The how and why of lncRNA function: An innate immune perspective.

Next-generation sequencing has provided a more complete picture of the composition of the human transcriptome indicating that much of the "blueprint" is a vastness of poorly understood non-protein-coding transcripts. This includes a newly identified class of genes called long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). The lack of sequence conservation for lncRNAs across species meant that their biological importance was initially met with some skepticism. LncRNAs mediate their functions through interactions with proteins, RNA, DNA, or a combination of these. Their functions can often be dictated by their localization, sequence, and/or secondary structure. Here we provide a review of the approaches typically adopted to study the complexity of these genes with an emphasis on recent discoveries within the innate immune field. Finally, we discuss the challenges, as well as the emergence of new technologies that will continue to move this field forward and provide greater insight into the biological importance of this class of genes. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: ncRNA in control of gene expression edited by Kotb Abdelmohsen

Family Group Decision Making Utilization

In 2002, Greater Minnesota Family Services (GMFS) began providing Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) services funded by a grant and Three Counties for Kids and is still provided today in five counties. These counties are Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Sibley, and Watonwan all located in Southern Minnesota. A survey was conducted to determine why the FGDM program is or is not utilized by county employees in the service area. Of county employee’s surveyed (N=25), 92% have used FGDM and 82% of those who identified their level of satisfaction (N=22) were satisfied to very satisfied with the services

Skagit Stream Team/Storm Team Program: A Citizen Science Success Story

Skagit Stream Team citizen volunteers have been collecting and analyzing the health of priority Skagit County streams since 1998. The program was developed in response to local watershed action planning and the need to establish a baseline monitoring program that initially focused in 3 priority sub-basins. Over the years the program has continued to grow. We are currently working in 10 sub-basins with 71 active volunteers. In addition to educating and engaging local residents, the program has provided important baseline data to assess water quality trends, identify hotspots and document improvements. There have been numerous success stories from this program that have been recognized throughout the state. Most recently, a high fecal coliform result during a heavy rain event in 2008 in the Samish watershed (an important commercial shellfish growing area) raised concerns and led to the creation of the Storm Team - a group of dedicated Stream Team volunteers that responded to a request from the State Dept. of Health to establish baseline fecal coliform data for the Samish River during storm events. As a result of their efforts, DOH changed the classification of most of Samish Bay from Approved to Conditionally Approved and the Clean Samish Initiative (CSI), a partnership of local, state, and federal agencies and organizations, was launched in 2010. Storm Team efforts extended into the Padilla Bay watershed and most recently Edison Slough. The Stream Team program also expanded to begin baseline monitoring studies in 5 urban stream reaches in partnership with local Phase II NPDES program jurisdictions. This presentation will highlight the successes of the Skagit Stream Team/Storm Team program, and provide insight in training & managing a successful, long-term, citizen science program and engaging and maintaining community volunteers. The program is sponsored by the Skagit Conservation District and the Padilla Bay Research Reserve

THE URE AS A VEHICLE FOR EMPLOYABILITY DEVELOPMENT – THE SUPERVISORS SPEAK

BACKGROUND Employers report STEM graduates lack appropriate employability skills and work experience (Deloitte Access Economics, 2014). In a previous study (Carpenter, Nguyen, Davis & Rowland, 2021), we explored Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) students’ understanding of employability and how they believe the URE impacted their employability development. Findings showed students had a varied and underdeveloped employability understanding. AIMS In this study, we considered URE supervisors, aiming to determine the current landscape of employability understanding of supervisors who facilitate UREs. DESIGN AND METHODS Eighteen supervisors across six UQ Faculty of Science Schools were interviewed. A deductive, inductive hybrid approach was implemented, using the validated framework previously developed in the student study. RESULTS Supervisors commonly defined employability as ‘the ability to be employed’. Most supervisors commented employability learnings were tacitly gained as a side-effect of URE engagement when asked how they facilitated employability development in UREs. Supervisors’ examples predominantly focused on research pathways and felt strongly they should not be responsible for their students’ employability development. CONCLUSIONS This supports a need for explicit employability curricula, to improve student employability understanding. In this presentation, we will discuss the role of supervisors in student employability development, and some ways to move forward that leverages the URE without placing additional teaching strain on supervisors. REFERENCES Deloitte Access Economics (2014) Australia’s STEM workforce: a survey of employers: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-australia-stem-workforce-report-010515.pdf Carpenter, L., Nguyen, B., Davis, L. and S. L. Rowland. (2021) The URE as a vehicle for employability development – the student participants’ speak. [In review]

