Spotlight on Eric Kramer, Faculty in Science, Mathematics and Computing, and Students

Eric Kramer with Joshua Enelamah Simon’s Rock Faculty in Science Eric Kramer and previous students Pailyn Tayjasanant, Joshua Enelamah, and Andy Fang have recently published a scientific paper entitled ‘Karyotype depends on sperm head morphology in some amniote groups’, in the online genetics journal Frontiers in Genetics.

The paper, researched and co-written by Kramer, Fang, Enelamah, and Tayjasanant over the course of three years, treats the geometry of chromosomes in the reproductive cells of mammals and birds as a “mathematical quandary” that the intrepid team set out to solve. Led by Kramer, the students joined the research during consecutive summer research internships, beginning with Tayjasanant in 2020, followed by Fang in 2022, and finally with Enelamah in 2023. “The work doesn’t stop when summer break starts,” said Kramer.

While the students were assisting with data collection for the chromosome project, Kramer also pushed them to research related topics. “I wanted to give them more than one opportunity for success; if they hit a mental block with the chromosome question, they were able to investigate something different and keep their minds engaged.”

For example, Enelamah was encouraged to research the human genome and to study the proteins that attach themselves to our DNA, tracking how and where on the strand the proteins prefer to dock. This research, as yet unpublished, may shed light on how the preferential landing spots of these proteins help regulate the growth and development of healthy human infants.

After their summer stints in the lab at Simon’s Rock, Tayjasanant went on to Barnard College, where she finished a bachelor’s degree in physics this past Spring. Fang is pursuing graduate school at the Georgia Institute of Technology, studying material science and engineering. Enelamah will return to Simon’s Rock as a junior this Fall.

“These students are all 16 or 17 years old,” said Kramer, “and they’re already extremely professional. They’re helping to answer questions about genetics that we’ve been wondering about for years.”

Read the published paper here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2024.1396530/full

Photo: Eric Kramer with Josh Enelamah