The Genetics Society of America is pleased to announce the winners of the GSA Poster Awards at The Allied Genetics Conference! Current undergraduate and graduate student GSA members were eligible for the Awards; six research communities participated in the competition, with postdoctoral scholars volunteering their time and efforts as judges.

The Herculean effort of organizing the 84 postdoctoral judges was spearheaded by the GSA Poster Judging Committee Chair, Peter Stirling, a scientist at the British Columbia Cancer Agency and Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. Peter was assisted by: TAGC Trainee Organizing Committee Chair, Kathleen Dumas, a postdoc at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging; Robin Leigh Armstrong, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and GSA staff members Anne Marie Mahoney and Beth Ruedi.

C. elegans Development, Cell Biology, and Gene Expression Topic Meeting

Graduate Students

1st Place: Kimberly Gauthier, MUHC Research Institute, McGill University
2nd Place: Cristina Matthewman, University of Miami Miller College of Medicine
3rd Place: Amel Alqadah, University of Illinois at Chicago

Undergraduate Students

1st Place: James Brandt, Lewis & Clark College
2nd Place: Maegan Neilson, College of the Holy Cross

Ciliate Molecular Biology Conference

Graduate Student

Miguel Gonzales, Texas A&M

Undergraduate Student

Evan Wilson, Missouri State University

57th Annual Drosophila Research Conference

Graduate Students

1st Place: Daniel Kelpsch, University of Iowa
2nd Place: Afsoon Saadin, University of Maryland Baltimore County
3rd Place: Sumaira Zamurrad, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Undergraduate Students

1st Place: Niahz Wince, Pennsylvania State University, Berks College
2nd Place: Phuong Nguyen, Drexel University

2016 Mouse Genetics Conference

Graduate Students

1st Place: Meng Zhang, Yale University
2nd Place: Sarah Bay, Emory University

Undergraduate Students

Andreea Radulescu, University of Surrey, Great Britain

Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics

Graduate Students

1st Place: Thom Nelson, University of Oregon
2nd Place: Michelle Parmenter, University of Wisconsin–Madison
3rd Place: April Peterson, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Undergraduate Student

Mathieu Henault, IBIS, Université Laval, Canada

Yeast Genetics Meeting

Graduate Students

1st Place: Dara Lo, University of Toronto, Canada
2nd Place (TIE!): Jon Laurent, University of Texas at Austin & Yu-San Yang, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Undergraduate Student

Alex Lederer, University of Pittsburgh

A press release with more information about each of the winners will be available soon.

Phil Hieter, former GSA President and a Co-Chair for The Allied Genetics Conference, works at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, where Dave Ng directs the Michael Smith Laboratories Teaching Facility, AMBL. Dave developed a popular card game, Phylo, as a method to teach people about biodiversity, and Phil had an idea—what if there was a card game that highlighted the importance of model organism research?

Ultimately, GSA provided funding for several UBC summer interns to create the game mechanics and cards for a GSA Model Organisms Deck. Two undergraduates, Lu Li and Sam MacKinnon, and two graduate students, Sidney Ang and Genevieve Leduc-Robert, worked for several months fine-tuning the game and content, which then went through several rounds of editing and playtesting both within and beyond GSA. Dave hired several artists to make beautiful, unique art for the deck as well.

The GSA Model Organisms Deck will make its debut at The Allied Genetics Conference; thanks (again) to Phil’s pursuit of sponsorship partners, each TAGC attendee will receive their own deck free of charge! The GSA deck is designed to be educational; to that end, TAGC is also hosting several “Hackathons” as part of its Education Pre-Conference, not only showing participants how to play, but allowing them to use the deck to create lesson plans, new game mechanisms, and/or new cards for the deck. It’s not too late to register for this if you’re attending the meeting; simply email Anne Marie Mahoney for details.

But what is a Hackathon? What’s Phylo, and what makes the GSA deck special? We asked Dave Ng to fill us in:

What is Phylo?

