Comparative analysis of meningeal transcriptomes in birds: Potential pathways of resilience to repeated impacts.

The meninges and associated vasculature (MAV) play a crucial role in maintaining cerebral integrity and homeostasis. Recent advances in transcriptomic analysis have illuminated the significance of the MAV in understanding the complex physiological interactions at the interface between the skull and the brain after exposure to mechanical stress. To investigate how physiological responses may confer resilience against repetitive mechanical stress, we performed the first transcriptomic analysis of avian MAV tissues using the Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) and Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) as the comparison species.

Teaching at the intersection of science and society: An activity on healthcare disparities.

Understanding the relationship between science and society is an objective of science education and is included as a core competency in the AAAS guidelines for biology education. However, traditional undergraduate biology instruction emphasizes scientific practice and generally avoids potentially controversial issues at the intersection of biology and society. By including these topics in biology coursework, instructors can challenge damaging ideologies and systemic inequalities that have influenced science, such as biological essentialism and health disparities.

Biology Instructors See Value in Discussing Controversial Topics but Fear Personal and Professional Consequences.

Traditional biology curricula depict science as an objective field, overlooking the important influence that human values and biases have on what is studied and who can be a scientist. We can work to address this shortcoming by incorporating into the curriculum, which is an understanding of biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that shape contemporary and historical science. We surveyed a national sample of lower-level biology instructors to determine 1) why it is important for students to learn science, 2) the perceived educational value of ideological awareness in the classroom, and 3) hesitancies associated with ideological awareness implementation.

Evaluating open-note exams: Student perceptions and preparation methods in an undergraduate biology class.

Although closed-note exams have traditionally been used to evaluate students in undergraduate biology classes, open-note exams are becoming increasingly common, though little is known about how students prepare for these types of exams. We investigated student perceptions of and their preparation habits for online open-note exams in an undergraduate biology class, as compared to their previous experiences with closed-note exams in other classes. Specifically, we explored the following research questions: (1a) How do students perceive open-note exams impact their exam scores, their anxiety, the amount they studied, and the amount their peers studied? (1b) How do these perceptions impact performance outcomes? (2a) How do students prepare for open-note exams? (2b) How do these preparation methods impact performance outcomes? Results demonstrate students perceived increased exam scores, decreased exam-anxiety, decreased study time spent personally, and decreased study time spent by their peers for open-note exams, as compared to past experiences with closed-note exams.

Why Students Struggle in Undergraduate Biology: Sources and Solutions.

Students' perceptions of challenges in biology influence performance outcomes, experiences, and persistence in science. Identifying sources of student struggle can assist efforts to support students as they overcome challenges in their undergraduate educations. In this study, we characterized student experiences of struggle by 1) quantifying which external factors relate to perceptions of encountering and overcoming struggle in introductory biology and 2) identifying factors to which students attribute their struggle in biology.

Sprint training interacts with body mass to affect hepatic insulin-like growth factor expression in female green anoles (Anolis carolinensis).

Locomotor performance is a key predictor of fitness in many animal species. As such, locomotion integrates the output of a number of morphological, physiological, and molecular levels of organization, yet relatively little is known regarding the major molecular pathways that bolster locomotor performance. One potentially relevant pathway is the insulin and insulin-like signaling (IIS) network, a significant regulator of physiological processes such as reproduction, growth, and metabolism.

Postnatal expression of is the norm in amniote vertebrates.

The insulin and insulin-like signalling (IIS) network plays an important role in mediating several life-history traits, including growth, reproduction and senescence. Although insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) 1 and 2 are both key hormones in the vertebrate IIS network, research on IGF2 in juveniles and adults has been largely neglected because early biomedical research on rodents found negligible IGF2 postnatal expression. Here, we challenge this assumption and ask to what degree IGF2 is expressed during postnatal life across amniotes by quantifying the relative gene expression of and using publicly available RNAseq data for 82 amniote species and quantitative polymerase chain reaction on liver cDNA at embryonic, juvenile and adult stages for two lizard, bird and mouse species.

