Summer Workshops for UPRM undergraduates

Summer research workshops will be offered throughout the project duration. Each workshop will include theory, demonstrations, hands-on experience as well as discussion and result analyses. Workshops based on each laboratory module will be offered for UPRM undergraduate students. Similar workshops will be offered to UPRM biology undergraduates who are in the teacher-preparation Program (pre-service students) allowing them to gain experience in module development and implementation thus translating our knowledge into improving Science learning in K-12 education. Furthermore, these workshops will be offered to faculty from nearby primarily-teaching undergraduate institutions. These workshops will allow these educators/researchers to discuss real research applications with their students, enrich their teaching/learning process, be more capable of promoting research careers among their precollege and/or college students.

The following workshops were offered:

• Zoology Workshop title: "Puerto Rican Invertebrate Diversity Workshop"



"Puerto Rican Invertebrate Diversity Workshop Did you know that hundreds of invertebrate species that live in Puerto Rico are still new to science? In this workshop, participants will start the day off with a 2-3 hour session of collecting invertebrate specimens in the adjacent Miradero Forest (UPRM campus; please wear appropriate clothes!). The collected specimens will then be mounted, labeled and identified using microscopes and a variety of print and digital literature. In the afternoon there will be demonstrations of scientific imaging, databasing, and related collection-based activities. The ideal candidate has an interest in Neotropical animal diversity, insects and other invertebrates, and enjoys learning about biodiversity research in the field, laboratory, and in a scientific collection."




• Microbiology Workshop title: "Molecular Tools for the Characterization of Bacterial Strains in Modern Microbiology"



The Workshop entitled "Molecular Tools for the Characterization of Bacterial Strains in Modern Microbiology" will expose students to techniques currently used for the characterization of bacterial isolates, complement phenotype-based taxonomy with basic molecular methods and reinforce a research oriented approach to the characterization of unknown isolates. The workshop will also distinguish between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, recognize advantages and limitations of the experimental methods used and how these affect the interpretation of results. This workshop is up to date with recommendations from the FDA which are to implement DNA-based identification of microbes of relevance in the sterile drug manufacturing setting and to increase the frequency of DNA amplification methods in clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases.




• Immunology Workshop title: "Signal Transduction Pathways in Lymphocytes"



Antibodies have become essential tools for basic and applied research, as well as in the clinic. These proteins can be highly specific, allowing for the identification of other proteins that may be scarcely present in a cell. In this workshop, we will be using antibody-based approaches to identify proteins involved in signal transduction pathways in lymphocytes. We will compare the protein profile of resting lymphocytes with that of B and T cells that have been stimulated through their antigen receptors. Participants will be able to apply key concepts related to lymphocyte function learned in the Immunology course to a laboratory research experience. This workshop will be held in B329.




• Botany Workshop title: "Plant Tissue Culture and the Effects of Plant Growth Regulators"



Plant tissue culture is an important tool in both basic and applied studies as well as in commercial applications (including plant biotechnology). Overall, plant tissue culture is based upon on the theory of totipotency, that is, the genetically based ability of a cell or a nonembryonic organ to form all the cell types in the adult organism. In this workshop you will use African violets (Gloxinia sp., Fam. Gesneriaceae) to gain experience in plant tissue culture techniques. African violets are easily tissue cultured as they usually propagate very easily from leaf cuttings. You will use a portion of African violets leaf to observe different stages of plant tissue culture. You will learn how to takes a part of the plant from in vivo ("life") to in vitro ("glass") by the establishment of an aseptic technique as well as the ways to multiply plants under in vitro conditions. While accomplishing these goals you will learn sterile techniques and media preparation skills that can be directly transferable to other field utilizing tissue culture techniques.




• Genetics Workshop title: "The Study of Genetic Equilibrium in Drosophila Melanogaster using molecular biology"



Population genetics is the sub discipline of genetics concerned with changes in allele frequencies in populations of organisms. If allele frequencies for a particular gene do not vary from generation to generation, the population is said to be in a state of genetic equilibrium for that particular gene. If allele frequencies do change, this is considered to be evidence for the process of microevolution. In this workshop you will study this phenomenon in an artificial population of fruit flies, using a commonly utilized molecular technique of modern biology called the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). During the workshop you will determine allele frequencies for a particular molecular marker in Drosophila visualized via PCR. The observed allele frequencies will then be compared to the frequencies predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg theory of genetic equilibrium. You will use PCR to assess the genotypes of a large number of flies from an artificial population.




• Cell Biology Workshop title: "Protein Fingerprinting"



Every single cell in an organism has the genetic information (DNA) to code for every single protein in that organism. During development, cells migrate, become specialized and produce a different set of proteins, depending upon their function. In this activity each participant will propose a hypothesis and design an experiment based on available samples. We will have samples from different organisms and different tissues (skeletal muscle, heart muscle, liver, etc.). At the end of this activity you will be able to determine whether each cell type and/or organism make the same (or different) proteins and assess their basic cellular organization through the use of a combination of basic microscopy techniques and protein fingerprinting by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis.

↓ Download Brochure Summer 2009