Phylo began as a biodiversity-themed card game, and has been crowdsourced into existence. Because of the fluid nature of workshopping the game over the years, as well as the myriad of different expertise from the participating scientific communities, Phylo has turned into a STEM-based trading card culture with over 1000 free print-your-own cards, as well as around 15 decks that are purchasable for collecting and playing.  This includes decks that focus on specific geographical locales, women in science issues, phytochemicals, pond critters, things Darwin saw during his Beagle voyage, and the list goes on—and will continue to go on.

The GSA is releasing their deck at TAGC.  It’s awesome and all attendees will be getting a copy.

Can you tell me about the GSA Model Organisms Deck?

The GSA deck is special because it focuses on experimental narratives, particularly around model organisms. The primary rule set for the Phylo game is based on trophic connections (like a game of dominos, but you connect cards based on food chain considerations). Obviously, you can’t emulate this game mechanic with model organisms eating each other!  So we needed to create a new gameplay and a new set of rules for this deck.

These rules revolve around getting points by finishing your “projects,” which are completed by collecting the appropriate cards (including the organism(s) you’re working on, the methods you need to use, etc).  As this unfolds in the game, there are also cards that make project completion easier or harder—these reflect common occurrences in research culture (such as grant approval, sample contamination, switching projects, etc). You can also collaborate on projects by sharing cards. Definitely kudos to the design team, which was composed of genetics grad students and undergrads, as the gameplay is quite well done!

One of the current buzzwords in education is “game-based learning”—what are the benefits of using gaming in a learning environment?

The academic research that looks at game-based learning is still pretty young, and a bit amorphous to be honest. Most of the research is concerned with digital games, but there’s also growing interest in analog games (such as card games, board games, or tabletop role playing games like the GSA Phylo deck). Generally, the merits of using games lie in enhancing engagement, since concepts of “play” and narrative factor into engagement so strongly. Enhanced engagement can then, in turn, lead to better uptake of prescribed learning objectives.

One of the things that we’re most interested in researching is what happens when students “design” the game themselves. In other words, if you provide students with a framework that asks them to “make a game that somehow includes these learning outcomes” – what then? From our preliminary observations, where the framework suggests the production of an analog game with the prototyping done with paper and pen, it looks like this might work as a great exercise in inquiry-based learning. In their effort to create a game that makes the concepts fit, students end up really diving deep into the content. It’s quite a challenge to develop game mechanics that emulate a scientific concept, but it’s also fun to make a game, so the engagement and effort are still there.

It’s our hope that a game like the GSA  Model Organisms Deck  in Phylo can give teachers a hybrid experience: the deck can be used as an educational resource, as-is; or it can segue into lessons where students need to design modifications (“mods”) or expansion packs to introduce other genetic-themed concepts.

The game has playtested really well, but we’re particularly excited to see what educators can do with it. Phylo is very open to mods, which means that it can be used effectively in an educational space. This is why we’re hosting a few hackathons at the conference. I think with the calibre of folks in the genetics education space, we could come up with some pretty cool mods, and/or lesson plans to go with the game.

You are having a “Collaborative Hackathon” at TAGC—what’s a hackathon??

“Hackathon” typically describes an event where a group of experts converges and collaborates intensively. They are explicitly goal-oriented in that there is something tangible to deliver. Added to that, (and this is where it gets fun) hackathons largely thrive on doing all of this in an insanely short period of time, with lots of juggling of various factors, and with full realization that you have to make do with limited or no resources. Culturally, this is more about sweatpants and copious amounts of caffeine, rather than looking important and taking the expert out for dinner. It’s especially common in the technology sectors, notably in the culture of computer programming where the term “hack” originated—but these days hackathons are widely used in a variety of forms, involving a diverse range of different disciplines. If you can hack computer software, games, science, policy and artistry, why not teaching?

