Christina Mertelsmann

Home Institution
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Host Institution
Department of Cancer Cell Biology Harvard School of Public Health, Boston
Research Mentor: Dieter Wolf, M.D.

E-Mail: chris_mertlsm@web.de

Research Topic
see Abstract
Personal Reactions to the U.S. Experience
Surprisingly good cheese.
Greatest Difficulties Encountered
Trying to get a cab in the rain or at 1:30 AM, when all the bars close.
Most humorous incident
Walking out of my gym after an exhausting workout, I slammed my head against one of the TV's hanging from the ceiling, so hard that I fell to the ground and one of the personal trainers rushed to my rescue. I opened my eyes just in time to prevent him from giving me CPR.
Helpful Hints for Future Students
- If you go to Boston : take entertainment tours bus to New York every now and then. Costs just as much as the China bus, but drops you off at Penn Station ($20 each way).
- If you want to buy fun presents for your friends and family at home, try Newbury Comics or Urbane Outfitters, both located on Newbury Street and at Harvard Square.
- For the cheapest groceries head to Trader Joes, but for the best produce go to Bread and Circus.
- Oh, and stick around for Labor Day Weekend, - great free furniture.

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Abstract on Research Topic
Stable Inhibition of p27 in Prostate Epithelial Cells by Retrovirus Delivered siRNA
Author
Christina Mertelsmann

Institution
Department of Cancer Cell Biology, Harvard School of Public Health
Purpose
Examine the effect of p27 loss in primary prostate cells using retrovirus delivered small inhibiting RNA (siRNA)
Materials and Methods
Cell culture, immunofluorescence microscopy, western blot, construction of a plasmid that contains DNA templates for the Synthesis of siRNA capable of post-transcriptional gene silencing of p27 under the influence of a U6 promoter, lipid based transfection techniques, viral packaging.
Results
So far: generation of a plasmid containing RNA PolIII - specific U6 gene promoter along with an oligonucleotide sequence targeting a region of p27. Confirmation of post-transcriptional gene silencing of p27 via transiently transfected 293T cells and western blot analysis.