Justin Engelbert

• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
• Control of pronuclear migration and fusion in sea urchin eggs by CaMII Kinase

Fertilization of sea urchin eggs leads to several changes in the cell that allow it to enter its cell division cycle. The aim of this project is to determine the timing of one of the key enzymes in this process by adding inhibitory factors at varying times after fertilization, and monitoring the differences this causes with microscopy and antibody imaging. The secondary objective is then to measure calcium signals at these various times using fluorescent calcium imaging dyes to help demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between the calcium signal and cell behaviour.

Funding Source: Newcastle University