The Professional Identity of STEM Faculty as Instructors of Course-based Research Experiences.

The professional identity of scientists has historically been cultivated to value research over teaching, which can undermine initiatives that aim to reform science education. Course-Based Research Experiences (CRE) and the inclusive Research and Education Communities (iREC) are two successful and impactful reform efforts that integrate research and teaching. The aim of this study is to explicate the professional identity of instructors who implement a CRE within an established iREC and to explore how this identity contributes to the success of these programs.

Examining the potential impacts of a coastal renourishment project on the presence and abundance of Escherichia coli.

Erosion poses a significant threat to oceanic beaches worldwide. To combat this threat, management agencies often utilize renourishment, which supplements eroded beaches with offsite sand. This process can alter the physical characteristics of the beach and can influence the presence and abundance of microbial communities.

Complete genome sequences of phages Ashballer and Bombitas.

We report the discovery of two mycobacteriophages isolated from soil in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Ashballer has a genome sequence length of 52,231 bp, while Bombitas is relatively larger at 110,129 bp. Both have siphovirus morphologies and have temperate lifecycles.

Nanosilver: An Old Antibacterial Agent with Great Promise in the Fight against Antibiotic Resistance.

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a major problem worldwide that costs 55 billion USD annually for extended hospitalization, resource utilization, and additional treatment expenditures in the United States. This review examines the roles and forms of silver (e.g.

Models of Classroom Assessment for Course-Based Research Experiences.

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment - 1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; 2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; 3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and 4) Metacognition of Learning - along with a set of practices for each aim.

Complete Genome Sequences of Mycobacterium smegmatis Phages MelsMeow, Yorick, Virgeve, and Mikro.

Mycobacterium phages Mikro, Yorick, Virgeve, and MelsMeow were isolated from soil in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Mikro is a myovirus with a comparatively large genome of 157,166 bp. The remainder are siphoviruses with genome lengths ranging from 59,227 bp to 68,563 bp.

The effect of Staphylococcus aureus exposure on white-tailed deer trabecular bone stiffness and yield.

With a growing number of osteomyelitis diagnoses, many of which are linked to Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), it is imperative to understand the pathology of S. aureus in relation to bone to provide better diagnostics and patient care.

Sourcing Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Combined Laboratory and Field Module.

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria represents a growing threat in aquatic ecosystems. In this combined field and laboratory activity, students will determine whether Escherichia coli, an indicator bacteria species commonly found in aquatic ecosystems, shows signs of resistance to common antibiotics. In addition, students will use molecular biology techniques to identify whether Escherichia coli cells sourced from different hosts (i.

Complete Genome Sequences of Microbacterium liquefaciens Phages Mercedes, Leafus, Nebulous, and Ixel.

phages Mercedes, Leafus, Nebulous, and Ixel were isolated from soil in Rock Hill, SC. All are lytic phages with morphotypes and similar genome sequence lengths that range from 40,200 bp to 42,000 bp. The four bacteriophages were isolated using the host .

Acute exposure of white-tailed deer cortical bone to Staphylococcus aureus did not result in reduced bone stiffness.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is the main source of osteomyelitis in adults. The end-result of untreated osteomyelitis is bone necrosis and distraction of bone structure.

Self-regulated Pax gene expression and modulation by the TGFbeta superfamily.

The mammalian Pax gene family encode a set of paired-domain transcription factors which play essential roles in regulating proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, cell migration, and stem-cell maintenance. Pax gene expression is necessarily tightly controlled and is associated with the demarcation of boundaries during tissue development and specification. Auto- and inter-regulation are mechanisms frequently employed to achieve precise control of Pax expression domains in a variety of tissues including the eye, central nervous system, kidney, pancreas, skeletal system, muscle, tooth, and thymus.

Broccoli consumption interacts with GSTM1 to perturb oncogenic signalling pathways in the prostate.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that people who consume more than one portion of cruciferous vegetables per week are at lower risk of both the incidence of prostate cancer and of developing aggressive prostate cancer but there is little understanding of the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we quantify and interpret changes in global gene expression patterns in the human prostate gland before, during and after a 12 month broccoli-rich diet.

Methods And Findings: Volunteers were randomly assigned to either a broccoli-rich or a pea-rich diet.

Upregulation of the TGFbeta signalling pathway by Bcr-Abl: implications for haemopoietic cell growth and chronic myeloid leukaemia.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder characterized by uncontrolled growth of progenitor cells expressing the tyrosine kinase fusion gene product, Bcr-Abl. At present, little is known regarding how TGFbeta, and downstream Smad transcription factors, influence CML cell proliferation in the context of Bcr-Abl expression. Here we show that ectopic Bcr-Abl expression dramatically increases TGFbeta/Smad-dependent transcriptional activity in Cosl cells, and that this may be due to enhancement of Smad promoter activity.

The MH1 domain of Smad3 interacts with Pax6 and represses autoregulation of the Pax6 P1 promoter.

Pax6 transcription is under the control of two main promoters (P0 and P1), and these are autoregulated by Pax6. Additionally, Pax6 expression is under the control of the TGFbeta superfamily, although the precise mechanisms of such regulation are not understood. The effect of TGFbeta on Pax6 expression was studied in the FHL124 lens epithelial cell line and was found to cause up to a 50% reduction in Pax6 mRNA levels within 24 h.

KIPase activity is a novel caspase-like activity associated with cell proliferation.

A novel caspase-like activity, which is directly regulated with cell proliferation is a candidate to regulate the abundance of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27(KIP1), in human lymphoid cells. This activity, which we term KIPase activity, can also cleave a subset of caspase substrates. Here we demonstrate that KIPase is a novel enzyme distinct from any of the previously characterized human caspases.

p53-induced inhibition of protein synthesis is independent of apoptosis.

Activation of a temperature-sensitive form of p53 in murine erythroleukaemia cells results in a rapid impairment of protein synthesis that precedes inhibition of cell proliferation and loss of cell viability by several hours. The inhibition of translation is associated with specific cleavages of polypeptide chain initiation factors eIF4GI and eIF4B, a phenomenon previously observed in cells induced to undergo apoptosis in response to other stimuli. Although caspase activity is enhanced in the cells in which p53 is activated, both the effects on translation and the cleavages of the initiation factors are completely resistant to inhibition of caspase activity.

Regulation of p27KIP1 in Epstein-Barr virus-immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines involves non-apoptotic caspase cleavage.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27KIP1 plays a key role in controlling cell proliferation. Here we show that p27KIP1 is commonly down-regulated in B-cells immortalized by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (lymphoblastoid cell lines, LCLs). The significance of this event for the immortal phenotype of LCLs is implied by a requirement for active cdk2-containing complexes for continued proliferation, and by the ability of the residual p27KIP1 to associate with cdk2.