By Whitney Baxter
The lab is quiet. Suddenly, a student exclaims, “I figured out how to do it!” These moments of joy keep instructors Jeff Essner and Renu Srivastava motivated.
“The students’ enthusiasm gives us enthusiasm,” said Srivastava, an associate teaching professor in genetics, development and cell biology, who teaches Biology 4230L: Developmental Biology Laboratory alongside Essner.
Essner, professor of genetics, development and cell biology, began teaching the course in 2006, and Srivastava joined in 2019. “A lot of buzz” was generated for the lab when the gene-editing technology, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), was introduced in 2013, Essner said. Course enrollment increased from 10 students in the early days to more than 60 students each semester now. The increase can be attributed not only to the introduction of CRISPR, but to the hands-on, student-driven learning structure of the lab.
“The success and growth of the class shows that we’re getting students excited about science as they learn how to ask and solve scientific questions on their own,” Essner said. “It’s important for them to have these lab techniques under their belt, learn how to set up equipment and think about what to do next.”
Working in small groups, students select a zebrafish gene predicted to play a role in the fish’s development. Each group spends the semester researching their chosen gene and analyzing its sequence to understand its structure. Using CRISPR technology, the students inject the edited gene into zebrafish embryos and observe how it affects the modified zebrafish as they develop, compared with those in a control group.
“When they see a difference, it suddenly brings energy to the room and the group gets excited. It’s amazing to see that,” Srivastava said.
Sophia Kuntz, a senior in genetics, is one of the teaching assistants this semester. She took the lab her freshman year and studied the southpaw gene with her group, paying close attention to its role in the development of zebrafish hearts. She said it was fun to learn how to do the various lab procedures.
“There were many moments where concepts started to make sense and there were moments where I felt challenged, leading me to realize the complexity of research. There are aspects of research that I am still learning, and that all comes with time and experience,” Kuntz said. “As I progress through my studies, things start to make more sense as it relates to the lab but also reminds me how much there is to learn.”
Cora Harvey, a senior in genetics, is another teaching assistant. She took the class to build her lab skills in preparation for medical school.
“If you’re at all interested in genetics or developmental cell biology, you should take this class,” Harvey said. “You’ll learn so much more compared to a more traditionally structured lab.”
Knowing how to use CRISPR technology gives students a leg up when applying for scholarships, graduate school or careers, Essner said. Some students have even published papers about findings made in the lab that they continued to research.
“I like seeing how much they walk away with at the end of the semester. It makes it all worth it,” Essner said.