JESS MCTHOMAS

Hardworking undergraduate seeking lab and research experience. Committed to utilizing my skills for further scientific exploration. Well-rounded and professional team player dedicated to continuing academic pursuits at an industrial level.

• Emergency Medical Services Club, Secretary
• Biosphere Club, Member

• Research Assistant, Dr. Jenna Craig (05/2022 - 07/2022) Bladder cancer tumors with a luminal molecular subtype are typically not invasive and have a more favorable therapeutic response. Meanwhile, tumors with a basal-squamous molecular subtype represents an aggressive, invasive and difficult to clinically treat phenotype. DNA methylation negatively regulates expression of an important transcription factor, Forkhead Box A1 (FOXA1), in a CpG island specific manner in basal bladder cancer. However, the mechanisms that drive alterations in the DNA methylation landscape in basal bladder cancer compared to luminal bladder cancer are unknown. Observations in other human cancers suggest that Retinoblastoma Protein 1 (RB1) plays a regulatory role of DNMTS at gene promoters. Therefore, it is possible that alterations in RB1 status promote epigenetic silencing of FOXA1 by regulating interactions of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTS). Recently, we demonstrated RB1 loss in a luminal bladder cancer cell line results in decreased FOXA1 expression. The goal of this project was to determine methylation status of FOXA1. We used PCR based assay, Bisulfite Conversion, that converts unmethylated cytosine bases to uracil to determine changes in methylation status at FOXA1 CpG islands. This project was funded by the Gettysburg X-SIG Foundation.
• NSF REU Scholar, Dr. Limei Zhang (05/2023 - 08/2023) The Wbl protein family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis consists of seven transcription factors found in actinobacteria that share two common structural motifs, including four conserved cysteine residues that anchor a [4Fe-4S] cluster and a succeeding β-turn with a conserved GxWxG motif. WhiB1 is essential for cell growth and has been classified as a nitric oxide (NO) sensor due to NO sensitivity of the [4Fe-4S] cluster over molecular oxygen. The goal of this project was to identify the functional motifs of WhiB1 via site-directed mutagenesis with Chimera models of WhiB1B2 and WhiB1B3. WhiB1 was tested as a NO sensor via oxidation treatments with potassium ferrocyanide and hydrogen peroxide while bound to SigA. Techniques and materials used include anaerobic chambers, UV-Visible Spectrophotometry, AKTA Protein Purification, microbiology, and molecular genetics. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

• X-SIG Poster Presentation, Gettysburg College (10/2022) Presentation of research completed during the summer of 2022 to the members of the Gettysburg College community.
• University of Nebraska–Lincoln REU Summer Symposium, University of Nebraska–Lincoln (8/2023) Presentation of research completed during the summer of 2023 to the members of the UNL REU community.

• Dr. Jenna Craig, jmc71@psu.edu, 717-994-0843
• Dr. Limei Zhang, limei.zhang@unl.edu, 402-472-2967
• Jesse McAllister, jmcallis@gettysburg.edu, 717-480-9160
• Luke Stillson, Istillso@gettysburg.edu, 607-222-4726