Developing and Disseminating New Laboratories in RNAi and Functional Genomics

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Over the past 15 years, many laboratories have been implemented that illustrate basic concepts of microbial and molecular genetics. The completion of the Human Genome Project challenges teachers to move laboratory instruction to a higher level of biological integration, the functional analysis of genes and proteins in eukaryotic organisms. This project is developing a module of investigative laboratories and bioinformatics exercises that engage students in the new technologies of RNA-mediated genetic interference (RNAi) and computer-based genome analysis. Although RNAi experiments in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) offer a powerful means to examine gene function at the organismal level, the experimental system is simple and robust enough to join bacterial transformation and gel electrophoresis as a mainstay of the college teaching laboratory. Most importantly, after learning basic RNAi techniques, students can make use of freely available resources to design their own experiments to explore the function of virtually any of the predicted 19,427 genes of C. elegans. This proposal represents a collaboration among staff at the Dolan DNA Learning Center (DNALC), faculty at 2- and 4-year colleges, and scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) who have pioneered RNAi technology and bioinformatics resources. An Advisory Panel of college faculty from diverse geographic locations will be involved in all aspects of the project, including development and testing. Newly developed modules will be introduced to and critiqued by biology faculty and high school biology teachers at workshops held at a variety of sites around the nation. Instructional and bioinformatics resources developed in this project will be disseminated via the DNALC.s WWW site, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, and Carolina Biological Supply Company.