At the TAGC Education Pre-Conference Hackathons, we’ll spend the first 45 minutes focusing on the game: how it came to be, how it plays, and then actually playing with the GSA Model Organisms Phylo deck for a bit. After that, we’ll spend 15 minutes or so showing attendees what other groups and teachers have done with Phylo decks. Finally, everyone will put their pedagogy hats on and think about how they can incorporate the game into common genetics themed learning objectives. This may take the form of a designed lesson plan that asks students to dig a little deeper; it may take the form of thinking of new cards that focus on a particular scientific area (say, an expansion pack);  it may even involve thinking of entirely new games that borrow existing mechanics found in the GSA game.

That’s the beauty of this hackathon: anything goes, but there is the expectation that you will have something to show off. The other beauty, of course, is that it’s perfectly acceptable to fail at your final goal: indeed, in hackathon culture, the element of failure is a key component of this process, because it sets the stage for reiteration.

How can people get their hands on their own GSA Model Organism Phylo deck?
Thanks to Phil Hieter securing sponsorship from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences, the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC, and the Rare Diseases: Models and Mechanisms Network, each attendee at The Allied Genetics Conference will receive a “Phylo GSA Starter Deck”—this is the full GSA Model Organism Phylo Deck as well as some blank cards allowing the addition of new organisms, projects, and methods.

For those not attending TAGC, the GSA Model Organisms Deck will also be available online at the Phylo website; people can download the cards and print them for free to make their own decks, or professionally printed decks will be available for (revenue-neutral) purchase.

Hackathon attendees will also get an account on the Phylo website, which will allow them to create DIY cards directly on the site!

Thanks to Dave Ng for spearheading this project and for taking the time to answer our questions. Also, thanks to the students who developed the original concept (Signey Ang, Genevieve Leduc-Robert, Lu Li, and Sam MacKinnon), and all those who have playtested the game. 

• Want to play with the GSA deck and collaborate on new cards, lesson plans, or game mechanics? Email Anne Marie Mahoney and ask to register for the Educator Flexpass, which will give you access to the TAGC Education Pre-Conference. The “Collaborative Hackathon” sessions will be held on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, from 9 am – 12 pm and again from 1 pm – 4 pm.
• We will post a link to the final online version of the GSA Model Organisms Phylo deck here as soon as it is live!

UPDATE: Here is the final deck! You can either download the printable version or buy a high-quality pack at a revenue-neutral price.

Short videos, interactive animations, a brief reading beyond the textbook, slides for students to review before coming to class—all of these things can be useful when teaching. However, trying to find the right fit for your classroom can result in a long trip down a Google-infused rabbit hole, and before you know it you’ve spent 6 hours finding a good animation demonstrating shotgun sequencing.

There are many good online repositories out there: HHMI BioInteractive; Learn.Genetics; PBS LearningMedia; the DNA Learning Center…the list goes on. While many places (including GSA!) have lists of websites that could serve as good sources for educators, they don’t always pinpoint specific resources that can be used for undergraduate genetics courses.

To save our educators some time, we’ve started to cultivate a list of specific resources, not just their base websites, that may prove more useful. The newly launched  Genetics Education Resource Room has examples of animations, videos, problem sets, digital presentations (PPTs), and readings—all listed by subject category and thus browsable within GSA’s genetics learning framework. We hope that you will find it a useful starting place when you want to supplement your curriculum.

The Resource Room is by no means an exhaustive list! There are many useful online materials that we’ve missed. We’re relying on you to help us stock the Resource Room, telling us your favorite online animation about meiosis, for example, or filling in some missing pieces of our collection.

Let us know what you think of this new addition to GSA education in the comments below, or email education@genetics-gsa.org!

Inaugural class sets high standards for a growing program.

