Why CURE Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience 2017-New Report Examines the Impact of Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM Students- A new report from the Na<onal Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines the evidence on undergraduate research experiences (UREs) and recommends more well-designed research to gain a deeper understanding of how these experiences affect different students and to examine the aspects of UREs that are most beneficial. Vision and Change Report 2009 – Undergraduate Biology educa<on-AAAS and NSF Engage students as ac<ve par<cipants, not passive recipients, in all undergraduate biology courses. Ensure that undergraduate biology courses are ac<ve, outcome oriented, inquiry driven, and relevant. Facilitate student learning within a coopera<ve context. Introduce research experiences as an integral component of biology educa<on for all students, regardless of their major.
Why CURE Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience o SURE – and other surveys assessing UG research impact show numerous learning gains and mo<va<on for graduate school. • Undergraduate Research as a High-Impact Student Experience - david lopaCo, professor of psychology, grinnell college –2010 –AAC&U. o Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Can Make ScienHfic Research More Inclusive • Gita Bangera*† and Sara E. Brownell†‡ CBE—Life Sciences Educa<on Vol. 13, 602–606, Winter 2014
CURE Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience ◦ Independent undergraduate research experiences can be difficult to implement for large enrollments and/or lack of infrastructure. ◦ Undergraduate research is a very effec<ve learning and training experience* and is a recommended part of undergraduate training by ACS-CPT and Vision and Change report.
Approaches to CUREs 1. Take exis<ng courses and implement CURE in that context ◦ Labs acached to lecture classes ◦ Independent lab classes ◦ Large Lecture classes ◦ Special topics classes 2. Re-arrange curricular structure to fundamentally seed UR via designed CURE courses
CURE examples 300 class Utah advanced organic lab (J. Heemstra): varying condi<ons for Semester lab azide-alkyne cycloaddi<on reac<ons Outcome: comprehensive paper 300 class CURE lab Anderton, G. I., Bangerter, A. S., Davis, T. C., Feng, Z., Furtak, A. J., Larsen, J. O., ... Heemstra, J. M. (2015). Accelera<ng Strain-Promoted Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddi<on Using Micellar Catalysis. Bioconjugate Chemistry , 2015 , 26(8), 1687-1691.
CURE examples Haverford “Topics in Bio-organic 300 lecture class Chemistry” 7 week class (L. Charkoudian) Outcome: published paper and bioinforma<c repository entries 300 CURE class Fuga Li, Y.,Tsai, K.‡, Harvey, C., Ary, B.‡, Berlew, E‡., Boehman, B.‡, Findley, D.‡, Friant, A.‡, Gardner, C.‡, Gould, M.‡, Ha, J.H.‡, Lilley, B.‡, McKinstry, E.‡, Nawal, S.‡, Parry, R.‡, Rothchild, K.‡, Silbert, S.‡, Ten<lucci, M.‡, Thurston, A‡., Wai, R.‡, Yoon, Y.‡, Medema, M. H., Hillenmeyer, M. E., and Charkoudian, L. K. "Complete Cura<on and Analysis of Literature Describing the Biosynthesis of Fungal Natural Products.” Fungal Genet. & Biol. , 2016 , 89, 18-28.
