Amanda Charlesworth, Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, received an R15 award from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health for 3 years to study "Maternal control of zygotic genome activation by the RNA-binding proteins, Zar1 and Zar2". After fertilization, the embryo does not use its own DNA, instead the embryo uses temporary genetic material that was donated to the egg by the mother. Charlesworth, along with graduate and undergraduate students, will investigate how that temporary genetic material is used to switch on the embryo’s own DNA using frog eggs and embryos as a model system.