University of Cincinnati undergraduate students may complete their capstone requirement through research in our laboratory. Students should review the following guidelines before contacting Professor Limbach.
- The most successful capstone projects begin before the senior year. Thus, preference for undergraduate research is given to rising sophomores and juniors. Rising seniors are accepted into the lab on a space-available basis.
- Students are expected to commit to at least one-year of undergraduate research (CHEM 5030) with either Prof. Limbach or Prof. Addepalli at 3-credit hours per semester.
- Students will be assigned to a project under the guidance of a senior graduate student mentor.
- Projects will require both informatics and bench chemistry, which is typical of modern research in Biochemistry. Projects are assigned in consultation with either Prof. Limbach or Prof. Addepalli.
- Undergraduates may work in teams on their capstone project. This approach has been found to be beneficial in increasing the research output for undergraduates getting a late start on their capstone project.
- Students are expected to present their capstone research at the University Undergraduate Research Conference in April.
On-going and Previous Undergraduate Research and Capstone Projects
- In Vitro Transcription of Human tRNA Genes - Courtney Collins (on-going project)
- Purification and characterization of the ribonuclease Cusativin from Cucumis sativus L. - Sarah Venus (on-going project)
- Improving the yield of RNA recovered from human placenta using Proteinase K - Matthew Bergmann (Capstone 2014)
- Incorporating Stable Isotopes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA by Labeled Uracil - Chelsea Burns (Capstone 2014) and Mathew Pflanz (on-going project; Mat received departmental summer fellowship for this project as well)
- Incorporation of Isotopically Labeled Glycine in Escherichia coli - Chelsea Matthews and Karen Rahe (Capstone 2014; Karen received departmental summer fellowship for this project as well)
- Developing mass spectrometry methods for analyzing aminoacylated-tRNA - Lucas Hendrixson (Capstone 2014)
- Improving Elution Conditions to Increase Transfer RNA Purity Using Anion Exchange Chromatography - William Judd (Capstone 2014)