Nanoscience is one of the fast growing fields in science and engineering. Curricular materials ranging from laboratory experiments to entire courses have been developed for undergraduate science majors. However, little material has been developed for the nonmajor students. Here we present a semester-long laboratory sequence developed for a nonmajors course, where students investigate the potential environmental impacts of nanoscience. Students synthesize and characterize silver nanoparticles using green synthetic methods. They then use the suspension of silver nanoparticles to "water" Wisconsin Fast Plants, Brassica rapa, over a three to four week period to simulate environmental exposure. Possible impacts are examined throughout the growth period, and silver uptake by the plants is quantified at the end of the growth period. This lab requires design input from the student, making it an open-ended experiment. Although designed for nonmajors, this lab could easily be adapted for an environmental chemistry or chemical nanoscience course.

As the repository of genetic information, it is critical to organisms that DNA damage is repaired quickly and with high fidelity. When DNA damage is improperly repaired, it may cause diseases such as cancer and severe combined immunodeficiency. DNA can be mutated by numerous agents both external and internal. One internal source of DNA damage is from the transposition of transposable elements, including the P and hobo elements. Transposable elements “jump” out from one section of the DNA and reinsert into another, leaving double strand DNA breaks at the excision site. Hobo excisions are preferentially repaired by nonhomologous end‐joining, NHEJ. DNA repair and transposable elements themselves can be studied in Drosophila melanogaster. This study looked at the hobo on P, or HOP, element. The P element is located inside of the Hobo element; HOP8 is nonautonomous and needs hobo transposase to be supplied in trans. Curly winged, glazed eye female flies that have an inducible source of hobo transposase were crossed with HOP8 male flies and heat shocked to trigger transposition, leaving a double strand DNA break requiring repair behind. The resulting mosaic eyed male flies were then crossed with wild type female flies because mosaic eyes mark meiotic recombination in the P element. Female flies with white eyes indicating that hobo transposition occurred, were collected and stored in a freezer. Experiments are underway to determine the original location and new insertion sites of hobo using inverse PCR to further understand DNA repair.Support or Funding InformationAlbion College Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.