Linda Silveira


Associate Professor of Biology

Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley

B.S., Biology, Cornell University
Courses Research interests Family and hobbies University of Redlands home page Biology Department

Courses I teach

Issues and Techniques in Genetic Engineering
This non-majors course covers various methods used in genetic engineering (and related biotechnology) and the ethical questions that relate to these techniques. Topics covered include genes, patterns of inheritance, cloning, DNA fingerprinting, and genetic testing.

Principles of Biology
I teach the cell biology, molecular biology, and genetics sections of this introductory course for majors. Topics include DNA and protein structure and function, cell structure, metabolism, patterns of inheritance, and gene expression. Labs focus on exploring how genes influence the appearance and behavior of cells.

Cell Biology
This upper level course focuses on the structure and behavior of cells. Topics include cell motility, cell division, protein transport, signalling, and programmed cell death.

Microbiology
This upper level course explores the bacterial world: the types of bacteria, where these organisms live, their structures, how they obtain energy, and why some of them cause disease.

Research in Molecular and Cell Biology
This senior level course provides an opportunity for students to conduct an independent research project.
Although it is not required for the course, students are encouraged to attend local, and sometimes national, meetings.


Research interests

My main research focus is in the area of cell biology. I use genetic techniques to study how cells regulate the cell cycle, the process by which cells grow and divide. Cell growth and division is necessary in order to build a multicellular organism from a single fertilized egg, as well as to maintain a multicellular organism (for example, you must make new skin cells to replace the ones you lose each day). However, the cell cycle must be tightly regulated to prevent inappropriate growth, such as cancer.

We are isolating mutants in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis that are unable to complete the cell cycle. By studying these mutants we hope to identify genes that regulate the cycle. We use this yeast because it is easy to work with, but shares characteristics with cells from multicellular organisms, such as humans.

A mutant Kluyveromyces lactis strain that arrests late in the cell cycle.  K. lactis is a budding yeast, meaning that it makes new cells by building a small "bud" on one side of the cell, which grows until it is nearly the same size as the original cell and then cleaves off.  Normally, a population of cells would contain cells with buds of many different sizes.  However, since this mutant is blocked before cell division, the cells get to the large budded stage and then arrest, yielding a popultion that is almost uniformly large-budded. 


Family and hobbies


I am married to another cell biologist, which makes for fun dinner conversations ("how were your mutants today, honey?). We have two children and one cat. I enjoy gardening, backpacking, sea kayaking, and reading novels, especially mysteries.

My husband Ray and I
 Our cat, Clea


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