One of our goals is to create projects and independent study opportunities that directly engage students in the scientific enterprise. Through collaborative research projects, students can share with faculty the excitement of creating new knowledge. For those students planning to enter science-related professions, incorporating a genuine research experience into their undergraduate education gives them an undeniable advantage when applying to quality graduate or health professional schools. In my specialty, developmental biology, we've recently set up a new project-based lab with equipment for genetic engineering, cell and embryo culture, and fluorescence microscopy. Students are using this facility to observe cellular and embryonic minutiae and to investigate some of the wondrous mechanisms that organisms use to develop from a single, fertilized egg cell.
Students conduct research through several venues.
The first project studies a novel gene called extra eye. The protein product of this gene may be an important component of the signaling mechanisms that tell certain cells in the developing embryonic head to form eyes. Since the arrangement of the protein cables that make up the cytoskeleton is what gives cells their particular shape, extra eye may be important in directing cells to form eyes by changing their shape in response to appropriate developmental stimuli. Students are studying the expression patterns of the extra eye gene during development, using DNA probes, antibodies and fluorescence microscopy. They are also taking a genetic approach to understanding the role of this gene, creating new mutations that disrupt its function.