Understanding how industry conceptualises a valuable science graduate

BACKGROUND The Australian Government consistently incentivises increasing the STEM capabilities of our workforce, with the recent Job-Ready Graduates Package illustrating this (Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2021). However, science graduates struggle to find employment post-graduation, while industry struggles to recruit sufficiently skilled science graduates (Deloitte Access Economics, 2014). It appears universities may be insufficiently preparing science graduates for the workforce. AIMS In this study, we explore the idea that miscommunication between universities and industry may contribute to the “problem” of science graduate “job-readiness”. Does industry truly understand what they want from science graduates? Can they clearly articulate it? DESIGN AND METHODS This study asks science industry employers about their conceptions of graduates who thrive in their workplace. We ask them to describe this graduate’s qualities and capabilities and explain how they demonstrate value to employers. RESULTS The results reveal surprising conceptions of “job-ready” and “industry-valuable” graduates, across a range of science industry contexts. The results also suggest ways universities can better prepare graduates to demonstrate their value to employers. CONCLUSIONS In this interactive session, we will examine how our conceptions compare with the results from industry perceptions. We will discuss the current terminology of “job-readiness” and consider ways we can improve industry-university collaboration around “industry-valuable” graduates. REFERENCES Deloitte Access Economics (2014). Australia’s STEM Workforce: A Survey of Employers. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-economics-australia-stem-workforce-report-010515.pdf Department of Education, Skills and Employment (2021). Job-ready Graduates Package. https://dese.gov.au/job-read

Functional Characterization of a Chicken Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II B Gene Promoter

A 0.7 kilobase (kb) DNA fragment from the 5\u27 flanking region of a chicken major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II B gene was cloned into chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter vectors and was transfected into a chicken macrophage cell line that expresses a low level of MHC class II antigens. Positive orientation-dependent promoter activity of the chicken DNA was evident in a reporter construct containing an SV40 enhancer. Deletion analysis of this 0.7 kb DNA fragment revealed a short fragment in the 3\u27 end that was crucial for the promoter function and negative regulatory elements (NRE) located further upstream. The conserved MHC class II X and Y boxes did not have a significant effect on promoter activity. Sequence analysis of the 0.7 kb class II B gene upstream region suggests possible involvement of interferon (IFN), E twenty-six specific (ETS)-related proteins, and other factors in regulating this promoter. A chicken T-cell line culture supernatant increased surface expression of MHC class II antigens, as well as class II promoter activity, in this macrophage cell line. This first functional characterization of a chicken MHC class II B gene promoter will aid in understanding the regulatory mechanisms that control the expression of these genes

Rev Variation during Persistent Lentivirus Infection

The ability of lentiviruses to continually evolve and escape immune control is the central impediment in developing an effective vaccine for HIV-1 and other lentiviruses. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is considered a useful model for immune control of lentivirus infection. Virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and broadly neutralizing antibody effectively control EIAV replication during inapparent stages of disease, but after years of low-level replication, the virus is still able to produce evasion genotypes that lead to late re-emergence of disease. There is a high rate of genetic variation in the EIAV surface envelope glycoprotein (SU) and in the region of the transmembrane protein (TM) overlapped by the major exon of Rev. This review examines genetic and phenotypic variation in Rev during EIAV disease and a possible role for Rev in immune evasion and virus persistence

A Community Framing of Integrated Engineering

The term “integrated engineering” is being used in new education programs. As a framing concept, we believe it has value for the wider engineering education community. A small group of program heads has facilitated conversations about how integrated engineering could benefit other programs and the community in general. This paper provides background and describes some of the outcomes of past conversations with the goal of including more voices in the conversation and initializing the formal use of integrated engineering as a prompt for improving engineering education