Claremont, Calif. (March 8, 2011) — Pitzer College congratulates Peter Rominger ’14, the recipient of a W. M. Keck Foundation Summer Research Fellowship.
Rominger is currently investigating the molecular basis of bacteria-induced male killing in insects by using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a study system. He will use a combination of molecular and cell biological approaches to look at the chromosomes of flies infected with the male-killing bacterium. In particular, if the bacterium causes problems in packaging of the chromosomes.
His work will likely evolve into more genomic-based approaches. It’s believed that male-killing bacteria ultimately cause multiple genes to be mis-regulated in males to kill them. His research hopes to identify the genes, the exact host target(s) of the bacterium. Rominger’s work will pioneer these types of genomics approaches in Pitzer College Joint Science Department labs – and any findings will have implications for other host-pathogen systems.
The Joint Science Department is a program of Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College and Scripps College.
