Student-Authored Scientist Spotlights: Investigating the Impacts of Engaging Undergraduates as Developers of Inclusive Curriculum through a Service-Learning Course.

Scientist Spotlights-curricular materials that employ the personal and professional stories of scientists from diverse backgrounds-have previously been shown to positively influence undergraduate students' relatability to and perceptions of scientists. We hypothesized that engaging students in authoring Scientist Spotlights might produce curricular materials of similar impact, as well as provide a mechanism for student involvement as partners in science education reform. To test this idea and investigate the impact of student-authored Scientist Spotlights, we developed a service-learning course in which teams of biology students partnered with an instructor to develop and implement Scientist Spotlights in a biology course.

Determination of the membrane topology of PORCN, an O-acyl transferase that modifies Wnt signalling proteins.

Wnt gradients elicit distinct cellular responses, such as proliferation, specification, differentiation and survival in a dose-dependent manner. Porcupine (PORCN), a membrane-bound O-acyl transferase (MBOAT) that resides in the endoplasmic reticulum, catalyses the addition of monounsaturated palmitate to Wnt proteins and is required for Wnt gradient formation and signalling. In humans, PORCN mutations are causal for focal dermal hypoplasia (FDH), an X-linked dominant syndrome characterized by defects in mesodermal and endodermal tissues.

Investigating Instructor Talk in Novel Contexts: Widespread Use, Unexpected Categories, and an Emergent Sampling Strategy.

Instructor Talk-noncontent language used by instructors in classrooms-is a recently defined and promising variable for better understanding classroom dynamics. Having previously characterized the Instructor Talk framework within the context of a single course, we present here our results surrounding the applicability of the Instructor Talk framework to noncontent language used by instructors in novel course contexts. We analyzed Instructor Talk in eight additional biology courses in their entirety and in 61 biology courses using an emergent sampling strategy.

Direct visualization of the Wntless-induced redistribution of WNT1 in developing chick embryos.

Paracrine Wnt signals are critical regulators of cell proliferation, specification, and differentiation during embryogenesis. Consistent with the discovery that Wnt ligands are post-translationally modified with palmitoleate (a 16 carbon mono-unsaturated fatty acid), our studies show that the vast majority of bioavailable chick WNT1 (cWNT1) produced in stably transfected L cells is cell-associated. Thus, it seems unlikely that the WNT1 signal is propagated by diffusion alone.