Molecular Oncology Research Laboratory Course for Undergraduate Students
Authors: CARASTRO L. MICHAEL 
Published: June 2021

This course, Molecular Basis of Cancer (CHE490), is a required course in The University of Tampa's ASBMB‐accredited B.S. in Biochemistry degree program. It includes a series of lectures on biochemistry & molecular biology (BMB) aspects of oncogenesis. Lecture topics include oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, cell cycle regulation, signal transduction, cellular metabolism, apoptosis, and specific organ site cancers. While receiving lectures on BMB aspects of cancer, students are presented with an opportunity to conduct original laboratory‐based research in the molecular oncology field within a laboratory classroom setting. Since students must conduct original (unpublished) research, the research opportunities offered are different each semester this course is offered. This course has run twice, with entirely different research opportunities offered each time. At beginning of this course, students are presented with a potential research question, and occasionally (unpublished) preliminary data to be used as a starting point for development of hypotheses. Students are expected to develop a specific and unique hypothesis, determine the experimental approaches to address their hypothesis, perform experimental the analyses, interpret the data, and formulate their conclusions. Students are evaluated in two primary areas: laboratory/research and lecture material. Laboratory and research work are evaluated through a series of two BMB peer‐reviewed journal style reports on their experimental data and conclusions, including a mid‐term draft (20% course grade) and a final draft (30% course grade), as well as their laboratory notebook (10% course grade). Students' understanding of the course lecture material are evaluated through two in‐class exams: mid‐term exam (20% course grade) and final (20% course grade) exam. Overall in this course, a broad selection of lecture topics in molecular oncology are presented to students and a variety of advanced experimental molecular techniques (DNA Microarray, TaqMan qRT‐PCR, human cell culture, western blotting) are incorporated into a genuine research experience. Student perceptions of their course experience were measured by anonymous feedback through an online survey system using a numeric rating scale (5 = strongly agree; 1 = strongly disagree). Though this course has run twice (2015, 2017), survey data is only available for the Spring 2017 CHE490 student cohort (n = 6). Students reported they “know more about this subject” (mean = 3.67, dev. = 0.82) and that their “skills in this area have improved” (mean = 3.67, dev. = 0.82). One of the surveyed students commented “New methods in lab where nice to learn. Real experience and unique experiments.” Another wrote “I liked the material and I liked the experiments that we performed.” Student survey data and comments are consistent with most students finding this classroom‐based research experience course both informative and beneficial.

Support or Funding Information

Development of this course was made possible through financial support from the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Physics at the University of Tampa.

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.