Teaching the Tough Topics: Fostering Ideological Awareness through the Inclusion of Societally Impactful Topics in Introductory Biology.

While science has profound social impacts, we often teach biology as removed from societally debated issues. Here, we address this gap in biology education through the implementation of novel materials that promote ideological awareness (IA). Using mixed-method analyses, we explore students' perceptions of the relationship between science and society, as well as their attitudes toward and knowledge of IA in biology.

Expression of insulin-like growth factors depends on both mass and resource availability in female green anoles (Anolis carolinensis).

The insulin and insulin-like signaling (IIS) network is an important mediator of cellular growth and metabolism in animals, and is sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature and resource availability. The two main hormones of the IIS network, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), are present in all vertebrates, yet little is known regarding the responsiveness of IGF2 in particular to external stimuli in non-mammalian animals. We manipulated diet (low or high quantity of food: low and high diet group, respectively) in adult green anole (Anolis carolinensis) females to test the effect of energetic state on hepatic gene expression of IGF1 and IGF2.

Tails of reproduction: Regeneration leads to increased reproductive investment.

Trade-offs between life-history traits are due to limited resources or constraints in the regulation of genetic and physiological networks. Tail autotomy, with subsequent regeneration, is a common anti-predation mechanism in lizards and is predicted to trade-off with life-history traits, such as reproduction. We utilize the brown anole lizard with its unusual reproductive pattern of single-egg clutches every 7-10 days to test for a trade-off in reproductive investment over 8 weeks of tail regeneration on a limited diet.

Addressing the Unique Qualities of Upper-Level Biology Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences through the Integration of Skill-Building.

Early exposure to course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in introductory biology courses can promote positive student outcomes such as increased confidence, critical thinking, and views of applicability in lower-level courses, but it is unknown if these same impacts are achieved by upper-level courses. Upper-level courses differ from introductory courses in several ways, and one difference that could impact these positive student outcomes is the importance of balancing structure with independence in upper-level CUREs where students typically have more autonomy and greater complexity in their research projects. Here we compare and discuss two formats of upper-level biology CUREs (Guided and Autonomous) that vary along a continuum between structure and independence.

Learning principles of evolution during a crisis: An exploratory analysis of student barriers one week and one month into the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak forced an emergency transition to online classes across the world with little warning or instruction for faculty and students. The goal of this research was to document how this response impacted undergraduate students studying the principles of evolution in an introductory organismal biology class over time; specifically, how their study habits for exams differed (a) one week and (b) one month after a university's decision to transition to emergency remote instruction. We asked students about the extent to which COVID-19 impacted their study habits, and we categorized students' responses using open coding.

Teaching between the Lines: Representation in Science Textbooks.

Science textbooks communicate fundamental discoveries and serve as platforms showcasing role models for students. However, the scientists represented across undergraduate textbooks do not reflect the demographic makeup of the student population reading those materials. We recommend a series of changes within curricula to challenge the stereotypical identity of science.

Gene expression of the IGF hormones and IGF binding proteins across time and tissues in a model reptile.

The insulin and insulin-like signaling (IIS) network regulates cellular processes including pre- and postnatal growth, cellular development, wound healing, reproduction, and longevity. Despite their importance in the physiology of vertebrates, the study of the specific functions of the top regulators of the IIS network, insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs), has been mostly limited to a few model organisms. To expand our understanding of this network, we performed quantitative gene expression of IGF hormones in liver and qualitative expression of IGFBPs across tissues and developmental stages in a model reptile, the brown anole lizard ().

Prior reproduction alters how mitochondria respond to an oxidative event.

An animal's pace of life is mediated by the physiological demands and stressors it experiences (e.g. reproduction) and one likely mechanism that underlies these effects is oxidative stress.