CSHL Advanced Bacterial Genetics Course

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spg Hbr NY

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's three-week summer course in Advanced Bacterial Genetics prepares participants to enter directly into research employing advanced techniques and concepts in molecular genetics. Students gain hands-on training in the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed to analyze and manipulate bacterial genes and genomes both in vivo and in vitro. Experiments provide a solid grounding in classical genetic analysis, while supporting training in contemporary uses of transposon mutagenesis, gene fusion and reporter technology, complementation analysis, suppressor analysis, and gene transfer by conjugation, transduction and transformation. Experiments also introduce students to new molecular techniques of genetic engineering that can be applied to diverse problems in bacterial and bacteriophage genetics, such as bacteriophage recombination functions ("recombineering"), gene cloning using site-specific recombination, and advances in site-directed and linker-scanning mutagenesis. In addition, students receive bioinformatics training that is necessary for modern molecular genetics including PCR and oligonucleotide design and DNA sequence analysis. The course is taught by instructors, who are chosen based on their expertise and contributions to the field of bacterial genetics. The instructors invite guest lecturers to give up-to-the-minute reports on current research on diverse topics, while emphasizing the genetic methodologies they used to study these topics. A hallmark of the course is the free exchange of ideas and discussion between participants, instructors, and lecturers. Course participants are chosen from a pool of highly qualified applicants ranging from graduate students to senior investigators and coming from diverse research backgrounds, including biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, and mathematics. Broader Impacts: The course provides a collaborative environment for intense training in modern microbial genetics. The course trains an ethnically, racially and scientifically diverse group, stimulates interaction among all participants, and provides a route for productive research mentorship and engagement.