Dr. Allan M. Judd, Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology

Evaluation of how well the scholarly objectives of the proposals were met

Throughout the three years the funding of this proposal was utilized , I (Dr. Judd) have weekly laboratory meetings and journal clubs for undergraduate and graduate students in the laboratory. At the journal club, recently published articles related to their research projects are presented by the students and the hypothesis, techniques, data, and conclusions of each of the manuscripts discussed. I also interact with these students to help them plan their presentation and lead the discussion of the manuscript at the end of the presentation. The articles that are chosen for discussion are generally published in “Endocrinology” , the premiere journal in endocrine research. The students also have the opportunity to present their data and talk with me and other students about data analysis and interpretation during the laboratory meeting. The undergraduate students that have been in the laboratory for several semesters generally have their own project and come to my office about once a week to discuss their data and experiments. In the day to day interactions in the laboratory (talking while doing experiments etc.), I try to get to know the students better and talk with them about their academic goals and plans. I also often talk with the students about various recent discoveries of importance (generally in endocrinology, but may be in other areas of science).

Over the three years of funding of this proposal had over forty different undergraduate students work in the laboratory (13 in 2008, 20 in 2009, 21 in 21010) and one graduate students.

These students have learned the following:

a) Techniques Students have learned to perform the following techniques in the laboratories.

1) Cell culture of the adrenal cell line H295R. The students have also learned how to conduct experiments utilizing this cell line.

2) Students have learned how to collect bovine adrenal glands and to separate these adrenal glands into the various zones of the adrenal cortex. The students have also learned how to utilize the tissue fragments from the various adrenal zones for experiments involved in the effects of cytokines and bacterial/viral products on adrenal function.

3) RT-PCR for various mRNAs including the design of the DNA primers utilized for these assays.

4) Western blot for various proteins

5) Promoter assays utilizing the StAR promoter and luciferase.

b) Experimental design and performance: In the laboratory the students have interacted with the professors as the experiments were designed and performed. Therefore, they have learned to design experiments utilizing proper negative and positive controls, concentrations of drugs, and time courses. The students have also learned the logistic necessary to perform the various experiments.

c) Data analysis and interpretation: The students have learned the following:

1) Quantitative analysis of RT-PCR and Western blot data utilizing software.

2) ANOVA and multiple comparison tests for the analysis of data

3) The students have learned to graph data utilizing various software programs.

4) The students have learned to test a hypothesis with the data they receive from the experiments. They have also learned to integrate their results into an understanding of the physiological function of the organism and form new hypotheses from the data they collect.

d) Publication of results and presentation of results

1) The undergraduate and graduate students that have worked with Dr. Judd wrote one abstracts that was presented to the Endocrine Society in June of 2010. This abstract had a graduate student as presenting author and six undergraduate students as co-author. Dayton, A. W., R.M. Argyle, T.B. Walker, B.D. Burrows, J.C. Smart, K.A. Dalton, T.L. Ogzewalla, and A.M. Judd. AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Increases the Expression of StAR in Adrenocortical Tissue. 91st Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society, June 2010, San Diego, California.

In addition two abstracts will be submitted for the 2013 Endcorine meeting in January of 2013 and some of the data for these abstracts were obtained from funds provided by this grant.

In the winter of 2013 it is expected that the results from this proposal will be combined with recent experiment and a manuscript submitted for publication. The tile of this manuscript will be The Role of AMPK in IL-6 stimulation of expression of StAR and p450scc. This manuscript will have one graduate student as an author, and one graduate student and six undergraduate students as co-authors.