Open-loop lab-on-a-chip technology enables remote computer science training in Latinx life sciences students

Abstract

Despite many interventions, science education remains highly inequitable throughout the world. Among all life sciences fields, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology suffer from the strongest underrepresentation of racial and gender minorities. Internet-enabled project-based learning (PBL) has the potential to reach underserved communities and increase the diversity of the scientific workforce. Here, we demonstrate the use of lab-on-a-chip (LoC) technologies to train Latinx life science undergraduate students in concepts of computer programming by taking advantage of open-loop cloud-integrated LoCs. We developed a context-aware curriculum to train students at over 8,000 km from the experimental site. We showed that this approach was sufficient to develop programming skills and increase the interest of students in continuing careers in Bioinformatics. Altogether, we conclude that LoC-based Internet-enabled PBL can become a powerful tool to train Latinx students and increase the diversity in STEM.

Internet-connected cortical organoids for project-based stem cell and neuroscience education

“…Internet-connected microscopy enables the incorporation of organoid modules in a tissue culture undergraduate course PBL is an effective teaching approach for complex topics in biology, including teaching students who have traditionally underperformed in STEM (Ferreira et al, 2019;Petersen, 2021;Baudin et al, 2022b;Sano et al, 2023). We have previously shown that low-cost in-incubator Internet-connected microscopes can perform longitudinal imaging of cortical organoids and allow for the systematic tracking of organoid size and morphology over time (Ly et al, 2021), making them ideal tools to perform remote PBL training in the classroom (Baudin et al, 2022b).…”

“…Moreover, this approach allows exceptional platform scalability, allowing dozens or hundreds of users simultaneously (Baudin et al, 2022b). In the classroom, Internet-enabled technologies have been used to drive project-based learning (PBL) approaches in a variety of settings, including the use of microscopes for remote observations of behaviors of model organisms and cell cultures (Hossain et al, 2016;Ly et al, 2021;Baudin et al, 2022b), the use of sensors to monitor environmental conditions (Tsybulsky and Sinai, 2022;Tabuenca et al, 2023), and even the use of lab-on-a-chip microfluidic devices to perform bacterial detection in water samples (Sano et al, 2023).…”