Jessica Krista Poon

I am working with Ryan Null to articulate the pathway that is responsible for producing structural coloration in butterfly wings. The actin cytoskeleton plays an important role in scale development, but the intermediate stages between budding and full maturation have yet to be visualized in live scales. My goal is to find techniques to visualize the actin cytoskeleton during these stages, in order to further elucidate the mechanisms that give rise to structural coloration.