Biology Department

Senior Theses

All seniors at Reed College must complete a year-long thesis project as a part of their final academic year. For Biology students, the senior thesis offers an opportunity to fully engage a research question with the assistance of a faculty advisor. The diversity of topics and questions pursued by Biology seniors spans the breadth of the biological sciences. All students must identify a focused problem within their area of interest and then design experiments, collect and analyze data, and provide both a written document and oral defense of the finished thesis.

The range of research topics engaged in by Biology seniors can be seen below in the list of thesis titles from our most recent group of seniors. Thesis titles are listed in alphabetical order by the senior's last name. The abstract for a thesis can be viewed by clicking on the Abstract link (if provided). The faculty member advising each student is listed with the abstract, and includes a link to his/her home page.

Thesis Research Support

The Biology Department has available a number of sources of financial support for thesis research. While modest projects are sometimes supported from regular Department funds, many of our Seniors find support for their expenses from research grants to their faculty thesis advisor or from institutional grants from foundations like HHMI and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. Research funds from institutional grants are awarded on a competitive basis to seniors who prepare a written proposal in support of their request. These foundation grants have provided critical support, allowing Reed seniors to develop research projects that are more ambitious and sophisticated than might otherwise be possible. In addition to developing critical research skills, the seniors learn the important process of supporting their research through the development of written research proposals. Senior theses listed below (or on the links above for earlier years) that were supported by such grants are designated with a label in blue.

You may be wondering just how many Biology and BMB majors we graduate each year. We wondered that as well, so in 1996 we began weighing the graduating class to determine the official "biomass" of the Department's seniors. We can now quantitatively answer the question of how many seniors we graduate, with our answer given in units of metric tons. You can see the results at the BIOMASS homepage.

 

2012 Senior Thesis Titles

(CLASS OF 2012: If your thesis abstract is not currently included on this page and you would like it to be, please follow this link.)

  • Investigating the Shelterin Complex in Xenopus laevis: TRF1 and PinX1 Interaction in an In vivo Model by Gleb Bazilevsky - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Flower Color in Delphinium: Reference Genes and Gene Expression in the Anthocyanin Pathway by Hanna Leigh Blaney

  • Mechanism and Importance of Ler Oligomerization in E. coli Pathogenesis by Gabriel Lang Butterfield - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Enhancing stress tolerance: ascorbate peroxidase overexpression in popular by Lauren Nicole Carley

  • The Specter in the Cyborg: Neuroscience, Intellectual History, and the Crisis of Identity by Lydia Genevieve Clark

  • Inhibition of Telomerase by Xenopus laevis Partial xPinX1 Proteins by Isabel Phoebe Cylinder - Abstract

  • Thermally Induced Variation in Morphology and Development through Canopy Cover Variation in a Population of Bombina orientalis in the Republic of Korea by Jessie Jean Ellington

  • Zinc-Mediated Downregulation of Virulence Genes in Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) by rpoE by Neil R. S. Evans - Abstract

  • A Little Motherly Inhibition: The Effects of Postnatal Maternal Care on Astatotilapia burtoni by Christopher David Galvin - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Stimulus-Dependent Cellular Proliferation in Aplysia californica Bag Cells by William Wood Gester - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Actions of the Novel Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator STX in Estrogenic Regulation of MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation by Margo Elsa Gilbert - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • A New Approach to the Synthesis and Pharmacokinetics of the Novel Thyroid Hormone Receptor Antagonist NH-3 by Michael Xavier Gonzales

  • Species distribution modeling: A tool for the conservation of Delphinium leucophaeum by Ella Rose Gray

  • Acute Effects of Estrogen on c-fos and Trefoil Factor Transcription in MCF-7 Cells by Caroline Rowley Holton

  • Characterizing the interaction between Xenopus laevis TRF2 and TIN2 by Jeffrey Michael Hunter - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Estrogen Inhibition of Cyclin T Binding during Transcriptional Repression by Matthew George Milton

  • Role of OxyS as transcriptional regulator in mycobacterial oxidative stress response by Mischka Anjelika Moechtar

  • Fas and Fas Ligand in the Jurkat and B3B7 cell lines: a comparison of apoptotic protein expression in human and amphibian cancer cells by Elizabeth Anne Montgomery - Abstract

  • Phenology and Morphology of Taricha granulosa Overwintering Larvae and Aquatic Adults in Reed College Canyon: Implications for Ecological Restoration by Mathilde Braley Mouw - Abstract

  • Neuropeptides and sex-biased behavior: Arginine Vasotocin and Isotocin in Julidochromis by Morgan Anderson Movius - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Cyclin G2 Expression Mediation bForkhead Nuclear Export in MCF-7 Cell by Graham Jackson Myers - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • qPCR as a Tool for Measuring Ribosomal Gene Copy Number by Andrea Gray Padgett

  • Copy Number Variation Among World Wide Accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana by Anand Devendra Parikshak

  • Combined Program, Duke University, Annah Lake Peterson

  • Subcellular Localization of Xenopus laevis TRF1 in Interphase A6 cells by Jacqueline Monteiro Pires - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • From Mom’s Metabolism to Child Cannibalism: Feeding Regulation in the Maternal Mouthbrooder Astatotilapia burtoni by Nathaniel David Raley - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Copper Redistribution in EarlyStages of Wilson’s Disease: Understanding Copper Hot-Spots in the Atp7b-/- Mouse Livers by Emily Faith Robinson

  • Decapentaplegic Expression in Developing Latrodectus mactans Spider Embryos by Megana Sankaran

  • Effects of Nitrate Exposure on Daphina pulex: a Whole Organism Study of Toxicity by Sarah Bluma Semon - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • The generation and analysis of neutral genetic markers in Delphinium nuttallii using the ISSR technique by Christine Elizabeth Short - Abstract

  • Identifying the metal ion specificity of the Staphylococcal iron regulator repressor (SirR) by Rukayat Mayowa Taiwo

  • Pollinator specificity in the yucca moth/Joshua tree obligate pollination mutualism: implications for coevolution and codivergence by Emily C. Thornquist - Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Characterization of Regulatory T cells with the Chemokine Receptor CCR6 in the Experimental Ovalbumin-Induced Uveitis Murine Model by Jessica Dan Que Tran - Abstract

  • Cellular Movement During Early Development of Two Spiders, Latrodectus mactans and Zygiella x-notata by Jennifer Lacey Turner

  • In search of ribonucleoprotein granules in Aplysia californica by Michael Edward Turvey - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • Constructing a Nitrogen Budget of the Reed College Canyon by Aaron Hiroshi Webb -Abstract - (This study was funded in part by a grant from the Reed College Biology Undergraduate Research Program)

  • StpA represses the LEE5 operon of EPEC by Sarah L. Wesley

  • Combined Program, Duke University, Rachel Marlies Workin

  • Maternal Effect on Astatotilapia burtoni Cichlid Fish Anxiety-Mediated Behavior and “Personality” by Maria E. Zapetis