Karen P. Van Winkle-Swift
Emeritus Regents Professor
Phone: 928-523-8618
Email: Karen.VanWinkle-Swift@nau.edu
Office: Wettaw, bldg. 88 room 238
Research/teaching interests
- genetic
and ultrastructural analysis of development in microbes
Academic highlights
- NIH Postdoctoral: Scripps Institute of
Oceanography, 1977-1979
- PhD: Duke University, 1976
- BS: Cornell University, 1968
Research in the VanWinkle-Swift
laboratory uses the Chlalmydomona monoica zygospore as a model for
understanding cellular responses to environmental (abiotic) stress.
Approaches used in the laboratory include
genetics (isolation and characterization of mutants), physiological studies,
fluorescence and electron microscopy, biochemistry and molecular/cellular
biology.
The mature Chlamydomonas zygospore has a
massive, highly sculptured wall that provides protection from environmental
stress including desiccation, freezing, mechanical abrasion and ultraviolet
radiation.
Panel A shows a thin section of a zygospore
viewed by transmission electron microscopy; Panel B shows the surface detail
revealed by scanning electron microscopy.