A CURE for physiological characterization of bacterioplankton in liquid culture

Abstract

Bacterial characterization is an important aspect of microbiology that includes experimentally determining growth rates, environmental conditions conducive to growth, and the types of energy sources microorganisms can use. Researchers use this information to help understand and predict an organism's ecological distribution and environmental functions. Microbiology students generally conduct bacterial characterization experiments in their coursework; however they are frequently restricted to model organisms without ecological relevance and for which the results have been known for decades. We present a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) curriculum to involve students in characterization of previously untested, ecologically relevant bacterioplankton cultures to identify the carbon substrates used for growth, as well as the temperature and salinity ranges conducive to growth. Students use these results to connect their organism's physiology to the isolation environment. This curriculum also exposes students to advanced microbiology methods such as flow cytometry for measuring cell concentrations, teaches them to use the programming language R for data plotting, and emphasizes scientific communication through writing, speaking, poster creation/presentation, and social media. This CURE is an attractive introduction to scientific research and was successfully tested with 147 students during the fall semester of 2018.

Science communication from a course‐based undergraduate research experience

“…16,17 Some of these skills are reinforced by the research experience, and CUREs often involve an in-class or conference presentation as a capstone assignment. 5,13,[18][19][20][21][22] Yet, as summarized by Pedwell et al, 23 the CURE literature often lacks details on student preparation for the research presentation. Tools and rubrics for effective communication have been reported, [22][23][24] but most papers on poster presentations have used the poster as a teaching strategy in standard lab or lecture courses.…”