Are you interested in doing undergraduate research in cell biology?  Actual research experience is a great way to see if you really like working in a lab and it looks fabulous on your applications to post graduate programs.  Outstanding student work is published in papers or abstracts presented at meetings.  Here is a list of students that have worked in the lab and their student publications.  Here is a list of ALL our research papers.

My lab is interested in how cell structure dictates function.  Our current model system is the conifer pollen tube (Picea abies, Norway spruce).  In plants, the pollen tube delivers the sperm for fertilization.  The cellular mechanisms for this delivery are somewhat unique in the conifers compared to the flowering plants, so the typical model systems like Arabidopsis, Nicotiana and Lilium do not always apply.  Conifer timber is an important agricultural crop used for lumber and paper.  It can be difficult to breed new timber varieties because of incompatibility between tree species.  Understanding the basic cellular mechanisms of reproduction in conifers may eventually lead to new commercial methods which overcome this incompatibility.

Another project in the lab examines secretory hairs on chickpea plants (Cicer arietinum).  These long, multicellular hairs secrete hydrochloric acid with a pH of 1.0!!  Many insects and animals do not want to eat a plant covered with hydrochloric acid so the hairs act as defense mechanism against herbivory.  The hairs are an interesting model system to study cell secretion and intracellular transport.

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Dr. Mark Lazzaro Department of Biology College of Charleston Charleston, SC  29424 (843) 953-7180 lazzarom@cofc.edu