Mentoring Matters

The Genetics Society of America takes an active and collaborative role in the Promoting Active Learning & Mentoring (PALM) Network, along with our partners: the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Society of Plant Biologists. PALM funds one-on-one, long-term mentorships for faculty or postdocs new to the effective biology education approaches outlined in the Vision and Change recommendations. PALM Fellows work with mentors to develop, use and evaluate evidence-based active learning strategies in their own classroom. Fellows also will disseminate their new resources in their own professional networks as well as via our Society’s outlets, including GSA PREP, the CourseSource Genetics course, and education events at The Allied Genetics Conference. The longer term goal is for Fellows to catalyze enduring change that will positively influence the teaching culture at their institution.

Congratulations to the Spring 2016 Class of PALM Fellows!

Using real-time response questions in small-group, active learning exercises to assess and enhance student understanding of meiotic recombination and its critical role in the process of evolution.

Mentee: Christopher L. Baker, PhD
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: The Jackson Laboratory
PALM Partner Affiliation: GSA

Mentor: Michelle K. Smith, PhD
Position: Assistant Professor
Institution: University of Maine
PALM Partner Affiliation: GSA

Using the model roundworm C. elegans, students will conduct authentic research and generate data investigating how epigenetic information is inherited through generations

Mentee: Teresa W. Lee, PhD
Position: Postdoctoral IRACDA Fellow
Institution: Emory University School of Medicine
PALM Partner Affiliation: GSA

Mentor: Karen L. Schmeichel, PhD
Position: Associate Professor
Institution: Oglethorpe University
PALM Partner Affiliation: ASCB

Using the Online Macromolecular Museum, case studies, and a new assessment tool to engage students in hands-on learning about the biology of Sickle Cell Anemia

Mentee: Stephanie Levi, PhD
Position: Adjunct Professor
Institution: Oakton Community College & Northeastern Illinois University
PALM Partner Affiliation: ASCB

Mentor: David J. Marcey, PhD
Position: Fletcher Jones Professor of Developmental Biology
Institution: California Lutheran University
PALM Partner Affiliation: ASCB

The Future of PALM is in Your Hands

To learn more about the PALM Network and how to become a PALM Fellow, Mentor, or Network Partner, please see http://www.ascb.org/PALM/.

Many of us have been there: you’ve attended seminars and workshops focused on transforming the way you teach, and you can’t wait to use what you’ve learned. However, examining the evidence behind evidence-based teaching and actually using the evidence-based teaching methods are very different beasts. If you aren’t quite sure how to incorporate active learning techniques into your classroom, consider applying to be a Promoting Active Learning & Mentoring (PALM) Network Fellow.

The PALM Network was established by GSA, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the American Society for Plant Biologists to spark sustained biology education reform at diverse institutions through one-on-one long-term mentorships for faculty new to approaches based on recommendations from the Vision and Change report. PALM provides faculty and postdoctoral scholars with resources that allow them to gain hands-on experience and long-term mentorship support to bring evidence-based, active learning strategies into their own classrooms. PALM offers up to $2,000 per Fellow; a $500 mentor stipend; and up to $1,000 for network meeting travel (for each Fellow and mentor).

The PALM Fellow application website opens on January 1, 2016; however, you can begin working on your application now! Use the guidelines available at www.ascb.org/PALM. The application deadline is January 15, 2016.

Applicants must:

• Be or become members of organizations that belong to the PALM Network.
• Demonstrate an abiding/sustainable interest in undergraduate biology education.
• Establish a mentor relationship before formally applying.
  • Mentors must be skilled in active learning strategies and evidence-based teaching that align with Vision and Change principles. See http://www.visionandchange.org.
  • Mentors must belong to (or join) one of the PALM Network organizations.
  • Assistance with mentor matching is available (PALM Steering Committee can make recommendations based on geography and specific teaching interests).
• Explain alternatives if they have no immediate access to their own teaching setting.

Become a Mentor

If you are already skilled in the active learning strategies and evidence-based teaching that align with Vision and Change principles, volunteer to become a mentor! Mentors receive a $500 stipend to help implement effective teaching strategies, as well as network meeting travel support. Be a part of true education reform by becoming a PALM Network Mentor!

