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A revolution in biochemistry and molecular biology education informed by basic research to meet the demands of 21st century career paths

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 295; Issue: 31 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1074/jbc.aw120.011104

1083-351X

Paul N. Black,

Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration

The National Science Foundation estimates that 80% of the jobs available during the next decade will require math and science skills, dictating that programs in biochemistry and molecular biology must be transformative and use new pedagogical approaches and experiential learning for careers in industry, research, education, engineering, health-care professions, and other interdisciplinary fields. These efforts require an environment that values the individual student and integrates recent advances from the primary literature in the discipline, experimentally directed research, data collection and analysis, and scientific writing. Current trends shaping these efforts must include critical thinking, experimental testing, computational modeling, and inferential logic. In essence, modern biochemistry and molecular biology education must be informed by, and integrated with, cutting-edge research. This environment relies on sustained research support, commitment to providing the requisite mentoring, access to instrumentation, and state-of-the-art facilities. The academic environment must establish a culture of excellence and faculty engagement, leading to innovation in the classroom and laboratory. These efforts must not lose sight of the importance of multidimensional programs that enrich science literacy in all facets of the population, students and teachers in K-12 schools, nonbiochemistry and molecular biology students, and other stakeholders. As biochemistry and molecular biology educators, we have an obligation to provide students with the skills that allow them to be innovative and self-reliant. The next generation of biochemistry and molecular biology students must be taught proficiencies in scientific and technological literacy, the importance of the scientific discourse, and skills required for problem solvers of the 21st century. The National Science Foundation estimates that 80% of the jobs available during the next decade will require math and science skills, dictating that programs in biochemistry and molecular biology must be transformative and use new pedagogical approaches and experiential learning for careers in industry, research, education, engineering, health-care professions, and other interdisciplinary fields. These efforts require an environment that values the individual student and integrates recent advances from the primary literature in the discipline, experimentally directed research, data collection and analysis, and scientific writing. Current trends shaping these efforts must include critical thinking, experimental testing, computational modeling, and inferential logic. In essence, modern biochemistry and molecular biology education must be informed by, and integrated with, cutting-edge research. This environment relies on sustained research support, commitment to providing the requisite mentoring, access to instrumentation, and state-of-the-art facilities. The academic environment must establish a culture of excellence and faculty engagement, leading to innovation in the classroom and laboratory. These efforts must not lose sight of the importance of multidimensional programs that enrich science literacy in all facets of the population, students and teachers in K-12 schools, nonbiochemistry and molecular biology students, and other stakeholders. As biochemistry and molecular biology educators, we have an obligation to provide students with the skills that allow them to be innovative and self-reliant. The next generation of biochemistry and molecular biology students must be taught proficiencies in scientific and technological literacy, the importance of the scientific discourse, and skills required for problem solvers of the 21st century. For many biochemists and molecular cell biologists, the foundations driving interests in biology were immediately experiential. Most young children watch seeds sprout, plant a small garden, or conduct the celery experiment with colored water; some may make a pH indicator from purple cabbage or help deliver a calf or a litter of puppies. With such experiences, I always had questions about natural things—mostly biology, many not immediately answered—and thus required a visit to the local library or taking a dusty college book off the shelf in the living room. By middle school, interests grew, and learning about and drawing atomic orbitals was nothing short of fantastic. The subsequent foundations in math, chemistry, physics, and biology in high school were routine and lacked the excitement from earlier instructors with one exception. As a senior and taking now what would be called AP Biology or AP Chemistry, there was immersion with hands-on activities that included everything from pH curves and enzyme assays to animal dissections coupled with active discussions by teams of students of how and why. This was the foundation that established interests, thus setting the stage for my decisions and programs of study in college. As an undergraduate student in the mid-1970s, I immediately realized that basic research was fundamental in driving education in biochemistry and cell and molecular biology. The journal Cell had been established in 1974 and, along with more established journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, served as a platform linking cutting-edge research with teaching a sophomore-level cell biology course and extending to biochemistry and biophysical chemistry in subsequent years. The use of primary literature, while tough, provided real-time information that was being integrated into foundational concepts. As so, following my sophomore