[Plsfaculty] MCB 181 Fall 2009 - Request from Bruce Patterson

[Donna-Rae Marquez]

On Behalf of Bruce Patterson:

 

TEXT OF THE MESSAGE (Please include ALL below this line):

 

Greetings! The Biology 181 Honors program has been bestowed upon Lisa
Elfring and myself (Bruce Patterson), and we are seeking volunteers to
mentor (4-6?) eager young minds in the glory of the pursuit of Scientific
Knowledge. I'm appending an explanation of the program and the guidelines
we're hoping to implement for it this Fall.

 

If you are interested, please submit the information indicated in points D
and E of this letter to Bruce before end of semester. We'll be using this
information to determine how many Mentors we have and to compile a list of
topics that will be presented to students as part of a matching process. We
currently anticipate sending students to Mentors around mid-October, but
want to remind everyone that these will be Freshman/Sophs their first month
or two of INTRODUCTORY biology, so hope that everyone will tailor their
paper selections and expectations appropriately!

 

Many thanks

Bruce Patterson (patterso at email.arizona.edu)

Lisa Elfring (elfring at email.arizona.edu)

 

Literature Exposure Program: Faculty mentors

    A> select a paper that has made an important contribution in your field
(or any area of interest to you). This paper need not be current; a classic
that makes a noteworthy contribution and which can be followed and fully
understood by introBio students (inevitably with guidance and discussion
with you) is superior to a state-of-the-art corner where students will
inevitably be over their heads.

    B>  We will be supporting this program by introducing students to
general principles of the scientific literature and the reading of
scientific papers, and will create on-line collaborative sites (Wikis) where
the students can construct an understanding with you. Number and nature of
direct meetings with students will be at your discretion, but we anticipate
at least 3 face-to-face gatherings

    C>  At the end of the semester, student groups will be disassembled and
individuals from each group will present the paper to a subset of peers that
have worked to understand (and present) other papers.

    D> What we're requesting by the end of the semester

        1> Reference for the paper you'd like to mentor

        2> Several sentences on how this paper moved the field. Best if
written in 'student-speak', but OK to write to Lisa & me and we will try to
massage it.

        3> 1-2 sentences on the topic area and what a student would need to
know

    E> An example

        1> "Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophila",
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard & Eric Wieschaus, Nature 1980 287:795-801

        2> This work reports on the phenotypes of selected Drosophila
mutations that give rise to interpretable changes in externally observable
patterning. The work left us with a 'roadmap' of the stages of partitioning
of the Drosophila embryo, told us that such a roadmap existed and laid down
the basis of early patterning, and identified genes responsible for
delineating segment identities. In some ways it answered the question of how
'addresses' are generated developmentally; it also spawned a field in which
dozens (hundreds?) of labs are still working.

        3> Students would need to master a rudimentary understanding of
early Drosophila development, the general idea of 'specifying' a region and
consider the biology of an organism very unlike themselves. They would also
need to grasp the idea of an 'embyronic lethal mutant hunt' and why it was
an appropriate place to dig.

 

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