Tour, Ella - University of California, San Diego - Division of Biological Sciences

个人简介

Ella Tour received her Ph.D. in Genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she studied the molecular mechanisms of brain development in the frog Xenopus laevis. She conducted her post-doctoral training at UCSD, investigating the early development of the fruit fly embryos.

研究领域

Education Critical thinking skills, such as the ability to analyze data, solve problems, and develop new ideas, are crucial for success in the modern workforce. Although the majority of biology educators consider critical and creative scientific thinking some of the most important skills to be acquired as a result of science education, few biology faculty report spending enough time practicing these skills in their classrooms (Coil et al., 2010). One of my primary education research goals is to increase our understanding of how to effectively teach critical thinking skills in biology and how objectively test whether students are learning these skills. In my classes, I strive to provide my students with ample opportunities to practice data analysis and experimental design. Currently, my collaborators and I are investigating the effectiveness of in-depth analysis of primary research papers and designing experiments that follow up on these papers, on students' critical thinking skills. An additional area of education research is developing methods to improve the quality of scientific writing and prevent plagiarism in Biology labs. This research is performed in collaboration with Tricia Bertram Gallant (UCSD Office of Academic Integrity), Julian Parris (Psychology), Goran Bozinovic (Biology), and Madeline Picciotto (UCSD Writing Center). Biological In collaboration with the members of Bill McGinnis's lab here at UCSD, I study the role of chromatin structure and long non-coding RNA's in the regulation of gene expression in developing embryos of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Early embryonic development is a precisely orchestrated process in which genes that control the formation of the various body parts have to be expressed at the right time and the right place. One such master control gene, Ultrabithorax ( Ubx) is responsible for the correct development of parts of fly's thorax and abdomen. The expression of Ubx is regulated by multiple enhancers that are located tens of thousands base pairs away from the Ubx promoter and its transcription start site. Using high-resolution fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), we study the conformational changes involving Ubx promoter and its enhancers that occur in silent and transcriptionally active states . We are also investigating a potential role of an antisense transcript that originates in one of the introns of Ubx in the regulation of this gene.

近期论文

查看导师新发文章（温馨提示：请注意重名现象，建议点开原文通过作者单位确认）

Lie R, Abdullah C, He W, Tour E. (2016) Perceived Challenges in Primary Literature in a Master’s Class: Effects of Experience and Instruction. CBE Life Science Education Volume 15: ar77. pmid:27909027 Abdullah C, Parris J, Lie, R, Guzdar A, and Tour E (2015) Critical analysis of primary literature in a Master’s-level class: effects on self-efficacy and science process skills. CBE-Life Sciences Education, Volume 14, 1-13. Brydges S, Chilukuri L, Cook G, Feeley M, Herbst M, Tour E, and Van Den Einde L* (2012). Developing a Faculty Learning Community at a Large Research University: Interdisciplinary Connections and Competencies in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Currents in Teaching and Learning Spring 2013. Volume 6. Tour E and McGinnis W. (2006) Gap peptides: A new way to control embryonic patterning? Cell, 126(3): 448-9. Tour E, Hittinger CT, and McGinnis W. (2005) Evolutionarily conserved domains required for activation and repression functions of the Drosophila Ubx protein. Development, 132: 5271-5281. Tour E and McGinnis W. (2003) Hox Genes and Evolution of Body Plan. In: Encyclopedia of the Human Genome. Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group. Tour E, Pillemer G, Gruenbaum Y, and Fainsod A. (2002) Gbx2 interacts with Otx2 and patterns the anterior-posterior axis during gastrulation in Xenopus. Mech Dev. 112(1-2): 141-51. Tour E, Pillemer G, Gruenbaum Y, and Fainsod A. (2002) Otx2 can activate the isthmic organizer genetic network in the Xenopus embryo. Mech Dev. 110(1-2): 3-13. Tour E, Pillemer G, Gruenbaum Y, and Fainsod A. (2001) The two Xenopus Gbx2 genes exhibit similar, but not identical expression patterns and can affect head formation. FEBS Lett. 507(2):205-9.