Demonstrating core molecular biology principles using GST-GFP in a semester-long laboratory course.

Undergraduate laboratory courses are essential to teaching core principles in STEM. This course, Quantitative Biological Methods, provides a unique approach to teaching molecular biology research techniques to students, in a laboratory that is delivered in a sequence that parallels standard biomedical research laboratory protocols. Students attend a lecture where they are taught the essential principles of biomedical research, and a lab where they learn to use laboratory equipment, perform experiments, and purify and quantify DNA and proteins.

PILOTing Undergraduate Students to Hands-On Teaching and Research Skills.

Undergraduate research can make a positive impact on science education. Unfortunately, the one student-one mentor paradigm of undergraduate research generates a wide range of variability in the student's experience and further limits its availability to a select few students. In contrast, a single faculty member can offer multiple undergraduate teaching positions that provide a consistent experience for the student.

Structural dynamics of alpha-actinin-vinculin interactions.

Alpha-actinin and vinculin orchestrate reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton following the formation of adhesion junctions. alpha-Actinin interacts with vinculin through the binding of an alpha-helix (alphaVBS) present within the R4 spectrin repeat of its central rod domain to vinculin's N-terminal seven-helical bundle domain (Vh1). The Vh1:alphaVBS structure suggests that alphaVBS first unravels from its buried location in the triple-helical R4 repeat to allow it to bind to vinculin.

Crystal structure of human vinculin.

Alterations in the actin cytoskeleton following the formation of cell-matrix and cell-cell junctions are orchestrated by vinculin. Vinculin associates with a large number of cytoskeletal and signaling proteins, and this flexibility is thought to contribute to rapid dissociation and reassociations of adhesion complexes. Intramolecular interactions between vinculin's head (Vh) and tail (Vt) domains limit access of its binding sites for other adhesion proteins.

Vinculin activation by talin through helical bundle conversion.

Vinculin is a conserved component and an essential regulator of both cell-cell (cadherin-mediated) and cell-matrix (integrin-talin-mediated focal adhesions) junctions, and it anchors these adhesion complexes to the actin cytoskeleton by binding to talin in integrin complexes or to alpha-actinin in cadherin junctions. In its resting state, vinculin is held in a closed conformation through interactions between its head (Vh) and tail (Vt) domains. The binding of vinculin to focal adhesions requires its association with talin.

Microviridae, a family divided: isolation, characterization, and genome sequence of phiMH2K, a bacteriophage of the obligate intracellular parasitic bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

A novel single-stranded DNA phage, phiMH2K, of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus was isolated, characterized, and sequenced. This phage is a member of the Microviridae, a family typified by bacteriophage phiX174. Although B.