441 Mark Jefferson
Science Complex
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
734.487.4242
(1) I am involved in research on biology education, with a focus on the teaching of introductory biology classes. My lab investigates the impact of pedagogical practices on student success, with a particular focus on how we can increase the participation of historically underrepresented groups in the sciences. You can read a news article about this work in EMU Today.
(2) I study antibiotic-producing microbes from the soil. My lab further investigates microbes collected by students in the Tiny Earth Introductory Biology lab classes at EMU. We want to understand which conditions most stimulate antibiotic production, and learn about the genes involved in antibiotic production.
(3) I am interested in how breaks in DNA are repaired by homologous recombination. In particular, my lab studies the break-induced replication (BIR) pathway, with the goal of understanding how BIR can lead to chromosomal rearrangements. This research uses baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model organism. You can view a short TRUEMU video about this work.
†denotes MS student author
*denotes undergraduate author