Page 6
Laboratory Initiative Teaching Grant:
A Report
A successful adaptation of a conservation genetics ABLE workshop by Kathleen A. Nolan, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY and Claire Leonard, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ.
The purpose of this report is twofold:
1. An accounting of the success of one of the first ABLE Laboratory Initiative Grants.
Monies received from the grant for the project entitled: "Introducing students to conservation genetics using sturgeon caviar" were used to pay for the laboratory supplies needed to conduct this project. The testing phase was conducted at the American Museum of Natural History in the molecular systematics laboratory of Rob DeSalle. The testing yielded a rapid DNA extraction technique that employed two sets of primers that could be used to (a) amplify DNA from any sturgeon egg and (b) amplify only one species of sturgeon, and not others. A St. Francis College biology major, Anthony Catalano, assisted in the development of the exercise. He was supported through a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant for work he did on this project and on another sturgeon systematics project over the summer, 1999.
The workshop: "Introducing students to conservation genetics using sturgeon caviar" was presented on June 4, 1999, at the twenty-first annual ABLE Conference. Over thirty people attended the morning and afternoon workshops, and feedback received, was, in general, positive. Slight changes have been made to the protocol due to participants input, and this exercise will be published in "Tested studies for laboratory educations", this year (2000).
Another positive to arise from this is two new collaborations that have formed as a result of this workshop. The first is between Ted Gurney of the University of Utah and Kathy Nolan. Both will be co-hosting a workshop together at the 22nd Annual ABLE Conference at Clemson University, on a DNA science topic. The second is between Claire Leonard at William Paterson University and Kathy Nolan. Claire's chair, Jane Voos, attended the general sturgeon workshop and thought that Claire might like to try it with her students.
2. An adaptation and expansion of an ABLE workshop supported by the grant at William Paterson University.
This experiment was successfully adapted and extended at William Paterson University by Claire Leonard. Students were asked to bring in any fish eggs of their choosing, in addition to the caviar provided by the instructor. The students brought in whitefish eggs, salmon eggs, and even zebrafish eggs. The DNA from these eggs, in addition to that from the caviar, tested positively with the control primers, and the zebrafish yielded some additional, unexpected results with the experimental primers. The conclusion made by the instructor and the students with this adaptation was that the ABLE workshop nicely lends itself to an investigative approach to a laboratory exercise; it is fast, simple, inexpensive, reliable, and the results are repeatable (The experiment was repeated three times with three different classes, and it yielded the same results.). The students were also very enthusiastic about the "wild forensics" approach, and enjoyed the idea of trying to ferret out perpetrators that might be selling "mislabeled caviar" from species that were illegally caught.
