A Partnership to Develop Advanced Technology Units on Genomic Biology

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We propose to develop and disseminate Advanced Technology Units on Genomic Biology that will further prepare high school and junior college students to participate in the future of applied biology. The units are based on strong science content and practical skills that at once encourage students to continue with formal science training and better prepare them for advanced technical vocations. The units stress fundamental themes of evolutionary similarity and individual variation in genetic information. Modern methods of gene identification and analysis are illustrated by student experiments with human, insect, and plant DNA polymorphisms (''fingerprints''). Comparative genomics and evolutionary biology are illustrated by computer manipulations of gene databases -- including on-line projects using student-generated data, as well as data from DNA/protein databases. Students also have the opportunity to prepare a key enzyme (Taq polymerase) and construct a key laboratory instrument (DNA thermal cycler). Laboratory experiments with human polymorphisms and database manipulations also lead naturally to discussion of the ethical, legal, and social issues of genetic testing/databasing. The project is a partnership between the DNA Learning Center (DNALC) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, The Institute for Genomic Research Science Education Foundation ( TIGR SEF), the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD), and high school and junior college faculty. The curriculum materials will be based on key lab and computer technology developed at the DNALC and the University of Chicago that makes DNA fingerprinting by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) accessible and affordable for student use. The high school unit, which focuses on relatively simple human polymorphisms and statistical analyses, expressly articulates with CORD's nationally used Applications in Biology/Chemistry (ABC) curriculum. In this context, the project can upgrade the intellectual content of the ABC curriculum and fa cilitate coordinated follow-on instruction in higher education. The college unit extends to more ambitious analysis of sequence polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA, open-ended experiments in conservation and evolutionary biology, and advanced statistics for DNA/protein sequence comparisons between organisms. Advanced exercises will be based on TIGR's informatics software; an extensive collection of human expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and complete DNA sequences of the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae, Mycoplasma genitalium, and Methanococcus janaschii. Included is a novel Sequencing Service by the partner institutions to generate human mitochondrial sequence for student classes.