strain does not harm oysters, the foodborne illness can cause severe stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and chills in humans who consume the oysters raw.<\/span><\/p>\nAs climate change increases the average water temperatures of Narragansett Bay and coastal ponds of Rhode Island, scientists anticipate that the abundance of Vp will follow suit. What remains unknown is whether oysters infected with three common diseases \u2014\u00a0Dermo, MSX, and SSO \u2014 are more prone to accumulate more of the bacteria than an uninfected or mildly infected oyster, possibly explaining why some people eating raw animals from a source become sick, while others eating the same source oysters do not. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at whether there is a correlation between the disease, the presence of the bacteria, and the level of sickness,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cHow much of the bacteria is present vs. the disease in the oyster.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe explains that levels of disease and amount of Vp will be determined by using the quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), a method that\u00a0allows researchers to multiply a specific gene sequence to billions of copies. Jackson says he will use this to amplify the specific genes from each disease allowing him to quantify the levels of disease as well as the amount of bacteria.<\/span><\/p>\nThrough his SURF experience, Jackson contributes to the project by testing oysters to determine the level of disease and identify how much bacteria is present. The work builds on the experience he gained last summer and has set him up for continued success.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLast summer, I was relatively new to the lab experience aside from my classes,\u201d Jackson notes. \u201cIt was my first full-time lab setting and really prepared me to work with the principal investigator and tackle my own project. Now, this summer, I\u2019m doing my own thesis work. I\u2019m learning how to set up my own experiments and improve my problem solving skills.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nReflecting on his SURF experiences to date, Jackson adds: \u201cOverall, last summer prepared me not just for this summer, but also for a career in science. Just being in the lab, I know I want to go onto graduate school. I like research and I want to continue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe says he likes working with marine organisms, but remains open to other opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cSURF overall has helped me a great deal,\u201d says Jackson. \u201cThe full-time research environment is great; it\u2019s not something that you can find in just any internship. Plus, the experience to work with a renowned professor, make other connections, and expand my own horizons has been extremely beneficial. I\u2019m incredibly lucky to have been offered this opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nStory and photo by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe full-time research environment is great; it\u2019s not something that you can find in just any internship. Plus, the experience to work with a renowned professor, make other connections, and expand my own horizons has been extremely beneficial. I\u2019m incredibly lucky to have been offered this opportunity.\u201d Research fellow: Kiserian Jackson Hometown: Brockton, MA School: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,51],"tags":[120,150,597,705,735],"class_list":["post-14936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-biology","tag-chemistry","tag-roger-williams-university","tag-surfri2017","tag-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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