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Kellie Agrimson, PhD

Assistant Professor, Biology Department

Disciplines

  • Biology
  • Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Genetics and Genomics

Research Interests

  • My primary research interest is testis development, in the field of reproductive biology. In humans, infertility affects twenty percent of all couples and half of cases result from male infertility. Furthermore, twenty-five percent of male infertility cases are determined to be idiopathic, or unexplained. My research goal is to further investigate and characterize the basic biology of testis development in the mouse using primary cells and cell culture models. I have extensive experience in mouse genetics, testis biology, and germ cell isolation and cell culture.
  • I am also a faculty member in the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP). This project provides opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in genomics research and there are no costs associated with implementing the Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). All the students need is access to the internet and a computer. The main project focuses on the dot chromosome (F element) of Drosophila. Past GEP students have sequenced and annotated the F elements (and comparison D element domains) of several Drosophila species across 40 million years of evolution. The GEP has published several papers on the evolution of the F element, with all contributing students as co-authors. Through this program, students learn how to take raw sequence data to high quality finished sequence, and to annotate genes and other features, leading to analysis of a question in genomics and a research publication.