year, it was time to join a research laboratory, which was initially daunting, yet in time, an independent research project was developed that along with a rigorous course of study in biology and chemistry was foundational for advanced studies. Graduate school offered the opportunity to deploy many of the same strategies using primary literature while teaching cell and molecular biology laboratory and learning the value of teamwork. There was an immediate realization that one's passion for cutting-edge science was not universal, and thus it was essential to develop strategies demonstrating how the use of a research article in a laboratory setting was approachable. It became important to ask: How do you teach a sophomore to read a primary research paper? Where does data come from, and how can it be interpreted? How can a team be more effective that a single individual in addressing a specific question? And how does that data yield new information to drive the field forward? What came from this two-year period was a basic understanding of balancing the need to understand a concept and coupling that information with cutting-edge research to further advance that concept. One of the highlights of being a postdoctoral research fellow in the early 1980s was working with undergraduate students with a keen interest in biochemistry and molecular biology. My research was addressing the mechanistic basis of fatty acid transport and linkages to fatty acid activation and oxidation in Escherichia coli. It was during this period that the real importance of teamwork in science at the bench became apparent and that undergraduate students were effective members of a team given the proper mentoring. The undergraduate students were involved in key aspects of the work that included cloning the gene required for fatty acid transport (fadL), defining both patterns of complementation and expression, and culminating with purifying the protein FadL and showing that it was localized to the outer membrane. Three of the five papers published as a postdoc included undergraduate authors (1Spratt S.K. Black P.N. Ragozzino M. Nunn W.D. Cloning mapping, and expression of the genes involved in the fatty acid degradative complex of Escherichia coli.J. Bacteriol. 1984; 158 (6144665): 535-54210.1128/JB.158.2.535-542.1984Crossref PubMed Google Scholar, 2Black P.N. Sk K. DiRusso C.C. Nunn W.D. Long-chain fatty acid transport in Escherichia coli: cloning, mapping, and expression of the fadL gene.J. Biol. Chem. 1985; 260 (3881440): 1780-1789Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar, 3Black P.N. Said B. Ghosn C. Beach J.V. Nunn W.D. Purification and characterization of an outer membrane protein involved in long-chain fatty acid transport in Escherichia coli.J. Biol. Chem. 1987; 262 (3027089): 1412-1419Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Google Scholar). These foundations are not unique, as most scientists have comparable experiences. They did however, guide my passion to link research with teaching and learning with the firm belief that biochemistry and molecular biology education is informed by basic research. These linkages are coincident with science (and, more broadly, STEM) education research addressing the importance of asking questions, designing and conducting experiments, collecting data, drawing conclusions, participating in scientific discourse, developing novel pedagogical tools, and communicating findings to advance the field. This experiential learning, as informed by science education research, also requires creating rubrics to establish goals and outcomes and to assess learning (4Manduca C.A. Iverson E.R. Luxenberg M. Macdonald R.H. McConnell D.A. Mogk D.W. Tewksbury B.J. Improving undergraduate STEM education: the efficacy of discipline-based professional development.Sci. Adv. 2017; 3 (28246629): e160019310.1126/sciadv.1600193Crossref PubMed Scopus (71) Google Scholar, 5Krim J.S. Coté L.E. Schwartz R.S. Stone E.M. Cleeves J.J. Barry K.J. Burgess W. Buxner S.R. Gerton J.M. Horvath L. Keller J.M. Lee S.C. Locke S.M. Rebar B.M. Models and impacts of science research experiences: A review of the literature of CUREs, UREs, and TREs.CBE Life Sci. Educ. 2019; 18 (31782694): ar6510.1187/cbe.19-03-0069Crossref PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar, 6Hayes J.C. Kraemer D. Grounded understanding of abstract concepts: the case of STEM learning.Cogn. Res. Princ. Implic. 2017; 2 (28203635): 710.1186/s41235-016-0046-zCrossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar). The Morrill Act of 1862 establishing land grant universities, including the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), was profound by promoting "without excluding other scientific and classical studies…the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life" (7The Morrill Act (1862) United States Statutes at Large, 12, 503.Google Scholar). The training in biochemistry at UNL embraces the importance of broader practical instruction and the training of scientifically literate graduates, which is consistent with the view that higher education is the major engine for socio-economic development. The transformation of our programs of study in biochemistry began in earnest in 2010, beginning with the recommendations from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Education Council found in seminal documents, including Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (8Brewer C.A. Leshner A.I. Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action. American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C2009Google Scholar) and Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (9National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine (2007) Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar). This transformation was also informed by pioneering faculty at the university, in particular that of the botanist Charles Bessey. Bessey was known for innovative teaching methods that followed his belief that education was to be informed by research (10Bessey Faculty Positions (Pamphlet), Charles E. Bessey Records, Box 40, Folder 8, Department of Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar). His teaching and research were experiential and included establishing the classification system for flowering plants that has become standard. The impact of his efforts continues to resonate in the Nebraska National Forest, the first artificial forest that began with his tree-planting experiments with his students and in the establishment of federal programs that funded modern agricultural experiment stations. The efforts to fully integrate the undergraduate and graduate education and research missions in the Department of Biochemistry began with the development of guiding principles, which were founded with the understanding that what we do in research and teaching is to improve the human condition. •Commit to an uncompromising pursuit of excellence. Commitment to excellence is the firm ethos in teaching and research and is reflected by excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, cutting-edge research, and the generation of knowledge that is world class.•Stimulate research and creative work that fosters discovery, pushes frontiers, and advances society. The highest standards for advancing research must be sustained through extramural funds and publications in the highest-quality journals in biochemistry and the molecular life sciences.•Establish research and creative work as the foundation for teaching and learning. Students pursing a biochemistry and molecular biology degree must be afforded every opportunity to conduct high-impact research in faculty laboratories with funding from individual grants and institutional programs that support such research efforts.•Prepare students for life through learner-centered education. Students must be guided and challenged in classrooms and laboratories to become independent in seeking the knowledge and skills required to become successful professionals in biochemistry, molecular biology, biomedicine, and related fields.•Engage with academic, business, and civic communities throughout the state and the world. Interactions and collaborations in biochemistry extend beyond the walls of the university to colleges and universities within the state and around the world, and through engagement with the private sector it is essential to bring the products of research and teaching to consumers as a benefit to society.•Create an academic environment that values diversity of ideas and people. The faculty and staff of the Department of Biochemistry at UNL embrace diversity and inclusive excellence as a fundamental core value. The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was formally established in its current structure in 1995. The major immediately became popular, especially for students wanting to pursue medical school. By 2006, the department had a number of high-impact and established research programs, yet as a small research-intensive unit, teaching was seen as secondary. I joined the department as Chair in 2008 with a highly productive and externally supported research program, continuing our efforts to understand the mechanistic basis of fatty acid transport. Our work had progressed from a bacterial model and over a 23-year period had progressed to yeast, mammalian cell culture, and animal models (e.g. see Refs. 11Zou Z. DiRusso C.C. Ctrnacta V. Black P.N. Fatty acid transport in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Directed mutagenesis of FAT1 distinguishes intrinsic activities associated with Fat1p.J. Biol. Chem. 2002; 277 (12052836): 31062-3107110.1074/jbc.M205034200Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (101) Google Scholar, 12DiRusso C.C. Li H. Darwis D. Berger J. Watkins P.A. Black P.N. Comparative biochemical studies of the murine fatty acid transport proteins expressed in yeast.J. Biol. Chem. 2005; 280 (15699031): 16829-1683710.1074/jbc.M409598200Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (114) Google Scholar, 13DiRusso C.C. Black P.N. Acyl-CoA synthetases at the crossroads between lipid metabolism and regulation.Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 2007; 1771 (16798075): 286-29810.1016/j.bbalip.2006.05.003Crossref PubMed Scopus (154) Google Scholar, 14Black P.N. Sandoval A. Arias-Barrau E. DiRusso C.C. Targeting the fatty acid transport proteins (FATP) to understand the mechanisms linking fatty acid transport to metabolism.Immunol. Endocr. Metab. Agents Med. Chem. 2009; 9 (26635907): 11-1710.2174/187152209788009850Crossref PubMed Scopus (33) Google Scholar, 15Melton E.M. Watkins P.A. Cerny R.L. DiRusso C.C. Black P.N. Human fatty acid transport protein 2a/very long chain acyl CoA synthetase 1 (FATP2a/Acsvl1) has a preference in mediating the channeling of exogenous n-3 fatty acids into phosphatidylinositol.J. Biol. Chem. 2011; 286 (21768100): 30670-3067910.1074/jbc.M111.226316Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar). The attraction of leading biochemistry at UNL was that all fundamentals were in place; the challenge was to move the department into the 21st century by linking research and teaching in proactive ways through engagement and new faculty recruitment. At the time, the department had a robust graduate program with high-caliber students conducting cutting-edge research. Three members of the biochemistry faculty were working in the biochemistry education research space at that time, but their efforts were not integrated with the traditionally research-intensive faculty (16Bailey C. Markwell J. Overcome inertia and publish your science education scholarship.Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2008; 36 (21591171): 95-9810.1002/bmb.20162Crossref PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar, 17Soundararajan M. Bailey C.P. Markwell J. Use of a laboratory exercise on molar absorptivity to help students understand the authority of the primary literature.Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2008; 36 (21591161): 61-6410.1002/bmb.20144Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar). This situation was not unique to UNL, as there are comparable challenges in the STEM fields throughout the country, many of which have resulted into two-tiered departments. To this end, there was a significant uphill battle that had to occur in moving faculty from the "talking head" in course delivery to active learning with full integration of teaching and learning with research. I had seen this in play out as an undergraduate student and knew the value of this linkage and how basic research informed teaching. Further, during the 22 years prior to assuming the leadership of biochemistry at UNL, my teaching was in both medical and graduate education, where integrating foundational research into teaching, including medical biochemistry, was an essential part of my approach. A number of issues at UNL began to coalesce, including the opportunity to hire a significant number of faculty and build a modern, high-impact Department of Biochemistry with strong research programs linked to teaching and learning and meeting the demands of 21st century career paths. This included hiring 19 new faculty members (2 joint) since 2010 to advance the biochemistry research and teaching missions. The challenges were to hire both strategically and deliberately to strengthen research and teaching and to establish a faculty with demographics that were shared by the student population. A central tenant in all of these efforts was one of inclusive excellence. The initial challenge was to convince the "traditionalists" that teaching 21st century biochemistry and molecular biology the way they were taught was inconsistent with training a modern workforce with a biochemistry education at the core. Part of this first challenge was eliminated with retirements. The second challenge was to identify strategic needs within the unit that worked collectively to advance both research and teaching. I likened this challenge to being the conductor of an orchestra, where all parts are essential and where the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. If the violins were not in synchrony with the brass, the result would be catastrophic. If there were weaknesses in the percussion or woodwinds that needed to be addressed, this became the priority. As a department chair, I did not need to tell the faculty what to do but, like a conductor, had to establish the environment to achieve optimal collaboration and integration among the existing and newly recruited faculty, professional and technical staff, and students. This challenge was also mindful of linking research areas and programs both within biochemistry and with other programs for added strength and impact. It was also mindful of the changing face of modern biochemistry and molecular biology to be more quantitative, especially with the emergence of high-throughout data and systems biology. A final and important challenge was to make biochemistry a true academic home for nearly 400 undergraduate majors. This necessitated a careful review of the curriculum and the establishment of practices where students were engaged and mentored in their progression through the program over four years. This also required building a faculty that valued basic research in biochemistry and molecular biology that extended to teaching and learning. The result was a broad appreciation of the interplay between research that advanced teaching and learning and the development of novel pedagogical tools and basic research that generated new knowledge. The environment that was established over a 10-year period was one of inclusive excellence and one that allowed the best ideas to come forward and be discussed and refined with many being implemented. During this same period, the research programs with highly talented graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows flourished, advancing programs in plant biochemistry, metabolic biochemistry, biomedical biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, and biochemical informatics. One key outcome of this excellence was the development of a graduate training program, supported by the National Institutes of Health, in the Molecular Mechanisms of Disease. The breadth of research in combination with changes in the teaching culture established a landscape required to advance the training of students for existing and emerging career paths. Leadership in any academic department requires a long-term vision, not simply maintaining the status quo and steering the unit. Like a conductor and their orchestra, academic leadership requires a clear understanding of the team, the measures of success, and how that fuels the vision. In biochemistry, the excitement of basic research and the generation of new knowledge is foundational. The hum of active research programs is contagious and spills into the hallways and seminar rooms where there is experimental planning, the sharing of data, and active discussions. As members of a biochemistry department not associated with a medical school, the graduate and undergraduate students in the laboratories and classrooms become part of the fabric and through a fully engaged learning environment, gain the requisite foundations for their chosen career paths. A central component of leadership in biochemistry, especially in a research-intensive institution, is to lead by example and embrace the missions of the department. At UNL, this was the clear expectation of the faculty—in essence, leadership that understood the details of the interrelated academic missions by being in and coming from the trenches. Academic leadership in a research-intensive department cannot be equated with just being a unit administrator. Leading by example was crucial in building biochemistry and required maintaining a robust research program with undergraduate and graduate students (e.g. see Refs. 18Ahowesso C. Black P.N. Saini N. Montefusco D. Chekal J. Malosh C. Lindsley C.W. Stauffer S.R. DiRusso C.C. Inhibition of fatty acid uptake by Lipofermata/CB16.2 prevents lipotoxic cellular dysfunction and death.Biochem. Pharmacol. 