2005-present, Research Professional II in Dr, Mike Strand's lab
Entomology Department, University of Georgia

2002-2005, Research Coordinator in Dr. Anna Karls' lab
Microbiology Department, University of Georgia

1998-2002, Laboratory Technician III in Dr. Michael Bender's lab,
Genetics Department, University of Georgia

1989, Bachelor of Science, University of Georgia

The Mosquito immune system, like all insects, consists of both cellular and humoral components. Much is known about humoral factors like antimicrobial peptides and the signaling pathways that regulate their synthesis. A lot less is known about the cellular aspect of the immune system, my project is to characterize the different populations of hemocytes (blood cells) found in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. This entails identifying ways for distinquishing the different types of immune cells from each other, first based on morphology and then relating these morphological characteristics to functional features. This has been done by testing cell specific markers to see if they preferentially mark one type over another. We hope to be able to sort the different populations of cells via flow cytometry and then subsequently extract RNA from these cells in order to put on microarrays. This would enable us, for example, to compare the transcriptional profile of each cell type and also compare immune challenged cells to non-immune challenged cells.

Higgins BP, Robertson AE, Frank R, Karls AC. Chromosomal context directs IS492 high frequency precise excision controlling EPS phase variation in Pseudoalteromonas atlantica. Submitted to Proc Natl Acad Sci Feb 2006

Davis MB , Carney GE, Robertson AE, Bender M. Phenotypic analysis of EcR-A mutnats suggests that EcR isoforms have unique functions during Drosophilia development. Dev Biol. 2005 Jun 15:282(2):385-96

Buchner JM, Robertson AE, Poynter DJ, Denniston SS, Karls AC. Piv site-specific invertase requires a DEDD motif analogous to the catalytic center of the RuvC Holliday junction resolvases.J Bacteriol. 2005 May, 187(10):3431-7

Carney GE, Robertson A, Davis MB , Bender M. Creation of EcR isoform-specific mutations in Drosophila melanogaster Via local P element transposition, imprecise P element excision. And malerecombination. Mol Genet Genomics, 2004 Apr27 (3) 282-290