{"id":8240,"date":"2014-04-08T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=8240"},"modified":"2014-04-08T12:00:41","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:00:41","slug":"hands-on-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2014\/04\/hands-on-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands-on Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ground-Breaking Look at Soil Bacteria Nets Major NSF Grant<\/h2>\n

W<\/span>hat started as an intriguing collaboration between two professors who prioritize mentoring undergraduates has developed into a four-year, $507,653 grant that soon will support new bacteria studies and exceptional hands-on student research experiences at Colorado College.<\/p>\n

\"Yiqiao<\/a>

Yiqiao Bao foreground and Josh Arguello<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTruly outstanding\u201d and \u201csubstantial\u201d is how reviewers of the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant application describe the opportunities, which Associate Professor of Physics Kristine Lang and Associate Professor of Biology Phoebe Lostroh are already providing CC students and now will be able to expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the whole kielbasa. It\u2019s just thrilling,\u201d said Lostroh, who has her Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Harvard and, like Lang, has been teaching at CC since 2003. Lostroh said the grant, which begins with more than $160,000 this first fiscal year, will allow the two scientists to take on experiments they \u201ccouldn\u2019t have considered before\u201d and involve more students in the work, especially a diversity of undergraduates. \u201cWe will be able to offer more research jobs with a reasonable stipend, so that makes this available to a broader student population,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really incredible,\u201d agreed Lang, who earned her Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. She is excited about moving ahead with this pairing of physics and biology to study how specific bacteria take up DNA for genetic variation. But, she said, the CC students are really her \u201cprime motivator.\u201d<\/p>\n

The significance of \u201cteaching the experience,\u201d Lang said, is why she and Lostroh have not only involved 26 students directly in the research since 2009 but have also started the First Year Experience (FYE) course Microbiology and Cellular Biophysics. It gives participating CC first-year students an early and up-close understanding of scientific work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s their first class at college and they are doing original research \u2014 investigating things no one in the world has ever looked at before,\u201d said Lang. In the beginning of the two-block course, the students learn fundamentals about microbial life and how to study it. In the second block, they work in the lab on an independent project that contributes to the overall research Lang and Lostroh are pursuing: observing and characterizing the shape and surface features of native and mutant soil bacteria through an atomic force microscope to shed light on how such organisms transform themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a high level of research for undergraduates,\u201d Lang said. \u201cFor most, it is really cool, but it\u2019s also very eye-opening about how science works, how much goes into incremental movement. It can help them decide if this is for them.\u201d Forty students took the course over the past two years and, with the grant in place, the professors plan to offer it again in 2015 and 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super challenging. We had days of lectures and labs, then evenings of imaging the bacteria plus a huge paper at the end, but it was totally worth it,\u201d said Caroline Boyd \u201917<\/b>, who took the FYE course last fall. Now, she\u2019s a paid assistant in the lab. \u201cThis is totally different. We have to figure so much out ourselves,\u201d Boyd said about the job. She and another student are working to take an image of two different bacteria on the same plate and analyzing cells that have already been imaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know this world at all. You go through months of failure before you get a glimmer of success. Now I\u2019ve learned to accept that and enjoy little accomplishments,\u201d said Boyd, adding that she is thrilled to have this experience as a first-year student. She plans to continue the work in the summer and finds the insight helpful as she considers career options.<\/p>\n

Kaleb Roush \u201914<\/b> thinks \u201cno other class would expose students to such a comprehensive view of what science is.\u201d The biochemistry major helped supervise the FYE class last fall and has also been conducting his own research under Lang and Lostroh. \u201cI particularly like the fusion of physics and biology. Looking at it across disciplines and with the perspective of different professors is more vibrant,\u201d said Roush. He plans to get some more lab experience and then pursue a graduate degree, possibly in microbiology.<\/p>\n

\n

\"lab<\/a>
\nAtomic force microscopy (AFM)<\/b> is a relatively new analytical technique initially used in physics research that CC professors and students are using to study bacteria. In AFM, a small pyramid-shaped probe (the AFM tip) is attached to a diving board-shaped silicon cantilever. The tip is scanned across the sample surface with the cantilever\u2019s up and down movements measured by a laser. These measurements then render an image of the sample\u2019s surface topography. AFM allows researchers to study features on cells at a much higher resolution than is possible with a traditional light microscope. It also provides a true three-dimensional image and the opportunity to analyze live cells, all with comparatively simple sample preparation and machine operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal that we are involving physics students in a bio project, and vice versa,\u201d Lostroh said, noting that in many settings researchers in such specialties wouldn\u2019t cross paths, and exploring another discipline can initially be intimidating. She finds it \u201cfun to see the culture clash. When I say nucleus, for example, I mean of a cell, but Kristine is talking about the dense central region of an atom.\u201d Lostroh said biophysics is a growing field and this sort of exposure opens students\u2019 eyes to opportunities.<\/p>\n

Last summer, Leah Lieber \u201914 <\/b>worked to figure out which genes are involved in natural transformation of Acinetobacter baylii<\/i>, the bacteria being studied. She presented this work at a student scientific conference in St. Louis, Mo., last fall and it\u2019s the basis of the biology honors thesis she is presenting this spring. She thinks this sort of independent research \u201cmakes you more responsible for your own growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amber Dornbusch \u201911<\/b> agrees. \u201cIt takes more self-training and you learn you have to \u2018stick with it.\u2019\u201d The biology major worked with Lang and Lostroh when she was a senior and then for a year after graduation, eventually contributing to a paper the group published in the September 2013 Canadian Journal of Microbiology. <\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference over other opportunities I considered is they wanted my input into the design and direction of the experiments, which taught me so much,\u201d said Dornbusch, who is now working on her Ph.D. in immunology at the Mayo Graduate School based in Rochester, Minn. In addition to helping optimize protocols to grow \u201cnaturally competent bacteria,\u201d Dornbusch said she enjoyed making science \u201cmore accessible to students, taking out the intimidation factor\u201d as a mentor for the FYE class in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the National Science Foundation likes that we are aware of the need to provide close mentoring for our students, particularly for disadvantaged or first-generation undergraduates,\u201d said Lostroh, noting that she and Lang have developed their class to encourage even those who had never thought of a career in science.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to help each one identify as a scientist. It\u2019s important that we are providing a genuine experience, collecting messy, real data and analyzing it \u2014 showing what research is really like. Plus, the difficulty of the class kind of levels the playing field. It creates a culture of collaboration where they work, study, and succeed together,\u201d Lostroh said.<\/p>\n

Success for Lang and Lostroh means for the next four years, their research and mentoring can expand. Tess Powers, CC\u2019s director of faculty research support, said the NSF recognition is significant, especially for an undergraduate institution. She said it is the largest such grant to CC for at least the past decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When physics and biology join forces, everybody wins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-8240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-april-2014","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2014\/04\/Lang-Lostroh.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8240"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8275,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8240\/revisions\/8275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}