By Sharon Parmet Medical Center Public Affairs Laurens Mets' philosophy of student-centered teaching makes it easy to see why he was awarded a 2000 Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. I'm just trying to guide their personal inquiries. He gets the most satisfaction from teaching when he can change a student's opinion of how one studies biology. The most rewarding part of teaching is giving students the basics of biology and then watching them use those underlying principles as their foundation for thinking about more complex ideas instead of just memorizing. Mets' current research project involves determining the genes and other proteins that make up the centromeres, or centers, of plant chromosomes.
Centromeres allow each pair of chromosomes to be pulled to either side of a cell before it divides.
Without them, genetic material would not equally divide. Creating artificial centromeres may also give biologists another way to create genetically engineered food crops. Mets also is interested in genetically modifying algae to produce hydrogen, which can be used as fuel. We're using techniques to genetically modify algae to produce more hydrogen than usual. Mets shares his interest in genetic engineering with his students.