Sara Cowan

Responsible for facilitating daily operations of a 215,000 square ft building, Campus Recreation & Intramurals. Duties as first responder in medical emergencies until relief by EMS or other health professional, facility policy enforcer, and supervisory over facility assistants, fitness specialists, aquatics personnel, and other CRI employees.

Preformed bioinformatics analysis for mitochondrial genome in parasites, and analyzed phylogenetic data for select family of cestodes. Utilized DNA extraction , amplification, and sequencing techniques often. Gained scanning electron microscope (SEM) experience, wrote/published publication under mentor, and extended knowledge/use of biotechnologies used in genetic research labs.

Enforces facility protocol, facilitates front desk/equiptment desk, and provides information on facility memberships and connected departments at help desk.

ABSTRACT: The Hymenolepididae is the largest family of tapeworms infecting mammals and birds. Even with about 90 genera and over 900 species, only 4 species have complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes sequenced, few species have more than a single gene sequenced, and most have no DNA sequences. Current phylogenetic framework of mammalian hymenolepidid tapeworms is based primarily on partial sequences of the 28S rDNA. Staphylocystoides is the largest genus within the Hymenolepididae infecting shrews (Eulipotypha), with 10 described and many undescribed species worldwide. Interspecific relationships within the genus remain unknown and the position of the genus within the family as a whole is unclear. The goal of this project was to assemble and annotate mt genomes of 17 taxa, including described and yet undescribed species of Staphylocystoides. Protein coding amino acid sequences were used to generate a more comprehensive phylogeny of the genus. Mitochondrial genomes were assembled from Illumina HiSeq whole genome sequence data. Bioinformatic programs NOVOPlasty and Geneious were used to isolate and assemble the mt genomes, which were annotated using both Geneious (protein coding genes (12) and rRNAs (2)) and ARWEN (tRNAs (22)). The approximate average mt genome length was 13,500 bp with highly conserved gene locations for all worms sequenced. Divergent and ambiguously aligned regions of the protein-coding sequences were removed using the Gblocks server. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods for phylogenetic analyses were performed using MrBayes and RAxML respectively on the CIPRES Science Gateway. The 17 Staphylocystoides mt genomes will provide a foundation for greater understanding of the evolutionary history and of hymenolepidids and cestodes as a whole.