Authentic Research Experience in Microbiology

生物科学(61)。真实的微生物学研究体验(AREM)为本科生提供研究培训，使用最先进的仪器和技术解决与细菌宿主-病原体相互作用有关的有意义的问题。AREM计划正在将传统的微生物学实验室部分--基本上是一系列相互脱节、结果预先确定的练习--转变为一种形式，让学生从事真正的研究项目，为教师的研究目标做出贡献。学生在设计实验中发挥着积极的作用，并能够选择他们感兴趣的研究模块。AREM实验室与项目主管的研究实验室的物理合并正在减少经常阻碍研究和教学有效整合的障碍。Arem实验室的学生从他们收集的环境样本中分离出一株根癌农杆菌，开始了这学期的学习。他们将他们的分离物与根癌农杆菌的实验室菌株进行比较，并通过感染拟南芥根段来检验这种细菌的天然“基因工程”能力。学生们还使用生物信息学工具来确定可能的拟南芥突变体，这些突变体可能增加或降低了对根癌农杆菌感染的敏感性。在金斯伯勒社区学院，学生们有机会与该项目的联合主任合作，开发一套相关的研究模块，研究菌根真菌在促进植物健康和生长中的作用。Arem第一阶段计划是将真实的研究项目纳入纽约州立大学布鲁克林学院、金斯伯勒社区学院和许多其他学校的其他本科科学实验室的典范。纽约州立大学布鲁克林学院和金斯伯勒社区学院学生的多样性确保了AREM倡议在研究培训方面的好处正在惠及广泛的学生，包括许多来自通常在科学界代表性较低的群体的学生。

Biological Sciences (61). Authentic Research Experience in Microbiology (AREM) is providing undergraduate students with research training addressing meaningful questions related to bacterial host-pathogen interactions using state-of-the art instruments and techniques. The AREM initiative is converting traditional microbiology lab sections, which were basically a series of disconnected exercises with predetermined results, into a format where students work on authentic research projects that contribute to the research objectives of the faculty. Students have an active role in designing experiments and are able to choose research modules that interest them. The physical merging of the AREM lab with the project director's research lab is reducing barriers that often prevent the effective integration of research and teaching. Students in the AREM lab begin the semester by isolating a strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens from an environmental sample they have collected. They compare their isolate with lab strains of A. tumefaciens, and they examine the natural "genetic engineering" ability of the bacteria by infecting Arabidopsis root segments. Students also use bioinformatics tools to identify possible Arabidopsis mutants that may have increased or decreased sensitivity to A. tumefaciens infection. At Kingsborough Community College students have the opportunity to work with the co-director of the project on a related set of research modules that examine the role of mycorrhizal fungi in promoting plant health and growth. The phase I AREM initiative serves as a model for the inclusion of authentic research projects into other undergraduate science labs at CUNY Brooklyn College, Kingsborough Community College and many other schools. The diversity of students at CUNY Brooklyn College and at Kingsborough Community College ensures that the benefits in research training stemming from the AREM initiative is reaching a wide range of students, including many students from groups typically underrepresented in the sciences.