Design Matters: How a Course Review Informed Online Teaching Best Practices

This paper discusses how an Applying the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric for Higher Education workshop had an impact on the online teaching practice of three academic librarians. The QM Rubric was used to review and update a credit-bearing information literacy course taught by the authors’ department. The authors reflect on how this training influenced their relationship to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic (and beyond), using examples from their own experiences to demonstrate how instruction librarians contributed to online education during this period and how they used sustainable teaching practices to lessen the workloads of their teaching colleagues. Future steps include improved documentation, assessment, management and maintenance of digital learning objects used in online teaching

Lipid Raft-Dependent FcεRI Ubiquitination Regulates Receptor Endocytosis through the Action of Ubiquitin Binding Adaptors

The best characterized role for ubiquitination of membrane receptors is to negatively regulate signaling by targeting receptors for lysosomal degradation. The high affinity receptor for IgE (FcepsilonRI) expressed on mast cells and basophils is rapidly ubiquitinated upon antigen stimulation. However, the nature and the role of this covalent modification are still largelly unknown. Here, we show that FcepsilonRI subunits are preferentially ubiquitinated at multiple sites upon stimulation, and provide evidence for a role of ubiquitin as an internalization signal: under conditions of impaired receptor ubiquitination a decrease of receptor entry is observed by FACS analysis and fluorescence microscopy. We also used biochemical approaches combined with fluorescence microscopy, to demonstrate that receptor endocytosis requires the integrity of specific membrane domains, namely lipid rafts. Additionally, by RNA interference we demonstrate the involvement of ubiquitin-binding endocytic adaptors in FcepsilonRI internalization and sorting. Notably, the triple depletion of Eps15, Eps15R and Epsin1 negatively affects the early steps of Ag-induced receptor endocytosis, whereas Hrs depletion retains ubiquitinated receptors into early endosomes and partially prevents their sorting into lysosomes for degradation. Our results are compatible with a scenario in which the accumulation of engaged receptor subunits into lipid rafts is required for receptor ubiquitination, a prerequisite for efficient receptor internalization, sorting and delivery to a lysosomal compartment

Natural Allies: Teaching Research Skills to Undergraduates through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration.

This case study examines a project administered by English faculty and librarians at Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) whose objective was to improve and update English Composition curriculum by redeveloping the English 1010 Master Course. The majority of library instruction sessions taught by librarians at VSCC are for English Composition courses. Despite our close working relationship, there has been no formal curricula to tie together the English Department and library’s goals to teach information literacy skills. Research assignments vary, requiring librarians to design instruction sessions from scratch, resulting in a “kitchen sink” library session: attempting to teach students all there is to know about research in one 90-minute session. Librarians and English faculty work independently to create courses and sessions, resulting in poor communication and ineffective teaching. When librarians were invited to participate in the English Department’s mission to redevelop the ENGL 1010 Master Course, it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate research skills into the course itself, using a stratified approach to teach students about the research process. The course redesign introduces research skills early in the semester, preparing students to write argumentative research papers at the end of term. We hope this will result in more successful papers, higher grades and a deeper understanding of information literacy. This case study presentation will follow the course redevelopment process, including: Goals for the project Incorporation of research skills into the course master shell, including assignment examples Successes and pitfalls of the pilot semester Goals, issues and concerns going forwar

Zika Virus Protease Cleavage of Host Protein Septin-2 Mediates Mitotic Defects in Neural Progenitors

Zika virus (ZIKV) targets neural progenitor cells in the brain, attenuates cell proliferation, and leads to cell death. Here, we describe a role for the ZIKV protease NS2B-NS3 heterodimer in mediating neurotoxicity through cleavage of a host protein required for neurogenesis. Similar to ZIKV infection, NS2B-NS3 expression led to cytokinesis defects and cell death in a protease activity-dependent fashion. Among binding partners, NS2B-NS3 cleaved Septin-2, a cytoskeletal factor involved in cytokinesis. Cleavage of Septin-2 occurred at residue 306 and forced expression of a non-cleavable Septin-2 restored cytokinesis, suggesting a direct mechanism of ZIKV-induced neural toxicity. VIDEO ABSTRACT