STH 201 Molecular Genetics: An Authentic Research Experience

Science and Technology Honors Program students are able to take a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) class focused in molecular genetics, neuroscience, or chemistry during the second semester of their freshmen year. The STH 201 molecular genetics course, taught by Anil Challa, Ph.D., aids students to develop lab skills and an understanding of foundational information 4 that can be applied in a research setting while preparing students to join research teams with UAB faculty. Unlike most freshmen courses, this CURE course is not merely an introductory course, but an experiential course that requires students to develop a much deeper comprehension of the research conducted and lab techniques used within the genetics field while providing the students with an opportunity to experience authentic research.

The genetics course implements a hands-on approach in the laboratory setting that requires students to be analytical and improve critical thinking skills that are not typically used in a conventional lecture or laboratory course. This year the students conducted a series of experiments targeting uncharted portions of a gene known to act in eye development and utilized clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9) to mutate the gene and analyze the consequences on protein sequences in zebrafish embryo. The students were specifically searching to observe a mutant form of the zebrafish embryo that had only developed a single eye.

This year the class of sixteen Science and Technology Honors Program students was split into four groups that specifically explored research projects in different areas: known genes in the zebrafish system that are not well characterized, poorly characterized genes with known RNA expression patterns, the role of evolutionarily conserved sequences in the zebrafish genome, and the characterization of novel small open reading frames (smORFs). The student groups targeted different DNA sequences and utilized custom RNA guides with CRISPR/Cas9 to alter the target genes in fertilized zebrafish eggs. In addition to the group projects, the class also contributed to validating CRISPR targets in a known gene as a control experiment by creating, testing, and validating the reagents that targeted all sites in the control gene. Even though several computational tools are available to predict CRISPR cleavage efficiencies, they do not always match the empirical results, so the class sought to fill that gap in research by focusing on multiple 5 target sites in the same gene with the goal of correlating the computational predictions with empirical results.

While the team-based class was only created three years ago, it has succeeded in preparing students to work with cutting-edge technology while at the same time providing students with a deeper understanding of the scientific process and thoroughly preparing them with the knowledge necessary to join and contribute to a research lab. Various posters discussing the advances the CURE has made with research experience based STEM education have been presented at national conferences. Dr. Anil Challa presented a poster on the evolution of the course-based undergraduate research experience at the Gordon Research Conference.

Ashley Turner, a genetics graduate student, gave a poster presentation on the effectiveness of physical 3D models in learning about the Central Dogma of molecular biology, a central teaching theme implemented in the CURE, and Dr. Oreoluwa Adedoyin, a nephrology postdoc, presented a poster on the impact of team learning within the CURE. Implementation of courses modeled similarly to CURE for first year STEM majors would give students the opportunity to become well-informed about the scientific process and its importance.