Genome Consortium for Active Teaching: meeting the goals of BIO2010

Abstract

The Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT) facilitates the use of modern genomics methods in undergraduate education. Initially focused on microarray technology, but with an eye toward diversification, GCAT is a community working to improve the education of tomorrow's life science professionals. GCAT participants have access to affordable microarrays, microarray scanners, free software for data analysis, and faculty workshops. Microarrays provided by GCAT have been used by 141 faculty on 134 campuses, including 21 faculty that serve large numbers of underrepresented minority students. An estimated 9480 undergraduates a year will have access to microarrays by 2009 as a direct result of GCAT faculty workshops. Gains for students include significantly improved comprehension of topics in functional genomics and increased interest in research. Faculty reported improved access to new technology and gains in understanding thanks to their involvement with GCAT. GCAT's network of supportive colleagues encourages faculty to explore genomics through student research and to learn a new and complex method with their undergraduates. GCAT is meeting important goals of BIO2010 by making research methods accessible to undergraduates, training faculty in genomics and bioinformatics, integrating mathematics into the biology curriculum, and increasing participation by underrepresented minority students.

Figure 1.

Outline of GCAT microarray distribution plan. Faculty who teach undergraduates submit their requests for microarrays, which are produced by several academic labs. Students perform the experiments, then the chips are scanned and data are posted to an FTP server for students to analyze.

Figure 2.

GCAT growth over seven years. GCAT has expanded the number of microarrays distributed (right Y-axis) and the number of faculty (left Y-axis) participating each year.

Figure 3.

Map of GCAT-participating schools. GCAT is composed of 141 faculty on 134 campuses in 36 states, including two universities in Canada and one in Australia (colored arrow), with nodes serving as hyperlinks to the appropriate departments (GCAT, 2006b). This screen shot is from an interactive map that allows viewers to see the geographical distribution of users for each type of microarray. Contact information for GCAT faculty is available and organized by academic year.