Incorporating art into a biology course: a student-curated art exhibition about COVID-19.

Incorporating art into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses can be an effective way to help students understand scientific concepts and think about those concepts more holistically. Additionally, art can be used to inform the public about scientific issues. To explore this topic more fully, we developed an assignment for an upper-level biology course in which students curated an art exhibition focused on the 2019 coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Working in pairs, students identified pieces of art in the College's permanent collection that they felt related to some aspect of the pandemic. Each pair wrote a short curator's statement and a more traditional academic essay. The works of art and the curator's statements were displayed on campus. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to complete a short survey about the exhibition and its relevance to COVID-19. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the students enjoyed and valued the assignment. Limited data from visitors to the exhibition show that they thought the art helped them think more deeply about the pandemic. Based on these results, we conclude that the development of art exhibitions in STEM courses can benefit the students and the public.

Kathryn V. Holmes: A Career of Contributions to the Coronavirus Field.

Over the past two years, scientific research has moved at an unprecedented rate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid development of effective vaccines and therapeutics would not have been possible without extensive background knowledge on coronaviruses developed over decades by researchers, including Kathryn (Kay) Holmes. Kay's research team discovered the first coronavirus receptors for mouse hepatitis virus and human coronavirus 229E and contributed a wealth of information on coronaviral spike glycoproteins and receptor interactions that are critical determinants of host and tissue specificity. She collaborated with several research laboratories to contribute knowledge in additional areas, including coronaviral pathogenesis, epidemiology, and evolution. Throughout her career, Kay was an extremely dedicated and thoughtful mentor to numerous graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. This article provides a review of her contributions to the coronavirus field and her exemplary mentoring.

Maintaining Student Engagement during an Abrupt Instructional Transition: Lessons Learned from COVID-19.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities announced an abrupt transition to remote learning during the spring 2020 semester. In this report, we discuss the instructional changes that were implemented in an undergraduate microbiology course at a small liberal arts college as a result of this transition. The effectiveness of these curricular changes was assessed using a standard course feedback instrument to understand student attitudes and perceptions. Our results indicate that the switch to a thematic focus enhanced the course and specific instructional changes, including the use of preclass introductory videos and electronic forums, were useful and informative. Based on these findings, we propose that relatively minor changes to instructional strategies may enhance remote learning. Moreover, these same changes could be used to improve in-person classes.

Trends in Public and Global Health Education among Nationally Recognized Undergraduate Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States.

The prevalence of public health and global health (PH/GH) curricular offerings appear to be increasing in terms of undergraduate curricula and in the context of liberal arts education in the United States. Liberal arts colleges (LACs) represent stand-alone institutions, which exclusively focus on undergraduate education. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of PH/GH study pathways and PH/GH course offerings among LACs. All LACs identified through the US News and World Report (USNWR) college rankings were contacted with a survey about the following: formal majors, minors, or concentrations in PH/GH; independent study (IS) pathways for PH/GH; specific PH/GH courses offered; and the number of students graduating in 2016, 2017, and 2018 with formal and IS degrees in PH/GH. Demographic characteristics of the colleges came from the USNWR database. Almost half (43%) of all LACs in our sample offer a PH/GH major, minor, concentration, or IS pathway. Almost all (90%) colleges offer at least one course in PH/GH. Approximately 2,000 students attending these LACs pursued or are pursuing graduation with majors, minors, or concentrations in PH/GH for the years 2016-2018. The number of students pursuing formal PH/GH programs has increased by 25% from 2016 to 2018. Student interest in public health is rising in U.S. LACs, with more students seeking formal curricular or IS PH degree pathways. Public health messages are prevalent even among institutions without formal programs. Colleges without programs should consider integrating public health into their curriculum.

Adeno-associated virus vector expressing nerve growth factor enhances cholinergic axonal sprouting after cortical injury in rats.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is known to promote both the survival of cholinergic neurons after injury and the regeneration of damaged cholinergic axons. Recent evidence has implicated NGF in the regulation of cholinergic axonal sprouting by intact neurons projecting to the hippocampus of rats, sustaining a lesion of the entorhinal cortex. We explored the possibility that NGF may regulate this lesion-induced cholinergic sprouting by injecting recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector expressing NGF and green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the dentate gyrus of rats that were subsequently given unilateral entorhinal lesions. Sprague Dawley rats were unilaterally injected with (1) rAAV vector expressing NGF and GFP or (2) rAAV vector expressing GFP. Fourteen days after injection, the animals received lesions of the entorhinal area ipsilateral to the virus injection. Four days after lesion, GFP expression and the septodentate sprouting response in the dentate gyrus were assessed. Optical densitometric analyses revealed a significant increase in acetylcholinesterase label (a marker for cholinergic septodentate sprouting) in the ipsilateral outer molecular layer of the dentate gyrus in rats injected with rAAV vector expressing NGF. Thus, NGF-expressing rAAV vector enhanced the sprouting response of intact cholinergic neurons after unilateral entorhinal lesions in rats.