Questions? Please email grant PI Sue Wick at swick@umn.edu or Beth Ruedi at eruedi@genetics-gsa.org.

Funded by NSF Research Coordination Network in Undergraduate Biology Education grant #1539870

Finals are over, grades are turned in, and winter break is finally here! For better or worse, however, many people use “breaks” to catch up on all the things that have stacked up during the fall. If your idea of relaxation includes thinking about your next course (after all, advanced preparation can be a big stress reliever), then here are some ideas for you courtesy of GSA’s genetics learning framework, the GSA Peer Reviewed Education Portal, and its affiliated partners.

Use the Force

In this case, “the Force” is high-quality, peer-reviewed teaching resources that you can use to plan out your next semester. GSA PREP has some new resources!

• Looking for a way to help your students understand genetics and development? A laboratory by Shipman and Dobens, Using Fijiwings to Understand the Genetic Control of Cell Growth and Proliferation: A Computer-Based Laboratory Exercise, conveys the core concepts of gene expression and regulation, and in particular how genes control development, using a computer-based program to measure the effect of manipulating cell signaling on tissue and cell size. The resource can be used as-is for an intermediate level undergraduate course, or can be modified to either accommodate introductory level students or advanced students.

• A set of in-class exercises by Hood-Degrengier, Active Learning Workshops for Teaching Key Topics in Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology: Structure of DNA/RNA, Structure of Proteins, and Cell Division via Mitosis and Meiosis, consists of workshop materials that facilitate an active learning approach to teaching three core topics typically covered in introductory cell and molecular biology courses: DNA/RNA structure, protein structure, and cell division via both mitosis and meiosis.

Keep an eye out for other new resources in the beginning of 2016, there are several in the queue.

Yes, you can publish that, too!

If you have your spring semester all planned out, why not take some time in the lull of winter break and publish something great? (Or alternatively, settle down for a long winter’s nap, though that doesn’t look as nice on a CV).

Take some time to write up your classroom resources for GSA PREP or CourseSource, and give your student-centered learning materials a chance to shine. You’ll get something for your CV, and other educators will get a great idea to use in their classroom.

What’s the difference between GSA PREP and CourseSource? Both are based on the same learning framework (note: the CourseSource webpage may not be updated); both request submissions of resources that use evidence-based, effective teaching methods. Indeed, most resources published in one will be cross-posted in the other. CourseSource is an online, open access journal that publishes five types of articles; lessons must be written with such detail that educators should be able to replicate the activity exactly. GSA PREP is an online repository of resources, offering a DOI; unlike CourseSource, it is not a journal, and thus resources are not articles nor are they indexed in PubMed. The format of GSA PREP materials is more informal, requiring only a resource justification; otherwise, teaching materials may be submitted “as-is.”

Sharing is Caring

Bask in the glow of new year celebrations and give back to the education community by suggesting online resources for cataloging in GSA PREP. (This process will also help you procrastinate while you are writing up your own original resource for submission!) If you regularly use a resource in your class and think that everyone should do the same, suggest it via this form. This can include anything from videos, to presentation slides, to full teaching modules. Note that filling out the suggestion form is not a guarantee that the resource will be listed.

Don’t forget to PREP for the holidays and for your next course!

If you’re doing it right, teaching undergraduates is incredibly difficult. Delving into the scholarship of teaching and learning can be absolutely overwhelming, especially if the principles of Vision & Change are new to you. Preparing excellent activities, making sure that students are engaged, redesigning a course so that it’s “flipped”- all of these things take a great deal of time and effort. But the research shows it’s well worth it.

It may be easier for instructors to develop passive lectures and slideshows, but many agencies and institutions are united in calling  for drastic changes in pedagogy that include more active learning approaches (dip into some of the literature using the PULSE V&C Toolkit). One effective strategy is to use peer-reviewed literature to introduce students to core concepts in biology (for one excellent example, check out Sally Hoskins’ C.R.E.A.T.E. method). It is possible to design an entire course around a set of four to five primary research papers, achieving your learning objectives while successfully engaging students in the process of science.

