A blended future? A cross-sectional study demonstrating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student experiences of well-being, teaching and learning.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated emergency changes to teaching, learning and assessment across higher education. Healthcare courses were particularly affected because of their interdependence with overstretched health services. We used this unprecedented situation to provide insight into how students react to unexpected crises and how institutions can most effectively support them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cohort study explored students' experiences of the pandemic across programmes and stages from five schools (medicine, dentistry, biomedical sciences, psychology and health professions) in a health faculty in a UK university. We carried out an inductive thematic analysis on the data collected. RESULTS: Many students reported fluctuating emotions and struggled to adapt to home working. Students' changes in motivation and coping strategies varied, many found structure, recreation and social interaction important. Opinions on how well online learning worked relative to face-to-face diverged across programmes. CONCLUSION: A one-size-fits-all blended learning response is unlikely to be appropriate. Our study shows students across one faculty, within one institution, responded diversely to an emergency affecting them all. Educators need to be flexible and dynamic in delivering curricula and supporting students responding to an unexpected crisis during their higher education.

Positional editing of transmembrane domains during ion channel assembly.

The integration of transmembrane (TM)-spanning regions of many channels and ion transporters is potentially compromised by the presence of polar and charged residues required for biological function. Although the two TMs of the ATP-gated ion channel subunit P2X2 each contain charged/polar amino acids, we found that each TM is efficiently membrane inserted when it is analysed in isolation, and uncovered no evidence for cooperativity between these two TMs during P2X2 integration. However, using minimal N-glycosylation distance mapping, we find that the positioning of TM2 in newly synthesized P2X2 monomers is distinct from that seen in subunits of the high-resolution structures of assembled homologous trimers. We conclude that P2X2 monomers are initially synthesised at the endoplasmic reticulum in a distinct conformation, where the extent of the TM-spanning regions is primarily defined by the thermodynamic cost of their membrane integration at the Sec61 translocon. In this model, TM2 of P2X2 subsequently undergoes a process of positional editing within the membrane that correlates with trimerisation of the monomer, a process requiring specific polar/charged residues in both TM1 and TM2. We postulate that the assembly process offsets any energetic cost of relocating TM2, and find evidence that positional editing of TM2 in the acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC1a) is even more pronounced than that observed for P2X2. Taken together, these data further underline the potential complexities involved in accurately predicting TM domains. We propose that the orchestrated repositioning of TM segments during subunit oligomerisation plays an important role in generating the functional architecture of active ion channels, and suggest that the regulation of this underappreciated biosynthetic step may provide an elegant mechanism for maintaining ER homeostasis.

Reorientation of the first signal-anchor sequence during potassium channel biogenesis at the Sec61 complex.

The majority of the polytopic proteins that are synthesized at the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) are integrated co-translationally via the Sec61 translocon, which provides lateral access for their hydrophobic TMs (transmembrane regions) to the phospholipid bilayer. A prolonged association between TMs of the potassium channel subunit, TASK-1 [TWIK (tandem-pore weak inwardly rectifying potassium channel)-related acid-sensitive potassium channel 1], and the Sec61 complex suggests that the ER translocon co-ordinates the folding/assembly of the TMs present in the nascent chain. The N-terminus of both TASK-1 and Kcv (potassium channel protein of chlorella virus), another potassium channel subunit of viral origin, has access to the N-glycosylation machinery located in the ER lumen, indicating that the Sec61 complex can accommodate multiple arrangements/orientations of TMs within the nascent chain, both in vitro and in vivo. Hence the ER translocon can provide the ribosome-bound nascent chain with a dynamic environment in which it can explore a range of different conformations en route to its correct transmembrane topology and final native structure.

The localization of the ER retrieval sequence for the calcium pump SERCA1.

A number of studies using chimeric constructs made by fusing endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump (SERCA) sequences with those of the plasma membrane located calcium pump (PMCA) have suggested that the retention/retrieval signal responsible for maintaining SERCA in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is located within the N-terminus of these pumps. Because of the difficulties in identifying the presence of constructs at the plasma membrane we have used a trans-Golgi network (TGN) marker to evaluate whether chimeric proteins are retained by the ER or have lost their retention/retrieval sequences and are able to enter the wider endomembrane system and reach the TGN. In this study, attempts to locate this retention/retrieval sequence demonstrate that the retention sequences are located not in the N-terminus, as previously suggested, but in the largely transmembranous C-terminal domain of SERCA. Further attempts to identify the precise retention/retrieval motif using SERCA1/PMCA3 chimeras were unsuccessful. This may be due to the fact that introducing SERCA1 sequences into the C-terminal PMCA3 sequence and vice versa disrupts the organization of the closely packed transmembrane helices leading to retention of such constructs by the quality control mechanisms of the ER. An alternative explanation is that SERCAs have targeting motifs that are non-linear, being made up of several segments of sequence to form a patch that interacts with the retrieval machinery.

A special issue of Essays in Biochemistry on current educational developments in molecular bioscience.

