Curriculum Vitae

TYRONE C. SPADY

DOCTORAL STUDENT
Hubbard Center for Genome Studies
Department of Zoology
University of New Hampshire
438 Environmental Technology Building
35 Colovos Road
Durham, New Hampshire 03824

603-862-1247; Fax 862-2904
email:tspady@cisunix.unh.edu

Education:

1999 B.S., Biology. University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore MD

2005 (expected) Ph.D., Zoology. University of New Hampshire (UNH), Durham NH

Thesis title : Evolution of Visual Sensitivity in East African Cichlids

Research:

2000-present ( Doctoral Thesis with Karen L. Carleton and Thomas D. Kocher) UNH: My thesis examines the evolution of visual sensivity in East African cichlids using molecular evolutionary modeling, molecular biology, and physiological tools. Furthermore, this work will probe into the molecular basis of sensory adaption and its role in the explosive radiation of these fishes.

2000 (National Cancer Institute Pre-CRTA Fellowship with Luowei Li and Stuart H. Yuspa) NIH: Employing tissue culture techniques, pharmacological assays, and flow cytometry, I worked on a gene therapy treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, using adenovirus-PKC( transfected mouse tumors as a model system.

1999 (Thomas W. Cronin) UMBC: I developed a research proposal to study ultra violet vision and the use of UV color patterns in the communication in Lake Malawi cichlid fish.

1998 (Pfizer, Central Research Internship with Dayao Zhao) Pfizer. Inc.: My work helped establish a novel high-throughput assay for beta-amyloid protein processing activities, which is currently being used in drug discovery screening. A number of techniques were employed in this project, e.g., molecular biology (transfection), PCR cloning, and protein electrophoresis, light and fluorescent microscopy, fluorescent spectroscopy.

1997 (Forgerty MIRT Fellowship with Gaven Brown) Lancaster University: Using the techniques of HPLC and immunolabeling, the structure and distribution of keratan sulphate were observed. I optimized a keratan sulfate isolation and precipitation technique that has been used in subsequent structural studies.

1996-1998 (Phyllis Robinson) UMBC: Combining the fields of molecular and cell biology, and vision science, I studied the molecular mechanisms of spectral tuning, in marine mammal visual pigments. I utilized molecular cloning/mutagenesis methods to understand the molecular mechanisms of wavelength modulation in visual pigments of aquatic mammals.

Seminars:

2003 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution meeting
2003 *Harvard University, Cambridge MA (hosted by John E. Dowling)
2003 *UMBC, Baltimore MD (hosted by Phyllis R. Robinson/Kevin Omland)
2002 Ecology and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes meeting
*Invited

Service:

2002-present Departmental Graduate Research Seminar Coordinator
2001-2002 Departmental Graduate Student Representative

Awards and Honors:

2003 Graduate School Travel Grant
2003 Departmental Travel Grant
2000 Golden Key National Honor Society
1998 MARC U* Scholarship
1997 Ronald McNair Scholar
1996 Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Scholarship
1996 Torchbearer Award
1996 Erik Void Annual Scholarship
1996 First Annual Terror Zone Scholarship

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