News Release : May 2004 - Undergraduate Research in the Lutzoni Lab

Two Duke undergraduates will join the Lutzoni lab this summer to carry out independent research regarding symbioses between Ascomycota and photosynthetic organisms. Amanda Way, a rising sophomore, will be sponsored by the Howard Hughes summer fellowship program, and will be exploring the diversity and molecular systematics of secondary fungi associated with the lichen Umbilicaria from western North Carolina. Lindsay Higgins, who has worked with us for the past semester, will be supported by the NSF REU program in Bioinformatics and Phylogenetics, and will be using a direct-PCR approach to assess the diversity, species composition, and molecular systematics of apparently unculturable fungal endophytes associated with representatives of several major plant lineages. Welcome, Amanda and Lindsay!

For more information, please contact Betsy Arnold (aearnold@duke.edu).