Design of a Lyme Disease Vaccine as an Active Learning Approach in a Novel Interdisciplinary Graduate-Level Course

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Sciences Education
• Graduate Curriculum Development
• Infectious Disease Research Training

Background:

• Biomedical graduate programs require foundational skills for diverse disciplines and careers.
• Existing curricula often lack integrated, problem-based learning approaches.
• Need for a course developing both content knowledge and scholarly inquiry skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement a year-long, student-centered introductory course, Scientific Discovery.
• To foster progressive skill development across molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, and infectious disease modules.
• To enhance students' ability to conduct scholarly inquiry and apply knowledge to novel biomedical problems.

Main Methods:

• Developed a four-module curriculum with progressive skill outcomes, aligned with faculty research areas.
• Integrated biomedical problems within each module to facilitate content acquisition and skill development.
• Focused the infectious disease module on designing a Lyme disease vaccine, requiring microbiology and immunology knowledge.

Main Results:

• Students gained fundamental knowledge in microbiology and immunology.
• Students creatively applied knowledge to design a novel Lyme disease vaccine.
• Students demonstrated scholarly inquiry skills and ability to apply learning to new problems.

Conclusions:

• The Scientific Discovery course effectively met its learning objectives for skill development and knowledge acquisition.
• The problem-based, modular approach successfully prepared graduate students for diverse biomedical research and careers.
• Student engagement and creative problem-solving were evident in module outcomes, including vaccine design.