Transcript The Small World Initiative Presentation

The Small World Initiative:
A model program for first-year
student research and highlights for
the implementation
Tiffany Tsang, PhD
Yale University
[email protected]
Educational Mandate
Increasing Demand in
STEM Occupations
• By 2018, STEM jobs =
5.3% of U.S. jobs
• Increase = 1 million jobs
• 92% will require college
education/training
Retention Problem –
An opportunity
<40% of college students intending to major
in STEM complete a STEM degree
Even fewer of certain ethnic minority groups
(NRC, 2011)
Reasons –
• High performers -- uninspiring intro courses
• Low performers -- insufficient math prep
An Urgent Need and a Solution
• Equivalent to 3 to 4 million over the next decade
• Increasing retention from 40% to 50% would generate
almost ¾ of the one million additional STEM degrees
needed
Engage to Excel
• Focus on 1st two years of college for one million more
STEM professionals because…
o 1st two years actively discourage students from pursuing STEM
degrees
o they are common to all types of colleges and universities
o retaining more STEM majors is the lowest-cost, fastest policy
option to meet the labor force needs
Recommendation #2
“Advocate and provide support for replacing
standard laboratory courses with discovery-based
research courses.”
Premise:
Students who engage in research early in
college
• are more likely to persist in STEM majors
• receive better grades
• complete degrees more quickly
Engage to Excel:
Producing One Million Additional College Graduates
with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast
Examples of Research Courses
• Freshman Biology Experience
o UT-Austin
• SEA PHAGES
o HHMI and U Pittsburgh
o Graham Hatfull
• Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory
o Yale University
o Scott Strobel
• Genomics Education Partnership
o Washington University
o Sally Elgin
• UCLA Undergraduate Research Consortium in Functional
Genomics
o Utpal Banerjee
New Initiative: From Microbes
to Molecules
• 2 semester sequence:
• Biology:
o
o
o
o
Jo Handelsman
Carol Bascom-Slack
Jessamina Blum
Tiffany Tsang
• Chemistry:
o Andy Phillips
o Gill Phillips
o Michal Hallside
Undergraduates solving a human
health threat
Cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) annually in US
64% mortality from MRSA blood
infections
15-fold increase in MRSAassociation mortality since 1993
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=104820
Adapted from "Hospital stays with MRSA infections 1993-2005”
Source: AHRQ, Center for Delivery, Organization and Markets, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project,
Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 1993-2005."
A global health crisis: An opportunity to
contribute solutions
Big Pharma Pulls out of Antibiotic Discovery
Antibiotics
• 75% of antibiotics in clinical use derived
from soil bacteria
• Estimated 100,000 natural products
made by Streptomyces (most prolific
genus)
• Most remain undiscovered –
o Most bacteria in soil are unculturable
o Many pathways for secondary metabolism are “cryptic”
Becoming scientists and contributing to
the discovery of new antibiotics
Choose an
environmental soil
sample
Purify and solve
antibiotic structure
Isolate microbes
Prioritize microbes
Visualize
antibiotic
production
Extract antibiotics
Identify and characterize
Ways to find new antibiotics
 New habitats
 New screens
Streptomyces
Saccharopolyspora
Pseudomonas
Burkholderia
From Microbes to Molecules: A
comparative approach
• Opportunity to teach foundational biological concepts:
o “Why do antibiotics kill bacteria and not us?”
