NSF Award
2016342
This project uses an integrated sciences approach to further understanding of how the cellular machinery coordinates gene expression as an embryo grows and develops prior to birth and to test computational models of that coordination from birth through adulthood, allowing scientists to correlate the regulation of gene expression with critical developmental events like cellular specification and embryonic morphogenesis. Through a combination of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) and independent mentored research, undergraduate students will use genetics, molecular biology, mathematical modeling, and artificial neural networks to model protein-DNA interactions that inhibit gene expression, while Masters students will engage in discipline-based education research (DBER) to understand how CUREs promote student outcomes and student retention in STEM. This project also promotes the engagement of students and faculty with scientists from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM, through a seminar/workshop series titled “Representation Matters” that aims to increase the retention of underrepresented scientists in STEM fields.<br/><br/>The research objective of this project is to understand the molecular mechanisms by which HES proteins mediate transcriptional repression during embryogenesis and to use that information to test predictions of HES mediated repression genome-wide and across developmental stages, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system. Undergraduates students will use ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, RNA-interference, and co-immunoprecipitation to define the cis- and trans-regulatory contexts of HES-mediated repression. Masters students and a postdoctoral fellow will use ChIP-seq and ChiP-PCR to determine if promoter or enhancer occupancy by HES proteins influences RNA polymerase occupancy or chromatin status. These data will be used to build models and to test predictions of HES-mediated repression during embryogenesis using deep learning or neural network semi-supervised models. The broader impacts objective of this project is to provide foundational research experiences for undergraduate and Masters students while enhancing training and mentoring experiences of students from underrepresented groups. A multi-faceted approach that includes mentored research experiences, CUREs that reinforce fundamental principles in biology and that introduce computational modeling, and activities that intentionally promote professional and social interactions between students and scientists of color, will examine perceived and actual outcomes of student learning, self-identification and social awareness.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