2015; 98 (26394026): 167-18110.1016/j.bcp.2015.09.004Crossref PubMed Scopus (34) Google Scholar and 19Perez V. Gabell J. Behrens M. DiRusso C.C. Black P.N. Deletion of fatty acid transport protein 2 (FATP2) in the mouse liver changes the metabolic landscape by increasing the expression of PPARα-regulated genes.J. Biol. Chem. 2020; 295 (32188695): 5737-575010.1074/jbc.ra120.012730Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar), contributing to the teaching mission and team building. It also required continual engagement with the faculty, staff, and students and proactive discussions with the deans and upper university administration. The balancing required was much like walking on a floor of marbles and meeting the needs and vision of the faculty using the resources available through the university. In 2010-11 and again in 2016-17, the Department of Biochemistry had to complete formal academic program reviews. As is the case for most academic departments, both were initiated with a self-study, which culminated with guiding principles and strategic visions. My resolve was that these reviews be faculty-driven, and indeed this was the case. Both occurred at the right time in moving the department forward. The first was significant as it identified the challenges and gaps required to advance the research and teaching missions into the 21st century. The second built on the outcomes of the first and included a number of new faculty hires that were crucial in developing the Vision of Excellence 2017–2022 document that, while dynamic, has proven highly successful in meeting the challenges of a 21st century Department of Biochemistry. Following the first academic program review, key faculty hires were made that were largely directed to strengthening the research programs in redox biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, metabolic biochemistry, plant biochemistry, and systems biology and biochemical informatics. It became important at the time that a significant effort be made to advance biochemistry in teaching and learning. During this period and as noted above, the interplay between research that advanced teaching and the development of novel pedagogical tools and basic research that generated new knowledge became part of the departmental culture. The 2016-17 academic program review was able to highlight the successes of the previous years and set the stage for the continued growth of the department with the understanding that research and teaching are interdependent and that strength in one provides strength to the other. During this period, the four-year curriculum had been modified to include biochemistry courses in each academic year, thus creating an academic home for the undergraduate students. There were expanded efforts to engage as many students as possible in basic research laboratory work in biochemistry and across campus in the larger molecular life sciences. In concert with these efforts, internal and external grants were awarded to members of the faculty to strengthen biochemistry teaching and learning—these grants were given the same high level of recognition as those supporting basic research. These efforts were coincident with strengthening a strong graduate program to include increased emphasis on the diversity of career paths. All of this was occurring in an environment that was driven by the faculty and from team building that was coming from within. The outcomes have been remarkable, with a level of faculty interaction in both research and teaching and, more specifically, a level of excitement linking the two. In addition to grants being awarded to support teaching and learning, four members of the faculty were awarded National Science Foundation CAREER grants in 2018 and 2019. These grants require outreach and education as central pillars of a cutting-edge research program. I remain convinced that these awards were successful in large part because of the environment established in the department that values research and teaching at the same level—this is an environment of inclusive excellence. As the University of Nebraska celebrated the 150th year since its founding and the Department of Biochemistry its 25th year, the department was awarded the 2019 University-wide Departmental Teaching Award as one of the President's Faculty Excellence Awards. The University of Nebraska system specifically recognized the tradition of pedagogical excellence through faculty engagement and innovation. There was praise for the department's innovative educational programs that emphasize critical thinking, experimental testing, and molecular and computational modeling that are directly linked to excellence in basic research in redox biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, metabolic biochemistry, plant biochemistry, and systems biology and biochemical informatics. The department was recognized for transforming biochemistry education and developing life-long learners, leading to a number of high-impact career paths. The linkage between research that advanced teaching and the development of novel pedagogical tools and basic research that generated new knowledge was the common thread creating synergy leading to strength. With the modernization of the biochemistry undergraduate curriculum to meet 21st century career paths, as is the case in many programs throughout the country, student engagement in their learning through critical thinking has become an expectation. It is now the tradition of biochemistry at UNL to present a body of information in concert with asking where it came from and how it advanced the field. As noted above, the biochemistry program has been modified to cover all four years. These changes in the undergraduate biochemistry curriculum have been driven by the faculty and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, an