Science Education Alliance @ Calvin

National Genomics Research Initiative

• What if you could discover and name a new species?
• What if your discovery shed new light on health and the environment?
• What if this research would take the place of your regular biology courses?
• And what if you could do this all in your first year of college?

Well, thanks to a prestigious grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, all this is now possible at Calvin College.

Calvin College has been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to be one of 24 schools nationwide to participate in a new science education initiative. In this program, 20-24 first year Calvin students will make real scientific discoveries by doing research on bacterial viruses, called phage, during a two-semester introductory biology sequence led by biology professors Randall DeJong and John Wertz. Students will learn techniques from across biology, including microbiology, molecular biology, genomics, ecology, and bioinformatics.

An Exciting 2-semester Biology Sequence

In the first semester, Calvin students will isolate phage from local forest and wetland environments, likely finding phage that have never been seen before. The class will spend the remainder of the first semester purifying and characterizing their phage, evaluating phage diversity in the environment, visualizing their phage via electron microscopy, and extracting phage DNA. Students will even get to name their phage.

Between semesters, the purified DNA from a selected phage will be sent to the Joint Genome Institute at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the complete phage genome will be sequenced.

In the second semester, the class will receive files containing the complete DNA sequence of the phage. The students will use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to analyze and annotate the phage genome and compare it to other phage, gaining invaluable insight into its potential form and function. The data will then be deposited in NCBI Genbank, an international DNA sequence database accessible to scientists across the globe.

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate a student must

• enroll as a full-time student for the first time at Calvin in Fall 2009
• demonstrate academic potential or ability,
• have a strong interest in science generally.

The focus will be biology but you don't have to be a biology major.

How do I apply?

Applications and recommendations are made online. Follow the appropriate link below:

• online application form for students
• online recommendation form for teachers

To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by May 15, 2009. We expect to notify applicants of their status by early June, in plenty of time for registration at a Passport student orientation session this summer.

Resources at Calvin

• Calvin's new Integrated Science Research Institute provides a number of opportunities for interdisciplinary science education and research.
• Calvin's Science Division has programs in all the major areas of science.
• The Biology Department offerers a variety of program for students interested in biological and biomedical careers.
• Calvin offers many student research opportunities.

Find out More

• Read the Calvin Spark article about this program.
• Consult the Official College Catalog for more information about programs at Calvin.
• See our Financial Aid Information page to learn more about paying for college and other scholarships that are available.
• Prospective students, consider a campus visit as part of our Fridays at Calvin program. Contact the Admissions Office at 1-800-688-0122 for information.

Secondary

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