PRIMER TROPICAL BIOPROSPECTING VENTURE BASED ON FOREST MICROBIOLOGY

Project Methods
PRIMER Tropical Bioprospecting Venture Based on Forest Microbiology (PRIMER-TBV) pursues to enhance an alliance among various universities to increase the number, diversity and competencies of Hispanic undergraduate students entering agrisciences fields and strengthening the workforce based on microbial biotechnology theme by (i) developing workplace skills for agrisciences scientists in students through mentored discovery- based experiences (workshops and research); (ii) educating the academic community through the improvement of the major microbiology course track and the Colloquium on Advanced Research Approaches in Agriculture; and, (iii) developing leadership skills through workshops and research. A partnership among the PD, researchers, universities, and training consortia will constitute a Scientific Advisory Board for the enactment of a discovery transformation pathway for student development translating into curricular innovation and advanced agricultural innovation.Objective #1: Advance Hispanic student development through discovery-based experiences. Active student engagement in academic activities aligned to workplace skills has improved learning success in various scenarios. The realization of success helps students to progress and move on to higher goals. For over ten (10) years, the PD has used mentored research to develop scientific skills in undergraduate students, even when they lacked the fundamental knowledge. The opportunity to practice has led to discoveries that have ignited more interest in understanding how things happen. Through this project, a mentored process will help to develop skills and broader perspectives. PRIMER-TBV will mentor undergraduate research in forest microbiology. This discovery-based model will develop skills related to fieldwork, regulated environment, detailed protocols, data analysis and dissemination. TBV will operate as a contract research organization emphasizing the assessment and domestication of microbial functions in the forest towards process understanding and entrepreneurship. PRIMER has provided research experiences for undergraduate students in microbiology and biotechnology topics (see PD biosketch). Mentored technical work (apprentice) has stimulated understanding of scientific concepts (novice) that has led to dissemination forums (fellows). As science progresses, the role of the students evolves from apprentice to fellow. Undergraduate students (3/year) will be trained, with major dedication than before, in authentic research activities by researchers (PD, graduate scholar, and collaborators) to assume the role of a junior scientist. Students will be selected according to their performance on a 4-day workshop (at the beginning of the project) and a personal statement. A second tier of students (3-4) will be invited to enroll in the research course (BIOL 365 or similar) with the PD. Projects in microbiology will be aligned to research collaborators (i.e., Rutgers University, PREC, DNALC-CSHL, NSF-LTER Luquillo); therefore, infrastructure and data outside laboratory settings will be available for use. The research team will have regular laboratory meetings to discuss outcomes and constraints, while developing research capabilities. Outcomes will be shared at local, state, and national forums or similar events (local Researchers Forum, state PRISM, or SACNAS Conference). Research will focus on microbial aspects of agrisciences and products derived from tropical microbiota, such as proteomics for alkane degradation, fungal metabolomics in coastal sediments, bioinformatics for arsenate respiration detection, and diversity for sulfate-reducing bacteria. These activities will provide students with a more extensive hands-on experience with respect to industrial internships. Quarterly workshops will address research techniques to share acquired knowledge. Protocols and concepts will be available for the research and microbiology track courses. Participants will attend the Frontiers for Environmental Microbiology symposium where new research perspectives have been made available to the undergraduate community. Student Research Poster Presentations and Internet broadcasts are anticipated. Different levels will be defined to stimulate student progress and extracurricular sessions will teach specific skills aligned to discovery (workshops). Students will be able to acquire research and dissemination skills through experiential learning opportunities. An outstanding graduate student will be competitively recruited as scholar for academic technology transfer to collaborate with the PD in mentoring research experiences and translation of research into courses. Participation at national meetings (i.e., PD Meeting and SACNAS Conference) will expand collaborations and research dissemination. More advanced students will experience a mentored-independent work environment, so that they can acquire more responsibility in their studies (retention) and enhance educational equity toward careers or post-secondary education in agrisciences. Advanced students will assist in mentoring and training classmates enrolled in the research courses (BIOL 365). A real-time PCR apparatus (USDA- funded) introduces convenient advanced instrumentation to quantify genes for specific microbial function (i.e., lignin degradation, sulfate respiration,) in nature, as part of research and courses, for direct use by students. Research projects will target USFS and agricultural sites.Objective #2: Educate 400 Hispanic students in microbiological contributions to agrisciences in a 2-year period, to increase the number and diversity of students pursing related academic interest. Most college students pursue careers or post-secondary education without considering agrisciences as an alternative due to the perception of it being a low-income career within a rustic workplace. The proposed academic development pipeline that will educate Hispanic undergraduate students in skills, knowledge, and opportunities within agrisciences using extracurricular events and major microbiology track courses. This project will focus on forest microbiology and place major emphasis on skills and tasks conducted by scientists throughout the nation from a tropical perspective.Extracurricular events. Everyone must have a common baseline and equal opportunity to learn novel things despite selection criteria. This project will offer workshops and experiential learning (~50 participants; quarterly; seminars, field trips), Colloquium on Professional Development (~40 participants, Fall), Colloquium on Advanced Research Approaches in Agriculture (~40 participants; September), and Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology Symposium (FEM; ~65 participants island-wide). Researchers from collaborating organizations will be invited as speakers and role models for the audiences.Major microbiology track courses. Curricular innovation will be led by the PD with support of academic stakeholders and collaboration of the graduate scholar. Introductory topics in BIOL 320 will be assessed to establish parallel experiences in laboratory course (BIOL 320L). BIOL 410 (Introduction to Biotechnology), and BIOL 460 (Techniques in Biotechnology) will complete the microbiology track. Content will be updated, contextualized, and aligned among the four courses in the major track to include general and advanced applications to agrisciences, experiences into laboratories (revised syllabus), and incorporate research projects into courses (capstone experience). The outcome of the proposed curricular innovation will lead to an advanced understanding of the agrisciences into the microbiology course track.