicals to shed light on genetic regions for targeted follow-up.

Speaker Bio: Michele Meisner is a Ph.D. student and former NSF graduate fellow in Bioinformatics at NC State University working in the Reif Lab. She received her M.S. in Statistics (concentration: Statistical Genetics) from NC State University and B.A. in Statistics from The College of New Jersey. Her current research focuses on characterizing genetic variance underlying phenotypic variability between individuals in outbred model organism populations exposed to varying chemical environments. Michele enjoys participating in activities with her dog in her downtime and has recently submitted his DNA to figure out his mixed breed!