PARTNERSHIP FOR RESEARCH & EDUCATION IN PLANTS

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The Fralin Biotechnology Center at Virginia Tech, in collaboration with university-based scientists and high school biology teachers, seeks support for developing (Phase I) and disseminating (Phase II) the Partnership for Research & Education in Plants (PREP). PREP was initiated at the request of high school students and their teachers, who wanted opportunities to collect 'real' science data, and scientists, who needed extra help in studying the 'white mouse' of the plant world, Arabidopsis thaliana. In an effort to better understand plant biology, scientists have sequenced the Arabidopsis genome. Now that the genome has been sequenced, emphasis is being placed on systematically identifying the function of an estimated 29,000 genes. One approach being taken is 'knocking out' each gene to determine its role in the growth, development, and physiology of the plant. This effort is creating an abundance of mutant plants, which must now be examined to determine each gene's function. In PREP, scientists provide wild-type and knock-out mutant seeds as well as experimental know-how to students as the students themselves design and conduct experiments to study the differences between wildtype plants and the previously uncharacterized mutants. Students then share their findings with PREP scientists at poster sessions and in lab reports. This partnership will continue to function as a collaboration with the following goals: to create a framework for sustainable partnerships between high school biology teachers, their students, and scientists; to share knowledge and research about biology; to provide students with opportunities to collect, analyze, draw conclusions about, and share real data; and to add to the body of data about genetics, genomics, and physiology, specifically of Arabidopsis thaliana. We propose to enhance and expand PREP in the following ways: improve student understanding of additional standards-based biology concepts (heredity and evolution, as well as ethical, legal, and social issues related to biotechnology) in the context of investigating wild-type and mutant Arabidopsis plants; increase the number of PREP scientist partners; enhance communication between geographically-separated PREP partners using web-based resources and technologies; disseminate PREP to a national audience via regional leadership centers and web-based approaches; and assess and describe the impact of PREP on participating teachers, students, and scientists.