There’s a hitch: reading primary literature is difficult. Even seasoned peer-reviewers can struggle with the density and jargon. Undergraduates find reading their first research paper even more intimidating; it is a “trial by fire” not only because they have no experience with the conventions of the genre, but because they are wading into uncharted conceptual territory.

I remember teaching my Genome Science class at North Carolina State University how to read a research paper. I suggested they start with the abstract, then try to get a general idea of what the figures were showing them. The next step was to move onto the intro, re-examine the figures, and read the discussion. Once they’d made it that far, then they would look over the methods and results. Even with guidance, becoming a seasoned reader takes practice.

What if there was a way to ease new readers into a peer-reviewed paper? Those questions were raised at a GSA Education Committee meeting by the Chair at the time, Beth De Stasio (Lawrence University), and later seconded by Scott Hawley (former President of GSA, Stowers Institute) and Mark Johnston (Editor-in-Chief, GENETICS; University of Colorado School of Medicine). In 2012, GENETICS unveiled its answer in a new type of article: the Primer.

Primers in GENETICS now come in two flavors: Research Primers, and Model Organism Primers.

Research Primers accompany peer-reviewed research articles published in GENETICS, and serve as a tool to guide the reader through the paper. Research Primers provide an expanded introduction and background, highlighting why the research was conducted and how the authors decided to address their unanswered questions. Methods used in the original article are presented with helpful context, typically also accompanied by explanatory graphics (see the description of yeast two-hybrid, for example, or knockout methods). Results are described in detail: what did the researchers find? How did they analyze their results? How were the results interpreted? An expanded discussion is followed by a guide for educators, which often includes a set of questions for classroom use.

What I would have given to have such a tool in my class! I am positive that my former students echo that sentiment.

Model Organism Primers provide a thorough background of a model genetic system, covering everything from its life cycle to the available genetic and genomic tools. Currently, Primers are available for budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe), nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans), and the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).

Each of the Model Organism Primers was crafted by teams from their respective model organism communities. Not only are they incredibly useful, they also read as a kind of love letter to these systems. Indulge me a moment as I reflect on my personal favorite–the fly Primer. Yes, I chose to work with D. melanogaster because of its ease of use, its complex behavior, and its fully sequenced genome (a huge deal when I started grad school); but along the way, I got attached to the little critters, so reading about everything that makes flies great warmed my heart. I daydreamed for a moment that we had the fly Primer in my graduate advisor’s lab–we worked extensively with undergraduates, and if we had been able to hand them this paper, it would have made things so much easier for both them and us. And not just undergraduates! This Primer would have been a lifesaver for me when I started grad school as a fly-pushing novice.

Model Organism Primers also serve as excellent introductory tools for the classroom. For instance, imagine wanting to introduce your students to the concepts of gene function and expression, or specifically RNAi and genetic screening. Ideally, you could do this using a paper in GENETICS like “A Network of Genes Antagonistic to the LIN-35 Retinoblastoma Protein of Caenorhabditis elegans” by Polley and Fay (2012). Unless you’re leading a very advanced class, though, you’d first want to give them background on C. elegans: assign “A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans” by Corsi, Wightman, and Chalfie (2015) as a pre-class reading, then have a discussion about the importance of model systems in your class. Next up, pair Polley and Fay’s paper with its corresponding Research Primer, “Suppressors, Screens, and Genes…” (2012) authored by Beth De Stasio. As she says in the abstract, “An article by Polley and Fay in this issue of GENETICS provides an excellent opportunity to introduce or reinforce concepts of reverse genetics and RNA interference, suppressor screens, synthetic phenotypes, and phenocopy. Necessary background, explanations of these concepts, and a sample approach to classroom use of the original article, including discussion questions, are provided.” Not only will your students learn core concepts in genetics, but they will gain a firmer grasp on a genetic model system and on how to read primary literature, both important core competencies in our field.

