Genomics in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Ion Transport and Cell Communication

College Of The Holy Cross, Worcester MA

Investigators

Abstract

Genomics and bioinformatics are newly emerging areas of study at the interface between traditional cell and molecular biology and computer science. Made possible by the massive investment in the Human Genome Project, these areas have not yet been effectively incorporated into the curriculum of most biology programs, particularly those at liberal arts colleges. This project has three parts, designed to remedy that lack. (1) It adds the new methods to the approaches currently used by undergraduate research students in the Principal Investigator's research laboratory. (2) A Teaching Postdoctoral Fellow is providing the necessary expertise in data analysis to the research experience while enriching the curriculum with course offerings in the area of bioinformatics and gaining valuable classroom experience. And (3) students in these and other courses are being assisted to design presentations of their term projects to take to high school classrooms, helping to demystify the technology while communicating the excitement of its findings. The P.I.'s research addresses the relationship between ion homeostasis in cultured animal cells and the cells' ability to communicate using gap junctions. Both ion transport and cell communication are evolutionarily ancient, highly integrated with the rest of the cell's physiology, and required for normal cell function. Over two decades, the laboratory has shown that preventing normal function of the sodium pump by treating a variety of cells with the drug ouabain causes a reversible loss in cell communication. The PI is introducing DNA microarray technology into her laboratory to work out conditions for analyzing global patterns of gene expression. This technology, normally beyond the reach of undergraduates or liberal arts colleges, is possible at Holy Cross because of the P.I's involvement in the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT), a collaboration among 36 undergraduate institutions. Surplus microarrays provided by university researchers are made available at low cost for use by undergraduates and analyzed at a central facility at Davidson College. Data are posted to an FTP site where they are accessible for analysis by any member of the consortium. These studies are using yeast initially because they are easy to grow in bulk under defined conditions, microarrays are readily available, and the P.I. and her students have demonstrated the feasibility of the work in pilot studies of the technology. Once the microarray technology is well understood, it will be applied to gene expression in human and mouse cells, both fibroblastic and epithelial, to understand the pattern of gene expression in cells treated with ouabain, aldosterone, or other stimulants or suppressants of cell communication. The results will identify genes whose expression rises or falls as a consequence of changing ion homeostasis, making them candidates for further study as regulators of cell communication. This project takes full advantage of the P.I.'s long-standing expertise both in research and in undergraduate education, supporting her work as a mentor of students and faculty. As such its impact is not limited to collecting research results, but has added valuable benefits. More undergraduate students are stimulated to ongoing study of biology through immersion in this new research effort. The Postdoctoral Fellow is mentored to develop as a future faculty member in the model of a teacher-scholar. High school students learn first-hand about many of the exciting developments in modern biology, and undergraduates giving school presentations hone their skills in sharing their knowledge with society. And the infrastructure of the sciences at Holy Cross is being enriched by the presence of the collaborative, interdisciplinary activities associated with application of genomics to the problem of cell-to-cell communication.