Daniel Camacho is from Waterbury, Connecticut but was born in Colombia. He was the salutatorian of his graduating class at Sacred Heart High School and was also captain of the boys’ tennis team, which advanced to the final rounds of the state tournament under his leadership. As a member of the Combined Program in Dental Medicine, he will be majoring in biology at UConn. Daniel has already taken advantage of the opportunity to do a summer internship at the Community Health Programs Dental Center in 2008.
Camacho
Rowe Researcher: Characterization of Drosophila Interacting Genes
Summer 2012: Characterization of Drosophila Interacting Genes: Elucidating the Mechanism(s) of PolyQ Toxicity in Huntington’s Disease
By Daniel R. Camacho, Ping Zhang, Ph.D.
Polyglutamine expansions are a type of genetic mutation that is responsible for several human neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease. The pathology of these diseases involves the accumulation of proteins containing polyglutamine domains within neuronal cells, which ultimately leads to cell death. The mechanism of toxicity of these protein aggregates is currently being investigated. My work involved using the model genetic organism Drosophila melanogaster to try to elucidate aspects of polyglutamine toxicity. Continue reading