Gene therapy has fascinated clinicians, scientists, and patients since decades ago because of its potential to treat a disease at the genetic level. This can be achieved in many ways, including replacing a disease-causing gene with a healthy copy. Gene therapy must overcome complex tissue and cellular barriers to introduce genetic modifications…

When students think of evolution, they might imagine T. rex, or perhaps an abiotic scene of sizzling electrical storms and harsh reducing atmospheres, an Earth that looks like a lunar landscape. Natural selection automatically elicits responses that include "survival of the fittest," and "descent with modification," and with…

Community health advisors (CHAs) play a key role in promoting health in medically underserved communities, including in addressing cancer disparities. There is a need to expand the research on what characteristics make for an effective CHA. We examined the relationship between CHA personal and family history of cancer, and implementation and…

In recent years, single-subject experimental courses have not been able to meet the demands of the comprehensive development of life sciences. This study is based on two fundamental disciplines, molecular biology and metabolomics, with the analysis and intervention of tumor-related genes as the starting point. A comprehensive experimental course…

Cancer databases collect original cancer studies and patient clinical information into one site that allows for global analysis. While many courses focus on cancer, few utilize these powerful cancer databases. Our goal was to create a lab experience in which students could explore original cancer study databases, looking at the expression and…

Cell division is one of the most relevant processes in Biology, for instance, to understand the reproduction of species or the development of tumours. Learning this content requires not addressing it out of context but integrating it into real-life problems that demand students apply their knowledge about cell division. In this study, the authors…

It has been shown that active learning strategies are effective in teaching complex STEM concepts. In this study, we developed and implemented a laboratory experiment for teaching the concepts of Boolean logic gates, molecular beacon probes, molecular computing, DNA logic gates, microRNA, and molecular diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, which…

Given the long induction time of many cancers and the fact that modifiable risk factors (e.g., cigarette smoking) including preventive factors (e.g., human papillomavirus [HPV] vaccination, healthy dietary and physical activity patterns) are influenced in adolescence, educating adolescents about cancer causation and risk reduction may have a large…

Formation of eukaryotic initiation factor 4F (eIF4F) is widely considered to be the rate-limiting step in cap-dependent translation initiation. Components of eIF4F are often up-regulated in various cancers, and much work has been done to elucidate the role of each of the translation initiation factors in cancer cell growth and survival. In fact,…

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in Latinas and the leading cause of cancer death. Latinas tend to be diagnosed at later stages, receive poorer quality care and have a higher risk of mortality than non-Latina White (NLW) women. Among women with a genetic predisposition to hereditary BC, genetic counseling can be beneficial. Latinas…

Biological systems exhibit strong dynamic variations; for example, a system may have a tendency towards either a steady state, periodic behaviour or chaotic oscillations. These findings, explained by dynamic systems theory, have allowed researchers to formally relate a wide variety of systems, such as the theory of rumour propagation, glucose…

This study aimed to investigate senior high school students' computational thinking skills after implementing the Bioinformatics Module on molecular genetics concepts. The instructional approach used in the module is Computational Inquiry-based Teaching (CIbT). This study used a quasi-experiment method with a pretest-posttest control group design.…

Physical and life science disciplines emphasize how basic structural units influence function, yet it is challenging for students to understand structure-function relationships, particularly at molecular scales. Undergraduates in our biology capstone course struggled to connect mutations in a gene encoding a key protein in a cell development…

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has become an important tool in the biological sciences and has a growing number of applications across medical fields. Currently, few undergraduate programs provide training in the design and implementation of NGS applications. Here, we describe an inquiry-based laboratory exercise for a college-level molecular…

We describe an advanced, inquiry driven undergraduate course in Cancer Biology that combines faculty lectures typical of undergraduate courses with literature-driven discussions typical of graduate courses. As a capstone course, one goal of this course is to integrate knowledge from previous coursework in physiology, cell and molecular biology,…