I-Corps L: Social Entrepreneurship to Integrate Education, Research and Training - A University of Houston Model

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Our undergraduate students are at a distinct disadvantage as they lack the interdisciplinary skills required to face the rapidly changing practices present in life sciences research. Therefore, there exists a critical need to advance life sciences education to reflect the discipline it serves. Both the disciplines of life sciences and of science education underwent tremendous changes in the latter half of the 20th century; however, biology education has not kept pace with the rapid changes in the field. The goal of this project is the expansion and implementation of an interdisciplinary research-based curriculum to broadly disseminate and implement innovative S.T.E.M learning practices. In addressing the NSF?s Vision and Change, a call to teach biology as it should be done in the 21st century; this project further delineates the skills and knowledge base for students in this growing interdisciplinary field. Additionally, the project recognizes the opportunity to expand the scope of this curriculum to support and benefit the wider education and research community and help guide the transformative effort to prepare our students for the 21st century biology workforce. This curriculum uses a pesticide degrading bacterium, Brevundimonas diminuta, as an anchor organism to demonstrate the lifecycle of a typical biotechnology product. Three sets of activity modules use a guided inquiry-based method to teach appropriate techniques and skills and help students build a bridge between materials presented in courses and real-life applications. Module I is an environmental sampling research module (ESRM) which demonstrates the discovery process and consists of the collection of environmental soil samples to isolate pesticide-degrading microbes. Module II contains techniques for isolation, cloning, and transgenic expression of the pesticide-degrading gene. Module III consists of activities that emulate production of a biotech product, in our case activities that are related to growing transformed cells in a bioreactor for optimum production which is then followed by purification of the recombinant protein using traditional downstream processes. The environmental sampling research module (ESRM) designed, developed, and successfully implemented at the University of Houston during the past six years will be integrated into a variety of courses across diverse institutions to provide undergraduate research experiences. Students will locate sites positive for pesticide degrading activity, and identify novel strains of bacteria. The wide expansion of the ESRM database through this activity will be used to enhance a variety of skills, including writing, critical thinking, and quantitative learning. This curriculum will impact the following areas in life sciences education; undergraduate research, retention in STEM, and workforce readiness.