Inspire Summer Scholars Program

Mentor: Dr. Eduardo Gigante, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology
Campus: Kennesaw

The Gigante lab is a Neuroscience lab that uses a marine invertebrate chordate species called Ciona robusta to study the chordate origins of brain development. Trainees in my lab will learn tunicate dissection, egg dechorionation, and plasmid electroporation. We use a variety of genetic techniques to manipulate Ciona brain development, including signaling protein mutants and CRISPR/Cas9-medaited gene editing. Trainees will learn to make whole mount microscope slides of Ciona embryos and larvae, and image them for cell morphology phenotypes using fluorescent reporters. Trainees will be immersed in our lab culture. We will hold biweekly lab meetings to build trainees’ understanding of the theory behind our science. It is important to me as a mentor that my trainees understand why we perform an experiment as well as how to execute it.

Mentor: Dr. Soon Goo Lee, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Campus: Kennesaw

Nitrogen is essential for plant growth, yet biologically available nitrogen is limited in natural systems, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers remain among agriculture's most expensive inputs, both economically and environmentally. Legume crops, including pulses such as lentils, form beneficial associations with soil-dwelling rhizobia that convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available forms through nitrogen-fixing root nodules. This agriculturally and ecologically important symbiosis accounts for approximately 25% of annual global nitrogen fixation. The development of nitrogen-fixing nodules requires extensive signaling and reciprocal exchange of signal molecules between plants and rhizobia, and symbiotic efficiency is highly dependent on partner compatibility. In brief, legumes release distinct flavonoids that recruit compatible nitrogen-fixing rhizobia in the rhizosphere. This research aims to reduce external inputs required for plant growth and advance environmental sustainability by elucidating the molecular and structural basis of plant-microbe signaling, then manipulating the regulatory and biosynthetic pathways involved. Our 2026 Inspire Summer Scholars Program research team will investigate the structure-function relationships of enzymes and regulatory proteins involved in plant-rhizobia symbioses using computational, biochemical, and biophysical approaches, with particular emphasis on protein X-ray crystallography. The Inspire Summer Scholars fellows will engage in hands-on experiments, including biochemical and structural analyses of proteins from both rhizobia and plants. Each student will independently conduct molecular biology and biochemical experiments on assigned samples. For complex experiments such as X-ray crystallography, undergraduate students will collaborate with graduate students in the Lee Protein Lab to complete team-based projects. Understanding the three-dimensional structures of key proteins will provide fundamental insights into active site features essential for catalysis and substrate recognition, supporting development of structure-based substrate screening algorithms. By summer's end, students will gain scientific knowledge through project-based inquiry and active learning. This experience will strengthen applications to graduate programs and support future careers in scientific research.

Apply by the deadline: 11:59 PM on Friday, March 27, 2026.

For questions, please contact  csminspire@kennesaw.edu