Lab Experience:
Zach Jarou received his B.S. in Physiology with High Honor from Michigan State University in 2008. He worked on GLBRC sub-project 1.2 with post-doc Sean Weise (in the lab of Thomas Sharkey, PhD, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michigan State University). This project is focused on manipulation of the chloroplastic, transitory starch degradation pathway for biofuel production.To overcome the yield penalty observed in constitutive knock-out lines, the initial two genes of the pathway, glucan-water dikinase and phosphoglucan phosphatase, will be silenced by RNAi prior to harvest under the control of ethanol-inducible and senescence-activated promoters
Zach has been responsible for the generation, selection and characterization of these Arabidopsis lines, which have already demonstrated early proof-of-concept. Zach also had the opportunity to explore the field of metabolic flux analysis in the lab of Yair Shachar-Hill, PhD (Plant Biology, Michigan State University). Additionally, as part of his interest in plant growth analysis, Zach was awarded 2nd prize for his entry into the 2009 ChloroFilms Plant Biology YouTube Video Competition for a tutorial on Measuring Leaf Area with Adobe Photoshop CS3. He has also compiled a Time-Lapse Characterization of Arabidopsis Starch Metabolism Mutants.
Technical Skills:
bacterial transformations; cell culturing; chromatography (GC/HPLC); DNA isolation from bacteria and plants (Arabidopsis); DNA digestions, gel purifications, ligations; PCR and primer design; transgenic plant selection for homozygous, single-insert mutants; hydroponic plant cultivation; seed collection & surface sterilization; plant tissue harvests; starch extraction & quantification; plant growth analysis; time-lapse videography; Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver; Microsoft Office; Vector NTI
Compiled Works:
Weise S.E., Aung, K., Jarou, Z.J. et al. “Engineering starch accumulation by manipulation of phosphate metabolism of starch.” Plant Biotechnology Journal (2012), pp.1-10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22321580
Jarou, Z.J. “Time-Lapse Characterization of Arabidopsis Starch Metabolism Mutants,” YouTube Presentation, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-XSnuuXFE4, April 17, 2009.
Jarou, Z.J. “Measuring Leaf Area with Adobe Photoshop CS3,” YouTube Tutorial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3O-V6WLw0g, April 15, 2009.
Jarou, Z.J., Weise, S.E., Sharkey, T.D. Plant Growth Analysis & Time-Lapse Characterization of Starch Metabolism Mutants, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Annual Retreat, South Bend, IN, June 3, 2009.
Plant Growth Analysis & Time-Lapse Characterization of Arabidopsis Starch Metabolism Mutants