We hope that Primers in GENETICS will help you in a plethora of different ways, whether it be fine-tuning your teaching, or introducing a new student into your lab.

Interested in becoming a Primer author? Contact GENETICS Primer Editor Beth De Stasio for more details. Keep an eye out for more Primers coming out soon!

CITATIONS:

Duina, A. A., Miller, M. E., & Keeney, J. B. (2014). Budding yeast for budding geneticists: a primer on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae model system. Genetics, 197(1), 33-48. doi: 10.1534/genetics.114.163188

http://www.genetics.org/content/197/1/33.full

Hoffman, C. S., Wood, V., & Fantes, P. A. (2015). An Ancient Yeast for Young Geneticists: A Primer on the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Model System. Genetics, 201(2), 403-423. doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.181503

http://www.genetics.org/content/201/2/403.full

Corsi, A. K., Wightman, B., & Chalfie, M. (2015). A Transparent window into biology: A primer on Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics, 200(2), 387-407. doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.176099

http://www.genetics.org/content/200/2/387.full

Hales, K. G., Korey, C. A., Larracuente, A. M., & Roberts, D. M. (2015). Genetics on the Fly: A Primer on the Drosophila Model System. Genetics, 201(3), 815-842. doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.183392

http://www.genetics.org/content/201/3/815.abstract

Polley, S. R., & Fay, D. S. (2012). A network of genes antagonistic to the LIN-35 retinoblastoma protein of Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics, 191(4), 1367-1380. doi:10.1534/genetics.112.140152

http://www.genetics.org/content/191/4/1367.full

De Stasio, E. A. (2012). Suppressors, Screens, and Genes: An Educational Primer for Use with “A Network of Genes Antagonistic to the LIN-35 Retinoblastoma Protein of Caenorhabditis elegans”. Genetics, 191(4), 1031-1035. doi: 10.1534/genetics.112.142943

http://www.genetics.org/content/191/4/1031.full

The National Science Foundation has funded a new mentoring initiative jointly organized by the GSA, American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), and American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). The Promoting Active Learning & Mentoring (PALM) Network was established to spark sustained biology education reform at diverse institutions through one-on-one long-term mentorships for faculty new to approaches based on recommendations from the Vision and Change report.

PALM provides faculty and postdoctoral scholars with resources that allow them to gain hands-on experience and long-term mentorship support to bring evidence-based, active learning strategies into their own classrooms. The longer term goal is to lead enduring change that will positively influence the teaching culture at each PALM Fellow’s institution.

PALM offers up to $2,000 per Fellow; a $500 mentor stipend; and up to $1,000 for network meeting travel (for each Fellow and mentor). The 2016 application deadlines are January 15 and June 15. The application site will open on January 1, 2016 at www.ascb.org/PALM; more details are available on the site now.

PALM Fellows will:

• Identify and secure partnership with experienced mentors who have already reformed their classrooms. A successful application will define how Fellows will visit the mentor’s site to observe and participate in teaching redesigned classes. This will allow Fellows to experience first-hand—and begin to put into practice—the full scope of pedagogical and cultural shifts needed to achieve effective change.
• Submit a complete proposal.
• Schedule dates to complete the identified work within six months of receiving the award notification.
• Develop an active learning-based module for one of their classes with guidance from their mentors and implement it, thus demonstrating how they have incorporated active learning approaches.
• Submit videos of their teaching before and after their mentoring experience for analysis.
• Consider best options and timing for disseminating their materials to others in their institutions and in the greater scientific community, including publication (e.g., CourseSource or GSA PREP).
• Report on their activities to colleagues at the year-end gathering of the PALM Network, as well as at a national, regional, or sectional meeting of their respective scientific societies.
• Participate in surveys over several years so the PALM Network can assess the extent and persistence of change in classroom practice.

