1. Discovery-based science education: functional genomic dissection in Drosophila by undergraduate researchers
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Kristin Spivey, Aneet Toor, Gerald B. Call, Brenda Hermogeno, Pamela Saarikoski, Qing Xu, Sheryllene Go, Vivek Singh, Brian Kirkpatrick, Bhavin Padhiar, Aram Shemmassian, Ramnik Singh, Steve Tovar, Sophia Wu, James Jen, Katrin Kahen, Courtney Gonzalez, Grant Alkin, Bassel Rifai, Poonam Desai, Damien Wood, Robert Kwak, Mariam Guirguis, Jayantha Thiyanaratnam, Preethi Poulose, Yuli Chang, Maggie Wells, Jamie L. Marshall, Aya Pusic, Marina Stavchanskiy, Thomas Kho, Nick Garrone, Jeyling Chou, Stephanie Calvillo, Charles Hu, Emily Vollmer, Winston Wu, Henry Lin, Sumit Datta, Leo Thai, Sheila Lezcano, Devon M Huff, Santino Laxamana, Meghann Ribbens, Mara Pavel-Dinu, Yein Kim, Yibing Chen, Eunha Kim, Nneka Orjiakor, Sarah Kim, Allison Milchanowski, Edwin Paz, Manyak Saakyan, Erin Marsh, Linda Kao, Russell Powell, Christopher N.H. Bui, Nikki Villarasa, Joy Wu, Eric Paul, Artemis Deravanesian, Aria Hong, Kha Nguyen, Akanksha Chhabra, Leena Tekchandani, Toni Lee, Utpal Banerjee, William R. Marrs, Elena Bibikova, Eric Lee, Lindsay Hovestreydt, Anna L. Abrams, Jordan Fabrikant, Joseph Cao, Chad Goffstein, So-Youn Lee, Daniel Chang, Will Yarosh, Peter Lin, Kosha Soneji, Christopher Lee, Thanh Luu, Katherine Fu, Maurine Tong, Amanda O'Donahue, Amanda Abramson, Desiree Rosselli, Gemma Lewis, Farid Jamshidian, George Yen, Jiong Chen, Amir Yavari, Yasaman Moshfegh, Amit Misra, Lephong Pham, Ernesto Nodado, Tanya Minasian, Ryan Hassid, Erika Stageberg, Stacy Chan, Cynthia Nguyen, Yuki Yamauchi, Marc Uemura, Janet Lee, Helena Minye, Aileen Chang, Alex Pavlenko, Kelly Trangsrud, Phyllis Gayda, Miles Morimoto, Kirsten Regalia, Jenny Chan, Ardy Davarifar, Shahbaz Farnad, Peter Dang, Daniel Solomin, Laura Yee, Jenny Anderson, Albert Cespedes, To Hang S Lee, Julie Luu, Jessica Murray, Allen Bookatz, Keenan Bashour, Joo Choi, Adam D. Langenbacher, Emil Kohan, Amy M. Chan, Sarah Min, Melissa M. Kelley, Miriam Segura, Elsa Beyer, Sarah Phaklides, Natalie Buu, Emily Weiss, Mary Unkovic, Julie Hong, Emily Skinner, Farnaz Shadpour, Wah-Yung Tsang, Eddie Garcia, Divi Ramola, Latiffe Amado, Srpouhi Gasparyan, Sarah Brewer, Kevin Yackle, and Ndidi Onugha
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Discovery science ,Genetics ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,QH301-705.5 ,General Neuroscience ,Genomics ,In vivo analysis ,Biology ,Development ,Genetics/Genomics/Gene Therapy ,Data science ,Science education ,Genome ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Community Page ,ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION ,Identification (biology) ,Drosophila ,Biology (General) ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Curriculum ,Functional genomics - Abstract
The excitement of scientific research and discovery cannot be fully conveyed by didactic lectures alone. Several recent initiatives and proposals, therefore, have supported a more participatory, discovery-based instruction for undergraduate science education [1,2]. In functional genomics, we have found an ideal platform to simultaneously benefit students and contribute to scientific discovery. The sequencing of eukaryotic genomes has facilitated the identification of complete sets of genes in humans and model genetic organisms. This has allowed many forms of high-throughput analyses of transcriptional profiles, protein interactions, structural motifs, and even genome-wide knock-downs in cell lines or in selected organisms. However, one of the best tools to provide functional information about gene action— obtaining in vivo evidence about the phenotype resulting from heritable loss of function—is difficult and less amenable to high-throughput research. We were able to achieve a large-scale in vivo analysis with a significant number of undergraduate students at UCLA, called the UCLA Undergraduate Consortium for Functional Genomics. This work, a practical manifestation of policy positions proposing discoverybased education, is described in summary form here (and in Box 1) and in detail online at http://www.bruinfly.ucla.edu. This effort combines professional-quality research with a strategy for research-based undergraduate education.