• The cellular and molecular concepts woven around into
the process of antibiotic mode of action
• Students will understand:
o how β-lactam antibiotics kill bacteria and not humans
• Penicillin and β-lactam antibiotics
• Prokaryotic structure
• Walls/membranes
o why pore-forming antibiotics kill bacteria
• Trimethoprim
• Nutrients
• Primary metabolism
M2M: Bringing together
biology and chemistry
…. And designing experiments
M2M Student Symposium
Small World Initiative
• National mandate in science education
• Global issues in infectious disease
• Strategies for antibiotic discovery
Small World Initiative
Crowdsourcing Discovery
Call for Collaborators: National
expansion
INSTITUTION
PILOT PARTNERS
Baylor University
Diane Hartman
Benedictine University
Monica Tischler
Bethel University
Paula Soneral
Brigham Young University-Idaho
Todd Kelson
Chadron State College
Ann Buchmann
Clark College
Ryan Kustusch
Drexel University
Shivanthi Anandan
Eastern Connecticut State University
Barb Murdoch
Florida Southern College
Brittany Gasper
Gaston College
Cliff Grimsley
National University
Ana Maria Barral
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Alice Lee
North Dakota State University
Angela Hodgson
North Hennepin Community College
Craig Longtine
Seton Hill University
Kristen Butela
State College of Florida
Eric Warrick
Tulsa Community College
Neil Enis
University of Connecticut
Karen Pelletreau
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Sachie Etherington
University of Pittsburgh
Jean Schmidt
University of Texas at San Antonio
Janakiram Seshu
University of West Alabama
Mustafa Morsy
Washington State University
Consetta Helmick
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Michael Buckholt
Yale University
Authentic research in
introductory setting
• Inserting research
project into
introductory courses:
o
o
o
o
Cell and molecular biology
Microbiology
Lab course for majors
Lab course for non-majors
• Early authentic
research experience
• Relevant research
project that students
feel passionate about
Training workshop
• 6-day working
meeting:
o Laboratory training of
antibiotic discovery
protocols
o Pedagogical principles
based on Scientific
Teaching
o Group work to develop
courses
Highlights of Training
• Time for collaboration
• Making new friends
and colleagues
• Sharing of best
practices
• Learning from
each other
How do we know if the classes are
working? Assessment data
• CURE – pre/post
• Project ownership
survey (POS)
• Comparison courses
o 1 traditional section
o 1 SWI section
• Withdrawals
• Share assessments
•
•
•
Denofrio, L.A., Russell, B., Lopatto, D., & Lu, Y. (2007). Linking student interests to science curricula. Science, 318, 1872-1873.
Lopatto, D., et al. (2008). Genomics Education Partnership. Science, 322, 684-685.
Hanauer DI1, Frederick J, Fotinakes B, Strobel SA. (2012). Linguistic analysis of project ownership for undergraduate research
experiences. CBE Life Sci Educ. 11, 378-85.
Implementation: Spring 2014
Pilot Year
• Teach the course
o Launch all 25 courses
simultaneously
o Flexibility in the research
project and biological
concepts
o Build new protocols
o Make a bank of
assessments and resources
• Evaluate the program
o
o
o
o
Highlight successes
Identify obstacles
Accumulate best practices
Survey faculty experiences
• Study student
outcomes
o Project ownership
o Longitudinal studies
• Retention in college
• Retention in science
Website as a social network and
scientific and teaching resource
• Scientific database
• Repository for teaching materials
What we’re learning so far
• Course development
o Replacing traditional lab
activities with this research
project is much easier
o Creating a brand new
course is more difficult
• Low enrollment
• Faculty push-back
o Create modular pieces for
instructors to use
• Research Project
o Teaching 2-3 days/week to
fit in all research
o At least 1 hour 30 or 1 hour
45 min sections is key
• A few of the partners
are presenting to
their Trustees/high
administration with
very positive
feedback
National Visibility
• ASM President’s Forum topic: undergraduate research
courses and SWI will be highlighted
• Undergraduate and instructor partners posters will
have own designated section next to “Outstanding
Poster” section
Beyond Pilot Year
• International expansion
o Collaboration with the ASM International
committee
• Open access to teaching and
scientific materials
• Scientific publications
• Teaching publications
• Citizen science
• Building a chemical analysis hub
Spawning Independent Research Projects
• Differing culture
conditions
o New media for culturing
o Supplementing/mixing various
media
• Studying unique soil
samples
• Discovering natural
source of previously
synthesized antibiotic
• Identifying new
antibiotic synthetic
gene clusters
• Isolating new strains
that produces an
known antibiotic
• Engineering ways to
turn on cryptic
pathways
Small World Initiative: Presents a
unique combination
Acknowledgements
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Jo Handelsman
Simon Hernandez
Jenny Frederick
Carol Bascom-Slack
• Gillian Phillips
• Eric Patridge
Generous Funding
• The Leona M. and Harry B.
Helmsley Charitable Trust
• Davis Educational Foundation
• Howard Hughes Medical
Institute
• Yale University Office of the
Provost
• Thomas L. Kempner, Jr.
• The Benet Fund
Thank you!
The Small World Initiative:
Crowdsourcing Antibiotic Discovery
with College Students
Tiffany Tsang, PhD
Yale University
[email protected]