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- Undergraduate Student Positions in Plant-Insect-Microbe Interaction
The newly-established Feng lab in the Department of Entomology at Louisiana State University is seeking highly motivated undergraduate students with a strong interest in plant-insect-microbe interactions and agricultural pest management.
Research in the Feng Lab uses integrative approaches to address basic and applied research questions. Our work focuses on insect pests of plants, using aphid as our main research system. We aim to identify key regulators (including non-coding RNAs, genes, and secondary metabolites) that mediate the interactions between insects, their host plants and their microbial symbionts. Ultimately, we seek to develop those key regulators as tools or targets for integrated pest management to promote local and global food security, and human health.
Interns will be well trained. The PI, Dr. Feng, has a strong multi-disciplinary research background, that includes training in Evolutionary Biology, Agricultural Entomology and Pest Control, Insect Physiology, Plant Biology, Chemical Ecology, and Bioinformatics. In addition, students will have opportunities to be trained in specific technical skills to support their success; these skills include but are not limited to 1) bioinformatic skills to analyze metadata (e.g. genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic); 2) modern wet-lab functional assays, including cutting-edge skills in molecular biology (e.g. RNAi and CRISPR), cell biology (e.g. Cell Culture), and biochemistry (e.g. chemical analysis); 3) ecological skills, including insect bioassays under lab, greenhouse, and/or field settings.
By the end, you will expect (given opportunities) to present your research updates/results on lab-meetings, departmental seminar, national conferences, or generate publications.
If you wish to be considered, please contact Dr. Honglin Feng: hfeng@agcenter.lsu.edu. We are accepting 1-2 undergraduate students at this moment.