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    Understanding Protein Domains: A Modular Approach
    An understanding of protein structure, function, and interaction is central to biochemistry. One angle into this topic is to engage students in considering protein domains as modules that develop form and execute function semi-independently. Here,...
    Protein Structure
    Lesson
    2312

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    542

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    Linking Genotype to Phenotype: The Effect of a Mutation in Gibberellic Acid Production on Plant Germination
    Basic concepts in genetics and plant development are often taught in lecture courses without a lab component. This approach provides students with the content knowledge, but fails to make connections to research opportunities and real-world...
    geneticsdevelopmentmutationgerminationplantmodel organismGenotype/PhenotypeHormoneSeed
    Lesson
    5131

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    1034

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    2

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    Meiosis: A Play in Three Acts, Starring DNA Sequence
    Meiosis is well known for being a sticky topic that appears repeatedly in biology curricula. We observe that a typical undergraduate biology major cannot correctly identify haploid and diploid cells or explain how and why chromosomes pair before...
    recombinationmeiosisDNA sequenceCrossingoverchromosome structureHolliday junctionhomology
    Lesson
    1282

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    271

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    Using QIIME to Interpret Environmental Microbial Communities in an Upper Level Metagenomics Course
    Metagenomics is rapidly evolving due to advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, but without proper training to interpret these datasets, student understanding remains limited. Aimed at undergraduate juniors and seniors and graduate...
    microbiome
    Lesson
    4892

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    856

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    A clicker-based case study that untangles student thinking about the processes in the central dogma
    The central dogma of biology is a foundational concept that provides a scaffold to understand how genetic information flows in biological systems. Despite its importance, undergraduate students often poorly understand central dogma processes (DNA...
    mutationtranscriptionphenotypecentral dogmatranslationDNA replication
    Lesson
    1781

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    395

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    Antibiotic Resistance Genes Detection in Environmental Samples
    Our aim is to provide an authentic research experience for undergraduate students in a variety of biology courses through collaboration between a four-year university and a community college. This lab series teaches transferable and universal...
    geneticsenvironmentmicrobiologyUndergraduateantibiotic-resistancePCRgel electrophoresisauthentic inquiry
    Essay
    792

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    164

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    Strategies for developing a science communicator through authentic science writing assignments
    To prepare biology undergraduates to be able to read and evaluate the primary literature, it is beneficial to teach students how to write documents in the style of professional science style manuscripts. By breaking manuscripts into individual...
    communicationPeer reviewscience writing
    Lesson
    4831

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    2292

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    Cell Signaling Pathways - a Case Study Approach
    Signaling and gene expression are fundamental to cell biology and developmental biology. Although these topics are highly interrelated, they typically appear in separate units in a course. We use a series of short problem-based learning exercises...
    signal transductiongene expressionCell communicationgenetic disordersregulation of enzyme activity
    Lesson
    2754

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    537

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    Predicting and classifying effects of insertion and deletion mutations on protein coding regions
    Mutations in genes can affect the encoded proteins in multiple ways, and some of these effects are counterintuitive. As for any other knowledge, students must create their own deep understanding of the Central Dogma. Students may not develop this...
    mutationcentral dogmatranslationframeshift
    Lesson
    1000

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    322

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    A first lesson in mathematical modeling for biologists: Rocs
    Using a fictitious population of Rocs, a mythical species of giant raptor, students accomplish two broad objectives: 1) they undertake the process of building a first mathematical model of a population, and 2) they begin to develop their...
    population ecologypopulation modelingdiscrete generationpopulation management
    Lesson
    1733

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    499

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    Using computational molecular modeling software to demonstrate how DNA mutations cause phenotypes
    Students require a deep understanding of the central dogma before they can understand complex topics such as evolution and biochemical disorders. However, getting undergraduate biology students to apply higher-order thinking skills to the central...
    Protein Structurecomputational modelingcentral dogmaplant leaf structurePhenotype/Genotype
    Lesson
    2701

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    637

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    Using Synthetic Biology and pClone Red for Authentic Research on Promoter Function: Genetics (analyzing mutant promoters)
    Students often memorize the definition of a transcriptional promoter but fail to fully understand the critical role promoters play in gene expression.  This laboratory lesson allows students to conduct original research by characterizing...
    bacteriasynthetic biologygene regulationtranscriptionstudent researchcentral dogmacloningpromoterreporter gene/protein
    Lesson
    2517

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    565

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    Using Synthetic Biology and pClone Red for Authentic Research on Promoter Function: Introductory Biology (identifying new promoters)
    Students often memorize the definition of a transcriptional promoter but fail to fully understand the critical role promoters play in gene expression. This laboratory lesson allows students to conduct original research by identifying and...
    bacteriasynthetic biologygene regulationtranscriptionstudent researchcentral dogmacloningpromoterreporter gene/protein
    Lesson
    1488

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    238

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    0

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    Air Quality Data Mining: Mining the US EPA AirData website for student-led evaluation of air quality issues
    Air pollution directly affects human health endpoints including growth, respiratory processes, cardiovascular health, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and cancer. Therefore, the distribution of air pollution is a topic that is relevant to all, and...
    data miningenvironmental justiceair qualityairpollutionspatial reasoning
    Essay
    838

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    83

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    0

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    An Active Textbook Converts "Vision and Tweak" to Vision and Change
    Multiple reports over more than a century have documented the problems with the way introductory biology has been taught in most colleges and universities. An influential recent report, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, has...
    Vision and Changeactive learningintroductory biologyFlipped classroomUndergraduatecore competenciescore conceptsactive textbookcurriculum reform
    Lesson
    1252

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    479

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    Building a Model of Tumorigenesis: A small group activity for a cancer biology/cell biology course
    The multistep nature of tumorigenesis is a foundational concept in the context of Cancer Biology. Many students do not appreciate the complex nature of cancer development nor do they understand how scientists are able to unravel the molecular...
    pathwayscancerMolecular AlterationsRetrospective dataTumorigenesis
    Lesson
    1733

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    468

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    Exploration of the Human Genome by Investigation of Personalized SNPs
    Students often shy away from tedious bioinformatics approaches to exploring their genomes. However, in our expanding digital world these skills are some of the most relevant and valuable. To increase students' interest in their own genomes, I...
    UCSC genome browsersingle nucleotide polymorphismGenome wide association studiesGenomic organization
    Lesson
    908

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    128

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    Infectious Chocolate Joy with a Side of Poissonian Statistics: An activity connecting life science students with subtle physics concepts
    Introductory physics courses are required for many programs in the life sciences, yet traditional curricula fail to help students meaningfully connect physical concepts with biological systems.  In this lesson, we describe an activity taught...
    quantitative biologyHIVmultiplicity of infectionPoisson DistributionPhysics for biologists
    Lesson
    1712

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    536

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    0

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    Using Undergraduate Molecular Biology Labs to Discover Targets of miRNAs in Humans
    Incorporating authentic research experiences into undergraduate labs, while shown to be particularly effective at engaging and retaining students in STEM majors, can be difficult to accomplish within the constraints of resource availability or...
    gene regulationmicroRNAsgene expression
    Lesson
    1615

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    416

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    Why do Some People Inherit a Predisposition to Cancer? A small group activity on cancer genetics
    Before undergraduate students take a genetics course they generally know cancer has a genetic basis and involves the proliferation of cells; however, many are uncertain about why only a subset of people have a predisposition to cancer and how that...
    cancerInheritance patternsProbability calculationProto-oncogeneTumor Suppressor Gene