VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance has chosen Virginia Commonwealth University as one of 12 institutions to participate in a nationwide genomics research course for freshmen who will have the unique opportunity to engage in hands-on research.

The project, the National Genomics Research Initiative, is a two-part, yearlong research course designed to enable students to contribute to a nationwide research study and to help prepare them for careers in science. This year marks the third cohort of The Science Education Alliance, which launched in 2007 with 12 universities and added 12 more members last year. For 2010, another 12 additional cohort colleges and universities — including VCU, and four associate members will be added, bringing the total to 36 members. Last year VCU was an associate member but moves this year to cohort status.

In Fall 2009, approximately 20 freshman students at each institution were led through a two-semester-long research project investigating bacterial viruses called phage. During the fall term, students isolated colonies of phage from locally collected soil samples. Given the diversity of phage, each one is almost certain to be unique, so the students had the opportunity to name their newly identified life form. The remainder of the term was dedicated to purifying and characterizing their phage and extracting its DNA.

HHMI created the alliance in 2007 in the hope that it would become a resource for science educators from across the nation. It allows faculty to work together to deliver innovative science education programs and bring the excitement of the doing of science directly to students in a novel, collaborative way. The Institute has committed $4 million over four years to the alliance. Read more about The Science Education Alliance here.

In addition to VCU, the new participants in the National Genome Research Initiative are: Baylor University, Bucknell University, Culver-Stockton College, Conzaga university, Jacksonville State University, Loyola-Marymount University, North Carolina Central University, Purdue University, University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Texas-El Paso, and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

The associate members are Brooklyn College, College of Charleston, Queensborough Community College and the University of California-Davis.

HHMI, a nonprofit medical research organization that ranks as one of the nation's largest philanthropies, plays a powerful role in advancing biomedical research and science education in the U.S. The institute spent $730 million for research and distributed $101 million in grant support for science education in fiscal year 2009.