Yourha Kang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology
Iona College
New Rochelle, NY 10801
ykang@iona.edu
 (914) 633-2260
sunflowers
sunflower

                                                                       Iona College Website                                          Biology Department Website

I am the plant biologist at Iona College and I mainly teach Biochemistry and Botany.  My background is primarily in the field of plant molecular biology, but I have interests in biochemistry and plant physiology.  I currently have two research projects at Iona.  The first project is investigating the population genetics of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).  The second is a student-led project studying the function of the Aop1 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana.

 

Courses:

Fall:

Spring:

Biochemistry I (Bio/Chm 421)

Introduction to Botany (Bio 206)

Biochemistry Lab (Bio/Chm 420)

Biochemistry II (Bio/Chm 422)

Biochemistry and Cellular Physiology (Bio 525)

Introduction to Pharmacology (Bio 410 – Spring 2006)

Introduction to Pharmacology (Bio 410)

Developmental Biology (Bio 330)

Cell Biology (Bio 399 – Fall 2007)

 



Research Interests:


picture of butterfly weed   


Project 1:  Asclepias tuberosa, the butterfly weed, is a plant that is part of the milkweed family and is primarily known because it provides a habitat for butterflies, particularly monarch butterflies.  Butterflies lay their eggs underneath the leaves of the milkweed, and the larvae eat the plants.  The plant is easy to grow and the flowers are quite attractive and therefore, the plant is seen in many "butterfly gardens."  Native populations of the butterfly weed are apparently disappearing in New York State, however, such that the plant has been labeled "expoitably vulnerable" and is protected by New York State law.  I am interested in the genetic diversity that exists in the butterfly weed plant in Westchester County, New York State, and in the rest of the United States where butterfly weed is found.  The study began locally at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye, NY, and has expanded to include plants from parks in Westchester County, upstate NY, as well as plants from all over the country, including Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Virginia.  I am hoping to expand the project to other include plants from other areas of the country.  This research could not have been possible without the help of numerous volunteers from various native plant societies throughout the United States, nor without a grant from Friends of Marshlands in Rye, NY.  Jim Boylan ('04) based his honors thesis on this research.  Florybeth Lavalle (’09), Amanda Glaser (’08), and Christina McDonough (’07) have also contributed to this research.

Click here for an abstract of a poster presentation of  this research  made during a conference of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities, October 29-30, 2004 at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY. 
Click here for an abstract of a poster presentation of this research made during the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists, August 4-9, 2006  in Boston, MA. 
Click here for more pictures from the project




     picture of Arabidopsis plantarabidopsis
    (picture of wild-type Arabidopsis)   


Project 2:  This is a project that was begun by two undergraduate students at Iona College, Norma Alvarado and Kristina Kovac ('06), as part of their undergraduate honors theses.  The research was continued by Amanda Glaser (’08).  They have been investigating the function of the Aop1 gene in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana..  This gene is very similar in sequence and is thought to be homologous to other Aop genes, whose expressed proteins have been found to be involved in the production of glucosinolates.  Glucosinolates are secondary metabolites thought to be used in plant defense. They are also found in vegetables such as broccoli and kale and are thought have cancer-preventative attributes. Using commercially available T-DNA lines (from the Arabidopsis Resource Center, Ohio State University) of the model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana (part of the crucifer family), we have indentified three possible mutant phenotypes associated with these T-DNA mutants. 

Click here for an abstract of a poster presentation made at the 69th Annual Conference of the Northeast Section of the American Society of Plant Biologists, June 3-4, 2005 at the State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY. 



Favorite Links:

My lifeline to the research world, NCBI (Pubmed):   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

A great resource for biology students and scientists, the Harvard Biology links:  http://mcb.harvard.edu/BioLinks/biochem.html

Helpful general biology online textbooks:
    http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookTOC.html
    http://www.biology-online.org

Why do people say to eat your vitamins?  This site will tell you why : http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/vitamins.html

Didn't think plants could move, huh? Look at this movie of cytoplasmic streaming in an onion cell:  http://dept.kent.edu/projects/cell/onion.htm

All you want to know about Arabidopsis and more, at The Arabidopsis Information Resource :
http://www.arabidopsis.org

Ohio State University Plant Biology Links: http://www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/epb/facility/links.htm

Beautiful photographs of biomes from National Geographic:
    http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial_pa.html#tundra

American Society of Plant Biologists: http://www.aspb.org

Check out my sister's website.  She's an assistant professor at Scripp's College teaching music:
http://www.scrippscol.edu/~home/ykang/www/


There are lots more links in the individual course pages.  Feel free to check those out.

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