Genome Engeneering
In the age of information and innovation we must think hard about what and how we teach our students. Students have access to unlimited information at the click of a button. Modern academic and corporate structures demand diverse skills and the aptitude of working in interdisciplinary teams. To train the next generation of scientists, Genome Engineering addresses these facets by facilitating a deep mastery of core fundamentals, quick and critical evaluation of new information, and acquisition of diverse skillsets incorporating critical thinking, interaction, and communication.
Keywords
Course description
Project description
The course Genome Engineering was founded on three principles:
I. In the last decade we have seen a revolution in the biomedical sciences due to the advent of genome editing technologies, which have radically changed the way we manipulate and understand biological systems as well as treat disease. Mastery of this area is essential to understanding many of the most commonly used tools in biomedical research today and will also empower the next generation of biomedical scientists.
II. In the age of information and innovation we must think hard about what and how we teach our students. Students have access to unlimited information at the click of a button. By the time textbooks are in print they are out of date. Therefore, classical educational structures geared towards memorization must be updated to facilitate mastery of core fundamentals, innovation, and quick and critical evaluation of new information (e.g. research findings, hypotheses, ideas, concepts, methodologies, and technologies).
III. The essential skills of tomorrow’s scientists go far beyond mastery of a singular topic or discipline. Necessary skills include the capacity to discuss and convey concepts and results to diverse audiences (e.g. classrooms, colleagues, committees, and the public) using diverse media (e.g. oral, written, and illustration) and the aptitude to work in large and interdisciplinary teams.
Considering these principles, the goals of Genome Engineering are to: 1) teach the fundamentals of genome engineering at the molecular and cellular level and provide a survey of how it is being used in the real world in biomedicine; 2) provide a mechanism to endow students with the capacity to read, understand, critically evaluate, question, and discuss current primary literature; and 3) facilitate the acquisition of essential skills of tomorrow’s scientists, while simultaneously consolidating course fundamentals and compelling deeper mastery, via a team-based innovation and technology development project.
To achieve these goals, Genome Engineering incorporates three elements: lectures, discussions, and a project:
Lectures
Genome Engineering lectures incorporate: 1) historical context to describe the innovation process and how unmet scientific needs are identified, 2) methods to discover, characterize, and evaluate molecular technologies, and 3) the genetics, molecular/cell biology, and synthetic/systems biology of genome editing technologies and their applications in basic and applied research.
Discussions
The week before a discussion, students are assigned 1-2 primary research papers on the topic covered in lecture. The day of the discussion, and after the in-class lecture, groups of students reorganize themselves. Each student puts in the effort to understand the content deeply, which results in a highly productive and in-depth discussion.
Project
The course project is designed to accomplish two key goals: 1) enforce the consolidation of course content and encourage deeper mastery through the process of devising a new genome engineering technology or application, and 2) mimic the process by which scientists come up with new ideas, devise an experimental plan, and propose this plan in written and oral form. The deliverables of the project are: 1) a 20-minute in-class presentation followed by a 10-minute question and answer session, and 2) a 1-page ‘specific aims’ summary page describing the unmet experimental/medical need, technology, aims, outputs, significance, and impact.