Using HeLa cell stress response to introduce first year students to the scientific method, laboratory techniques, primary literature, and scientific writing

Abstract

Incorporating scientific literacy into inquiry driven research is one of the most effective mechanisms for developing an undergraduate student's strength in writing. Additionally, discovery-based laboratories help develop students who approach science as critical thinkers. Thus, a three-week laboratory module for an introductory cell and molecular biology course that couples inquiry-based experimental design with extensive scientific writing was designed at Westminster College to expose first year students to these concepts early in their undergraduate career. In the module students used scientific literature to design and then implement an experiment on the effect of cellular stress on protein expression in HeLa cells. In parallel the students developed a research paper in the style of the undergraduate journal BIOS to report their results. HeLa cells were used to integrate the research experience with the Westminster College "Next Chapter" first year program, in which the students explored the historical relevance of HeLa cells from a sociological perspective through reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. In this report I detail the design, delivery, student learning outcomes, and assessment of this module, and while this exercise was designed for an introductory course at a small primarily undergraduate institution, suggestions for modifications at larger universities or for upper division courses are included. Finally, based on student outcomes suggestions are provided for improving the module to enhance the link between teaching students skills in experimental design and execution with developing student skills in information literacy and writing. V C 2015 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43(2):110-120, 2015.

Semester‐long inquiry‐based molecular biology laboratory: Transcriptional regulation in yeast

“…Perturbation of HeLa (i.e., human fibroblast cells) and broad monitoring of the cells' proteome by SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis was done with a single, class-chosen environmental stimulus [20]. Perturbation of HeLa (i.e., human fibroblast cells) and broad monitoring of the cells' proteome by SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis was done with a single, class-chosen environmental stimulus [20].…”

A module integrating conventional teaching and student‐centered approach for critical reading of scientific literature

“…All the students have biology as one of the subjects in their first year in their colleges. Going through the literature cited earlier, we found that a few of the papers involved first‐year undergraduates. Encouraged by their results and constrained by the circumstances indicated previously, we decided to carry out a short 3‐day intervention on the sample of 29 first‐year students who visited our institution in 2018.…”

“…Yet, elsewhere in the world, science teachers and educators have successfully designed different approaches to include research paper reading in undergraduate courses . One of the most serious efforts in this connection that we have come across is “CREATE.” In this approach, students read four consecutive publications (from the same biology research laboratory) over the course of a semester .…”

Student writing in the engineering curriculum: discursive rhetorical model of the laboratory report genre in Spanish

“…Moreover, Lerner (2007) traces interest in the teaching of this genre dating from at least 1890. This interest continues and the laboratory’s teaching and learning processes are an object of study in the scientific education of multiple disciplines, mostly due to the impact that both the traditional method and more recent inquiry-based ( Resendes, 2015 ) and virtual simulation approaches ( Rodríguez-Llerena and Llovera-González, 2014 ) have on learning.…”