Research Experiences in Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology of Marine Organisms

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Undergraduate students with a background in physiology, cellular biology, molecular biology and chemistry will work side-by-side with faculty mentors in an intense program of summer research and training on problems of topical concern in experimental marine biology.Students will be recruited nationally and selected for this program based on their established (although not necessarily extensive) formal course work in physiology, cell biology and molecular biology as well as their own articulation of the importance of a research experience at a marine laboratory and how such an experience will affect their career planning.Eight undergraduate students will live in the dormitories at the Grice Marine Laboratory of the College of Charleston. Located at Fort Johnson on the Charleston Harbor, the Grice Marine Lab co-exists with the marine laboratories of a medical university, a state natural resources agency and two federal agencies. These Fort Johnson institutions form the South Carolina Marine Resources Center (SCMRC) at Fort Johnson. These entities form a true partnership in all the important ways, sharing scientific expertise, instrumentation and space. Educational concerns rank high among the priorities at the SCM RC. As an outgrowth of its concern for undergraduate education and research, the College of Charleston established a summer research program in Marine Biology in 1992 to give undergraduates a quality research experience in a unique setting where institutions with different missions work closely together. It is this undergraduate research program that forms the basis of this REU proposal.Marine biologists in the Department of Biology at the College of Charleston will form the core of the program faculty supported by individuals from the SCMRC institutions. These faculties will provide students with mentors and support in highly experimental areas of marine biology using modern techniques in cellular biology, molecular biology and organismal physiology. The specific project themes will vary from year to year, but the themes will focus on the understanding of basic biological principles as they relate to practical problems. Through formal course work designed specifically for this program (Biology 421, Topics in the Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology of Marine Organisms), a well-defined research project, field trips, a journal club, and a final research colloquium in which students present the results of their work, students will gain first-hand knowledge of how to do research and discover career options in research that include more than traditional academic research tracks.