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My name is Taylor Lloyd. I am a student at UK. It’s my senior year. I am from Union,
Kentucky and I graduated from Ryle High School. I chose UK because the cost of going out of
state is really so out of control. My family and I realized UK offers everything that you
can get out of state, in state.
My freshman year I started in Dr. Downie’s lab, and we’ve been working on NSF-funded
work ever since. We’ve also been funded by the American Society of Plant Biologists
for an undergraduate project.
Dr.Downie’s research is in seed biology. We’re most interested in light and temperature
signaling pathways that determine germination. All of our research was really at the molecular
level. You see our plants growing around—those are really what we use just to facilitate
the mutations that we’re looking at. You have to obviously grow up the different generations
of plants, but you also are looking at the molecular level.
Our model plant in this lab is the Arabidopsis thaliana—it’s actually just a German weed—and
so they discovered that this plant only has five chromosomes, and that it is very easy
to manipulate genetically. The mechanisms that happen in Arabidopsis are the same as
in soybeans and other viable crop plants.
I was asked to be honored on the court at Rupp Arena during the Ole Miss-Kentucky game.
I was asked because I received the NASA Astronaut Scholarship and the Goldwater Scholarship.
They are both external scholarships that are there to recognize students for outstanding
work in undergraduate research so far and also to encourage them to continue on doing
research throughout their life.
I actually identified a protein and its function. Phenotypic studies are really, really hard
to finish. Only about a third are usually successful in finding something.
We identified this protein and what it does as far as behavior in the plant, but now we’re
looking at the molecular level—what is it actually binding to? We anticipate that it’s
a protection mechanism that’s actually protecting something from heat damage.
Getting involved early in undergraduate research really gives you the opportunity to get your
feet wet. You learn the basics, you’re able to get into that process, and you really take
away a lot. But by going in further and spending more time in the lab, you can actually take
on your own project. You can take ownership of your work, and really work toward publication.
My first publication came out during my first year of research with Dr.Downie, and now my
second publication is actually coming out next month, and I’ll be second author on
it. So you can really get more involved. You get to take ownership of your project.