Our HHMI-funded BRAINS program (Biosciences Retention and Academic Innovation Network for Students) is designed to engage student awareness of real research issues emphasizing how problems are seen and solved across disciplines. Through a coordination of lab experiments in conjunction with the use of similar instrumentation tools and techniques we focus on how each course is needed for a full story. For example: Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Round<i>up</i> is increasingly important in agriculture, is relevant to freshman students, and yet is inexpensive and readily available making it ideal for the introductory labs<i>. </i>The semester is divided into sections where students first develop laboratory skills (spectroscopy, pipetting, dilutions, etc.) while building confidence. Students are then asked to design experiments to examine the impacts of glyphosate in various systems. Freshman chemistry students are given standards to develop an assay that tests for glyphosate in the sub-25 ppm range; the biologists test the effects of glyphosate on soil quality, microbial communities, invertebrates, and plant germination and growth; while the microbiologists find, isolate, and culture glyphosate tolerant bacteria. Ultimately, the three courses rely on each other for quantitative and qualitative results and submit their results to an integrated web source.

Weaving chemistry, biology, and microbiology labs into common themes: Illustrating relevance across disciplines

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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