The 4th joint UK Biochemical Society and Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) education event, 'Evolving Molecular Bioscience Education' took place online on May 27 and 28, 2021. The event, continuing the biennial series, comprised the invited speakers' talks, group discussions and other participants' pre-recorded flash presentations. Although the UK dominated, there were also speakers and participants from other European countries and other continents. This special issue includes a varied collection of articles written by the speakers and other participants.

'Everyone is trying to outcompete each other': a qualitative study of medical student attitudes to a novel peer-assessed undergraduate teamwork module.

The centrality of teamwork in ensuring the effective functioning of institutions across all sectors is undeniable. However, embedding teamwork into higher education has been hampered due to a range of deeply entrenched practices associated broadly with the foregrounding of knowledge, beliefs about the place of skill training and routines of assessment. As a result, despite an urgent need to address teamwork, little progress has been made with respect to progressing teamwork education. We have designed and evaluated a novel teamwork module delivered to fourth-year undergraduate medical students involving placements, a cocreated piece of work, reflection and summative peer assessment. This paper aimed to investigate whether the module increased students' insight into teamwork, including their own skill development, and whether their perceptions of teamwork changed. Throughout the evaluation, students played a key role, with four final-year medical students working alongside others in the multidisciplinary project team. Five distinct themes emerged from our in-depth, semi-structured interviews: (a) importance and meaning; (b) insight into skill development; (c) transferability; (d) peer assessment; and (e) resistance to teamwork education. Themes had positive and negative components, and student perceptions changed in multiple ways after experiencing a longitudinal educational opportunity to develop their teamwork skills. Before practice, students focused on superficial explanations and on where they might improve. In contrast, after practice, students conveyed deeper insights, contextualisation, focus on how they might improve, and shared structured reflection.

Retrieval from the ER-golgi intermediate compartment is key to the targeting of c-terminally anchored ER-resident proteins.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident proteins may be maintained in the ER by retention, where the leak into post-ER compartments is absent or slow, or retrieval, where a significant leak is countered by retrieval from post-ER compartments. Here the targeting of the C-terminally anchored protein ER-resident protein, cytochrome b5a (cytb5a), considered to be maintained in the ER mainly by the process of retention, is compared with that of sarcolipin (SLN) and phospholamban (PLB); also C-terminally anchored ER-residents. Laser confocal microscopy, and cell fractionation of green fluorescent protein-tagged constructs expressed in COS 7 cells indicate that while calnexin appears to be retained in the ER with no evidence of leak into the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), significant amounts of cytb5a, SLN, and PLB are detectable in the ERGIC, indicating that there is considerable leak from the ER. This is supported by an in vitro budding assay that shows that while small amounts of calnexin appear in the transport vesicles budding off from the ER, significant amounts of cytb5a and SLN are found in such vesicles. These data support the hypothesis that retrieval plays a major role in ensuring that C-terminally anchored proteins are maintained in the ER.

An efficient method for 15N-labeling of chitin in fungi.

To permit facile (15)N solid-state NMR (ssNMR) analysis of the degree of acetylation (DA) of chitinous materials in fungi a method for the introduction of a (15)N isotopic label has been developed. Using Penicillium chrysogenum as a model system, a series of (15)N-based media were surveyed for their abilities to support mycelial growth, and a rich medium supplemented with ((15)NH(4))(2)SO(4) supported good growth. Uptake of label into chitin extracted from mycelia grown in the rich ((15)NH(4))(2)SO(4)-based media was monitored by mass spectrometry, with approximately 1 g/L of ((15)NH(4))(2)SO(4) leading to approximately 65% incorporation. The labeled chitin was studied by ssNMR to determine its DA, and the (15)N label permitted measurement of DA to within 0.5% with acquisition times of on the order of half an hour. Similar studies validated the method for DA measurements on chitin from cultures of Aspergillus niger and Mucor rouxii.

Twelve tips for teaching twelve transferable skills.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. There is an increasing awareness of the importance of transferable skills. With the internet now allowing almost instant access to information, the recall of factual knowledge no longer has the primacy it has held for centuries. In contrast, transferable skills remain particularly important for medical students because they receive a generic education in preparation for a diverse range of careers. The twelve tips in this article are more relevant for certain skills than others. Transferable skills should be taught in context and students should be made aware of how the skills will play a part in their future. Learning outcomes must be made clear to both staff and students, and without clear assessment of transferable skills students are likely to focus exclusively on knowledge. Students and staff should proactively engage with transferable skills training, rather than taking a purely remedial approach.

Research skills in medical education.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The ability to find, interpret and use information is a key skill in any clinician's arsenal. During medical training, we aim to equip our students with the ability to navigate the potentially baffling amount of information available online, and come to valid conclusions. This article reflects on the nature of research skills and how they are delivered in medical education. It also explores whether these are the most efficient methods for enabling students to become able researchers. Comparisons with other types of university degrees are made, and consideration given to how research skills should best be integrated into our teaching.