Applicants must:

• Be or become members of organizations that belong to the PALM Network.
• Demonstrate an abiding/sustainable interest in undergraduate biology education.
• Establish a mentor relationship before formally applying.
  • Mentors must be skilled in active learning strategies and evidence-based teaching that align with Vision and Change principles. See http://www.visionandchange.org.
  • Mentors must belong to (or join) one of the PALM Network organizations.
  • Assistance with mentor matching is available (PALM Steering Committee can make recommendations based on geography and specific teaching interests).
• Explain alternatives if they have no immediate access to their own teaching setting.

Networking Works

The PALM Network is designed to combine the shared educational interests of scientific organizations working to promote the objectives of Vision and Change. PALM founders will expand the network by bringing in other organizations seeking collaborations based on reform efforts as they work hard to promote the principles of Vision and Change. The PALM Network Steering Committee contains members representing three professional societies, minority-serving institutions, and community colleges; this is an intentional combination aimed at ensuring diversity in program management and participation.

The PALM Steering Committee’s links to minority- and tribal-serving institutions and community colleges will support this grant’s goals for broadening participation in active learning reform. These organizations educate over half the underrepresented minorities in the U.S., so PALM is primed to bring Vision and Change reforms to populations of faculty and students who have not factored prominently into past pedagogical reform plans.

Questions? Please email grant PI Sue Wick at swick@umn.edu or Beth Ruedi at eruedi@genetics-gsa.org.

Funded by NSF Research Coordination Network in Undergraduate Biology Education grant #1539870

Publishing research in one of the GSA Journals as an undergraduate is a significant and valuable authorship experience and we want to hear your story (even if it was published years ago!). GSA’s Spotlight on Undergraduate Research showcases GENETICS and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics authors who were undergraduates when contributing to their paper.

Sarah Radford
Postdoctoral Associate, Rutgers University
Undergraduate Research Advisor: Jill B. Keeney
Undergraduate Research Institution: Juniata College

How did you become involved in research?              

The professor of my sophomore genetics course, Dr. Gooch, recognized that I was interested in the topic and suggested that I do research. At the time, I had no idea how research worked and had never heard of graduate school, but Dr. Gooch introduced me to Dr. Keeney, and that started my research career.

What was it like authoring and contributing to this paper?         

Because I was in a lab at a small liberal arts college, research did not progress quickly. I happened to be working in the lab at the time when the important discovery for this project was made, but many other undergraduates before me contributed, which is why the author list is long. Although we published after I left for graduate school, I wrote a large part of the introduction – it was from the introduction to my undergraduate thesis – so I ended up snagging the first author position.

What was the most interesting (or fun!) aspect of your time working on this project?  

I loved working in the lab from the first day. I liked the experiments and the puzzle-solving aspect. The best part for me was the amount of independence I had, despite being in a small undergraduate-driven lab. This has really influenced the way that I work with undergraduates in lab now.

How did working on this project influence what you’re doing now (if at all)?    

I have recently been using my undergraduate experience to do some yeast two-hybrid screening. I even pulled out my old “Keeney Laboratory Manual” for reference! But more than just laboratory experience, working on this project is the reason why I chose a career in research.

When this paper was ready for publication, I was already in graduate school. I asked my advisor, Dr. Jeff Sekelsky, what journal he thought we should submit to. He immediately suggested GENETICS, so I suggested that to Dr. Keeney. Since then, the largest part of my publication list consists of papers in GENETICS!

CITATION

Radford, S. J., Boyle, M.L., Sheely, C.J., Graham, J., Haeusser, D.P., Zimmerman, & L., Keeney, J.B. (2004) Increase in Ty1 cDNA recombination in yeast sir4 mutant strains at high temperature. GENETICS 168 (1):89-101. doi: 10.1534/genetics.102.012708