Creating A Course Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Genetics Yeast Laboratory Course at Xavier...

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are important for providing undergraduates with authentic research experiences. At Xavier University of Louisiana, a Genetics Laboratory CURE course was developed and implemented. The goals of developing this Genetics CURE laboratory course were: (1) to provide a large number of students the opportunity to participate in a hypothesis-driven research project, (2) to determine the effect of different Msh6 missense variants on DNA mismatch repair (MMR), and (3) to provide opportunities to develop scientific communication skills. In the first 3 years of implementation, 595 students completed the course and participated in a project of evaluating DNA MMR utilizing the model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Students analyzed previously uncharacterized MSH6 alleles and summarized their findings by drafting a report in the style of a primary research article. Additionally, students communicated their findings in PowerPoint presentations, and some participated in poster presentations on campus. Examination of course evaluations indicated that students appreciated learning science theory and acquiring scientific skills in the context of a research project instead of as individual unconnected experiments.