Wesleyan's Women in Science hosted a lab tour on Feb. 27 with Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior (seated in center).
Juhasz introduced students to the Wesleyan Eye Movement and Reading Lab, located on the fifth floor of Judd Hall. Students had the opportunity to use the lab's Eyelink1000 eye tracker, which records eye position every millisecond while participants read sentences on a computer screen.Juhasz studies the processes involved in the complex skill of reading.Ishita Mukerji, dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, spoke to students at another WIS lab tour on March 1. "One of the great things about Wesleyan is that it allows me to be in a liberal arts environment with meaningful one-on-one interactions with students but also be able to pursue my research and scholarship at a level comparable to that of a research university," she said.Mukerju studies how proteins recognize specific regions of DNA. Most recently, she's explored DNA four-way junctions, which are important intermediates in the central cellular processes of DNA repair and recombination. "We are studying how proteins and ions affect the structure of these junctions to better understand how the proteins work in these processes," she said.Mukerji shows students various instruments in her lab.
For more information on WIS lab tours, e-mail Mariah Schug, visiting assistant professor of psychology, at mschug@wesleyan.edu.
Olivia Drake
Mike Mavredakis
Ziba Kashef
Andrew Chatfield