CURE examples • Chemical Biology, Northeastern • Week 1: piperng and sterile technique • WT vs knockout strain of E. coli – Students choose agents to test in zone of inhibi<on assays – Knockout strains with genes of unknown func<on • yeaB , NUDIX hydrolase • ybfE , metal metabolism? • Sneak in fundamental skills
CURE examples Bioinforma<cs lab, Chemical Biology, Northeastern Added in 2015 auer discussion with Sir Richard Roberts (COMBREX) Each lab sec<on gets a “known” characterized protein Students find similar, uncharacterized proteins and analyze for likely func<on Work-study student tabulates results Longer-term goal: project lab to characterize annotated genes
CURE examples Site-directed mutagenesis lab, Chem. Biol., Northeastern Mul<-week lab, with cri<cal <ming issues: Molecular modeling: predict important residues, design mutants to test predictions Construct variants using site-directed mutagenesis, confirm by DNA sequencing TA purifies protein variants, ideally a purifica<on in which Proteins are related to Purify protein variants several variants can be done (non-cri<cal!) research in parallel of TA Assay wild-type and variants to determine effects of mutation
CURE examples Site-directed mutagenesis lab, Northeastern Started with easy system: Alkaline phosphatase ◦ residues remote from ac<ve site ◦ Simple purifica<on ◦ Ac<vity assay is a standard biochem lab experiment, colorimetric assay Single-stranded DNA binding protein ◦ residues predicted to mediate protein-protein interac<on from Molecular Modeling class project ◦ “Simple” purifica<on, many variants in parallel DNA polymerase kappa, cancer-associated SNPs Outcomes: CURE survey, other end-of-semester artude surveys ◦ Lopaco 2008 Science ◦ gains in student confidence in their ability to write about results ◦ that wri<ng about science is helpful for understanding science ◦ large gain in their confidence in using computer modeling
CURE examples Advanced Organic Physical Semester lab Semester lab Haverford “Superlab” Biology junior year Inorganic Chemistry junior year Semester lab Semester lab Biochemistry interdisc. Module (semester) Advanced Organic Physical Outcomes: Inorganic ◦ Training for senior independent research ◦ Breadth of research experiences ◦ Semi-regular publica<ons with juniors Superlab Superlab
Biochemistry - JMU New Biophysical Chemistry Major has two labs. - Fall Laboratory Purify protein and characterize kine<cs Spring Laboratory – Structurally Characterize protein and perform student designed experiments. Teaching Protein PurificaHon and CharacterizaHon Techniques -A Student- Ini<ated, Project-Oriented Biochemistry Laboratory Course - 1250 JournalofChemicalEduca<on Vol.85 No.9 - September2008 Laboratory is constantly evolving with number of students – 6 (1998) - 30 (2017) Goals of the Course: Chemistry 366 is designed to provide students with experience u<lizing modern biochemical techniques to purify and characterize proteins. Students will be expected to use the primary literature to iden<fy, plan, and execute a protein purifica<on plan. This laboratory is designed to enhance problem-solving abili<es while learning basic biochemical techniques. Experimental design plans, a laboratory final, laboratory reports and par<cipa<on will contribute to the student's final grade.
Tentative Schedule of Events: Week # Week of Scheduled Ac<vi<es 1 Jan 9 Introduc<on to the laboratory. Project explana<on. Brief lecture on protein purifica<on and characteriza<on. Search for papers on protein purifica<on project. Mee<ng with project partners for discussion and selec<on of project. List of needed materials to be prepared for ordering due beginning of next lab period. 2 Jan 16 Each Group hand in the project’s specific aims, list of materials and an outline of the procedure to be followed. Biochemical calcula<ons, piperng exercise, making buffers. 3 Jan 23 Independent projects 4 Jan 30 Independent projects 5 Feb 6 Independent projects 6 Feb 13 Independent projects 7 Feb 20 Independent projects 8 Feb 27 Independent projects (Hand-in Rough Drau of Paper) 9 Mar 6 Spring Break 10 Mar 13 Independent projects 11 Mar 20 Independent projects 12 Mar 27 Independent projects 13 Apr 3 Independent projects 14 Apr 10 Independent projects & FULL drau and copies of project paper due. 15 Apr 17 Oral presenta<ons - Peer review of papers due – 2 copies 16 Apr 24 Final project paper due
Philosophical differences Conven<onal courses: CURE courses: ◦ Content ◦ Context ◦ Skills ◦ Process [skills in context] ◦ Exams ◦ Reports, results, and self-evalua<on ◦ Group and individual assessment ◦ Individual assessment ◦ Reports based on shared data ◦ Exams ◦ Reports ◦ Training for real problems ◦ Training for the next course
Implementa@on challenges Firng into prescribed curricular “holes” ◦ Make new holes? Re-firng of personnel into new roles ◦ Lab instructors ◦ TAs ◦ Course instructors/Pis ◦ Does not require extra personnel, just strong buy-in Follow-through and external presenta<on of results ◦ Redeployment to research group personnel and/or con<nuing UGs
Everybody wins (?) Undergraduates ◦ More dynamic and effec<ve learning environment PI/faculty ◦ Teaching credit for research ◦ Mobiliza<on of large numbers to research area ◦ Opportunity to seed a new research area with preliminary data ◦ Iden<fy promising students for research group Lab personnel and TAs ◦ Greater investment and engagement in program ◦ Synergy with ongoing research ◦ New professional development opportuni<es
The key is… Watch for opportuni<es Look for small to large curricular changes that can incorporate research into coursework o Reading literature to design and develop experiments – grant proposals o Adding design experiments into exis<ng laboratories - characteriza<on o Incorpora<ng larger scale research into lecture class or laboratories Pay acen<on to available ques<ons that might scale differently than “normal” projects in your group Be crea<ve ◦ Within your curriculum ◦ Within your own research
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