Student research opportunities
MacKenzie research lab
Students may inquire here if you are interested in any of the following research positions. See a list of current and former lab members.
Active Projects
- Effect of environmental toxicants on the cardiovascular system of children
- Various environmental toxicants have been shown to correlate with hypertension and cardiovascular reactivity children.
- The goals of this project are
- To determine the role of vasotone mediators and oxidant stress.
- To characterize the plasma proteome of children with various toxicant levels.
- In collaboration with Dr. Brooks Gump (Department of Health and Wellness, Syracuse University) and Dr. Kestas Bendinskas (Department of Chemistry, SUNY Oswego).
- Currently funded by an NIH RO1 award (1R01ES023252-01A1; $1,809,000 for 2013-2016) and previously funded by an NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award Grant (R15) and the MERCK/AAAS Undergraduate Research Program
- Study of environmental toxicants in the environment
- Organic toxicants (PCBs, dioxins) and inorganic toxicants (heavy metals) are found throughout the environment.
- The goals of this study are
- To use high and low trophic species to assess the contamination of local waterways.
- To use mussels as a model system to elicdate the toxicology of emerging organic toxicants.
- In collaboration with James Pagano (Department of Chemstry, SUNY Oswego), Paul Tomascek (Atmospheric and Geological Sciences, SUNY Oswego)
- Currently funded by EPA grant (2016-2020).
- Protein Targeting to Mitochondria
- Most all mitochondrial proteins are encoded in the nucleus and must be properly synthesized and imported to be fully functional.
- The goal of this project is to identify the mechanisms involved in the import of mitochondrial proteins.