Fly-CURE, a multi-institutional CURE using Drosophila , increases students' confidence, sense of belonging, and persistence in research

Abstract

The Fly-CURE is a genetics-focused multi-institutional Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) that provides undergraduate students with hands-on research experiences within a course. Through the Fly-CURE, undergraduate students at diverse types of higher education institutions across the United States map and characterize novel mutants isolated from a genetic screen in Drosophila melanogaster . To date, more than 20 mutants have been studied across 20 institutions, and our scientific data have led to eleven publications with more than 500 students as authors. To evaluate the impact of the Fly-CURE experience on students, we developed and validated assessment tools to identify students’ perceived research self-efficacy, sense of belonging in science, and intent to pursue additional research opportunities. Our data, collected over three academic years and involving 14 institutions and 480 students, show gains in these metrics after completion of the Fly-CURE across all student subgroups analyzed, including comparisons of gender, academic status, racial and ethnic groups, and parents’ educational background. Importantly, our data also show differential gains in the areas of self-efficacy and interest in seeking additional research opportunities between Fly-CURE students with and without prior research experience, illustrating the positive impact of research exposure (dosage) on student outcomes. Altogether, our data indicate that the Fly-CURE experience has a significant impact on students’ efficacy with research methods, sense of belonging to the scientific research community, and interest in pursuing additional research experiences.

An accessible digital imaging workflow for multiplexed quantitative analysis of adult eye phenotypes inDrosophila melanogaster

“…The workflow described here could be useful to biologists seeking to collect consistent morphometric data on shape, size, and color of features as small as 10 µm. For example, studies of pupal size (Sriskanthadevan-Pirahas et al 2022), wing vein patterning (Alba et al 2021), photoreceptor neurodegeneration (Dalton et al 2022), or eye mosaic or clonal analysis (Merkle et al 2023) could be accelerated by the capacity to image and measure hundreds of samples in a single image. Photographic analysis of pigmentation also preserves population variation, allowing for a variety of different quantitative measurement or qualitative scoring systems to be applied.…”

A framework for leveraging network course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) faculty to develop, validate, and administer an assessment instrument

“…Network CUREs have been documented for providing a centralized support system to bring together diverse intellectual capital across institutional types to drive scientific and curriculum structure [e.g., references ( 21 , 22 , 45 , 46 , 50 , 52 , 68 – 73 )]. Among network CUREs, there are examples of specific institutional faculty members developing “in house” objective learning gain assessments for use within their own or a few institutions ( 37 , 38 , 51 , 74 ).…”