Ian Winters, '12

Major
Honors biology

Honors Thesis
"Characterizing the role and regulatory network of the Pax and Six genes in an emerging model system, the freshwater sponge, E. muelleri"

Beckman Mentor
April Hill, Ph.D.

Post-Grad Plans
Stanford University School of Medicine Biosciences PhD Program in Genetics

Honors and Awards

  • 2012 Invited to Phi Beta Delta
  • 2011 Received the Beckman Scholars Program award
  • 2011 Accepted into the University of California San Diego Amgen Scholars Program
  • 2011 Accepted into the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP)
  • 2010 Invited to apply to the Omicron Delta Chapter
  • 2010 Invited to the Golden Key International Honour Society
  • 2009 Member of Tri Beta, the National Biological Honor Society
  • 2006 Selected to attend the HHMI Holiday Lectures on stem cells, cloning, and regeneration

Publications

  • A. Rivera, I. Winters, A. Rued, D. Posfai, and A. Hill. “Characterizing the function, expression, and regulatory networks of Pax/Six in a basal metazoan.” Manuscript in preparation for submission to Evolution and Development (Fall 2011)
  • A. Rivera, J. Hammel, K. Haen, E. Danka, B. Cieniewicz, I. Winters, D. Posfai, G. Wörheide, D. Lavrov, S. Knight, M. Hill, A. Hill, and M. Nickel. “RNA interference in marine and freshwater sponges: actin knockdown in Tethya wilhelma and Ephydatia muelleri by ingested dsRNA expressing bacteria.” BMC Biotechnology 11: 67 (June 2011)

Scientific Presentations

  • I. Winters, A. Rued, S. Ding, D. Posfai, A. Rivera, L. Gentile, and A. Hill. “Knockdown of PaxB and Six1/2 by RNAi leads to developmental defects of the aquiferous system in the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri.” Presented at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting in Charleston, SC (January 2012).
  • A. Hill, A. Rivera, B. Cieniewicz, E. Danka, S. Ding, A. Rued, I. Winters, and L. Gentile. “Evolution of Gene Regulatory Networks: Early construction of the Pax/Six regulatory hierarchy in sponges.” Presented at the 8th Sponge Conference in Girona, Spain (September 2010)
  • I. Winters, D. Posfai, A. Rued, A. Hill, and A. Rivera. “Evolution of a gene regulatory network: the animal specific Pax/Six network in sponges.” Presented at the HHMI Summer Poster Symposium in Richmond, Virginia (August 2010)
  • A. Rivera, B. Cieniewicz, E. Danka, I. Winters, A. Rued, L. Warner, M. Hill, and A. Hill. “Evolution of gene regulatory networks: Pax/Six in Ephydatia muelleri.” Presented at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington (January 2010)
  • I. Winters, A. Rued, B. Cieniewicz, A. Hill, and L. Gentile. “Determining the function of an ancestral sensory perception gene in Ephydatia meulleri.” Presented at the HHMI Summer Poster Symposium in Richmond, Virginia (August 2009)