Drama-Based Activities for STEM Education: Encouraging Scientific Aspirations and Debunking Stereotypes in Secondary School Students in Spain and the UK

This study presents findings from testing an innovative student-centred drama-based teaching methodology for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) disciplines for secondary school students. The method, based on performances, was tested in two case studies, Spain and the UK, on a sample of 2,089 students. These performances have been shown to be an effective way of generating a two-way dialogue between students and researchers, and prompting student reflections about researchers as role models, gender inequalities in science, and ethical issues in STEM careers and scientific research. Furthermore, they have enhanced young people's positive attitudes and interest in science, scientists and scientific careers and have debunked science-related stereotypes. This indicates that the performances evaluated in this study are supporting the aspirations of young people, but not limiting their inclination to critically assess the relative benefits and risks of scientific development for themselves

Differential requirements for Tousled-like kinases 1 and 2 in mammalian development

The regulation of chromatin structure is critical for a wide range of essential cellular processes. The Tousled-like kinases, TLK1 and TLK2, regulate ASF1, a histone H3/H4 chaperone, and likely other substrates, and their activity has been implicated in transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, RNA interference, cell cycle progression, viral latency, chromosome segregation and mitosis. However, little is known about the functions of TLK activity in vivo or the relative functions of the highly similar TLK1 and TLK2 in any cell type. To begin to address this, we have generated Tlk1- and Tlk2-deficient mice. We found that while TLK1 was dispensable for murine viability, TLK2 loss led to late embryonic lethality because of placental failure. TLK2 was required for normal trophoblast differentiation and the phosphorylation of ASF1 was reduced in placentas lacking TLK2. Conditional bypass of the placental phenotype allowed the generation of apparently healthy Tlk2-deficient mice, while only the depletion of both TLK1 and TLK2 led to extensive genomic instability, indicating that both activities contribute to genome maintenance. Our data identifies a specific role for TLK2 in placental function during mammalian development and suggests that TLK1 and TLK2 have largely redundant roles in genome maintenance

The role of the Tousled Like Kinases in genome stability and mammalian development

[eng] The human Tousled-like kinases 1 and 2 (TLKs) are predicted serine/threonine kinases that show maximal activity in S phase and are transiently inhibited by the DNA damage response (DDR). Both TLKs interact with and phosphorylate each other and the histone chaperone Asf1. Asf1 plays a critical role in regulating histone pools during several cellular processes, suggesting that the primary function of TLKs could be in the regulation of chromatin assembly during transcription, replication and repair processes. Thus, we hypothesize that reduction of TLK activity will impact on the function of Asf1, and perhaps other chromatin modulators, affecting key cellular processes that maintain genome integrity and proliferative capacity. In order to examine the in vivo consequences of TLK1 or TLK2 loss of function, we generated mice harboring genetraps that inhibit the expression of either gene. Surprisingly, mice lacking TLK1 were born normally, showed no overt pathology and aged normally over 18 months. Examination of developmental processes, such as lymphocyte maturation, revealed no abnormalities, and the DNA replication and cell cycle progression were normal, even following DNA damage. To determine if TLK2 provided redundant functions, we performed transient siRNA depletion of TLK2 in wild type and TLK1 null cell cultures. While this led to no defects in survival in WT cells, TLK1 mutants were profoundly sensitized to DNA damaging agents. We next generated mice harboring a genetrap allele to block the expression of TLK2. In contrast to TLK1, no liveborn homozygous mutants have been observed and embryos isolated for MEFs are severely runted, displaying heterogeneous defects including failure to close the neural tube and placental impairment. These data indicated that TLK1 and TLK2 do not play equivalent roles during development. Given that we see an acute response to DNA damage under conditions where total TLK activity is reduced and it is unlikely that cells lacking all TLK activity can support proliferation, we believe that the modulation of TLK activity represents a potentially valuable therapeutic approach. Collectively, the work I have presented represents a significant advance in our understanding of TLK function in cells and in mammalian development and supports the possibility that TLKs represent a potentially valuable target for the treatment of human disease

Differential requirements for Tousled-like kinases 1 and 2 in mammalian development

The regulation of chromatin structure is critical for a wide range of essential cellular processes. The Tousled-like kinases, TLK1 and TLK2, regulate ASF1, a histone H3/H4 chaperone, and likely other substrates, and their activity has been implicated in transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, RNA interference, cell cycle progression, viral latency, chromosome segregation and mitosis. However, little is known about the functions of TLK activity in vivo or the relative functions of the highly similar TLK1 and TLK2 in any cell type. To begin to address this, we have generated Tlk1- and Tlk2-deficient mice. We found that while TLK1 was dispensable for murine viability, TLK2 loss led to late embryonic lethality because of placental failure. TLK2 was required for normal trophoblast differentiation and the phosphorylation of ASF1 was reduced in placentas lacking TLK2. Conditional bypass of the placental phenotype allowed the generation of apparently healthy Tlk2-deficient mice, while only the depletion of both TLK1 and TLK2 led to extensive genomic instability, indicating that both activities contribute to genome maintenance. Our data identifies a specific role for TLK2 in placental function during mammalian development and suggests that TLK1 and TLK2 have largely redundant roles in genome maintenance

Differential requirements for Tousled-like kinases 1 and 2 in mammalian development

The regulation of chromatin structure is critical for a wide range of essential cellular processes. The Tousled-like kinases, TLK1 and TLK2, regulate ASF1, a histone H3/H4 chaperone, and likely other substrates, and their activity has been implicated in transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, RNA interference, cell cycle progression, viral latency, chromosome segregation and mitosis. However, little is known about the functions of TLK activity in vivo or the relative functions of the highly similar TLK1 and TLK2 in any cell type. To begin to address this, we have generated Tlk1- and Tlk2-deficient mice. We found that while TLK1 was dispensable for murine viability, TLK2 loss led to late embryonic lethality because of placental failure. TLK2 was required for normal trophoblast differentiation and the phosphorylation of ASF1 was reduced in placentas lacking TLK2. Conditional bypass of the placental phenotype allowed the generation of apparently healthy Tlk2-deficient mice, while only the depletion of both TLK1 and TLK2 led to extensive genomic instability, indicating that both activities contribute to genome maintenance. Our data identifies a specific role for TLK2 in placental function during mammalian development and suggests that TLK1 and TLK2 have largely redundant roles in genome maintenance