Daryl Taketa

Biography

I have been a MCDB PhD student since 2008 and joined the De Tomaso lab in 2010. I completed my BS in Biology at Santa Clara University and conducted research in Dr. Leilani Miller’s lab. I worked 2 years in the biotech industry in Northern California Bay Area prior to attending graduate school.

Research

My research involves investigating the molecular mechanisms that underlies self/non-self recognition (allorecognition) in Botryllus schlosseri. Briefly, when two colonies of Botryllus schlosseri come into contact, they can either fuse forming a vascular chimera or undergo a blood-based rejection response that results in the destruction of the interacting tissue. This is dependent upon a single highly polymorphic locus called the fusion/histocompatibility (fuhc). My main focus is to identify and characterize the ligand/receptor pair that initiates the recognition response and attempt to establish a molecular model. I utilize tissue culture based models and assays, recombinant protein production, and RNA-Seq to tackle this project.