Real Genomics in the Classroom: Undergraduate Sequence Analysis of Entire, Novel Phage Genomes
The National Science Foundation has been funding our Program for Undergraduate Genomics (PGU) directed at providing undergraduates with the opportunity to experience real research in a lab. We have had over 50 undergraduate students involved in this program in the first three years. These students have come from within the Texas A&M system and as visiting Research Experience for Undergraduates participants from universities in California and Louisiana. PGU students represent some of the very best from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics as well as related disciplines such as Genetics and Molecular Biology. For many of these bright students, this has been their first opportunity to do novel research in a real lab situation.
The PGU is run primarily by Dr. Elizabeth Summer in the laboratory of Dr. Ry Young in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and by Dr. Carlos Gonzalez in the Department of Plant Pathology at Texas A&M Univeristy in College Station. Bioinformatics and robotics tools have been made available to the students of the PGU by Dr. Dave Adelson of the Animal Science Department and Jim Hu of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Texas A&M.
As of fall 2005, undergraduate students at Texas A&M University have completed 8 phage genomes that infect primarily environmental isolates of Burkholderia: New York soil phages Bcep781, Bcep1, Bcep43, BcepNazgul, BcepB1A, BcepC6B, Bcep22 and the Burkholderia lysogen BcepMu. We are currently processing 8 more: the New York soil phage BcepF1, the Burkholderia lysogens Bcep176 and Bglu421, Erwinia phage Era103, and the North Carolina soil phages BcepBrny, BcepGmr, BcepEtu and BcepFife.
The initial three years were supported by NSF Grant # MCB-0135653.
We have received a new NSF Grant, # EF-0523951 to start in October, 2005.
Last modified: December 20 2005 12:02:09.