A Guide for Graduate Students Interested in Postdoctoral Positions in Biology Education Research

Intended as a resource for life sciences graduate students, this essay discusses the diversity of postdoctoral positions in biology education and the careers to which they lead. The authors also provide advice to help graduate students develop the skills necessary to obtain a biology education research postdoctoral position

Investigating Instructor Talk in Novel Contexts: Widespread Use, Unexpected Categories, and an Emergent Sampling Strategy.

Instructor Talk-noncontent language used by instructors in classrooms-is a recently defined and promising variable for better understanding classroom dynamics. Having previously characterized the Instructor Talk framework within the context of a single course, we present here our results surrounding the applicability of the Instructor Talk framework to noncontent language used by instructors in novel course contexts. We analyzed Instructor Talk in eight additional biology courses in their entirety and in 61 biology courses using an emergent sampling strategy. We observed widespread use of Instructor Talk with variation in the amount and category type used. The vast majority of Instructor Talk could be characterized using the originally published Instructor Talk framework, suggesting the robustness of this framework. Additionally, a new form of Instructor Talk-Negatively Phrased Instructor Talk, language that may discourage students or distract from the learning process-was detected in these novel course contexts. Finally, the emergent sampling strategy described here may allow investigation of Instructor Talk in even larger numbers of courses across institutions and disciplines. Given its widespread use, potential influence on students in learning environments, and ability to be sampled, Instructor Talk may be a key variable to consider in future research on teaching and learning in higher education

Collectively Improving Our Teaching: Attempting Biology Department–wide Professional Development in Scientific Teaching

Many efforts to improve science teaching in higher education focus on a few faculty members at an institution at a time, with limited published evidence on attempts to engage faculty across entire departments. We created a long-term, department-wide collaborative professional development program, Biology Faculty Explorations in Scientific Teaching (Biology FEST). Across 3 years of Biology FEST, 89% of the department's faculty completed a weeklong scientific teaching institute, and 83% of eligible instructors participated in additional semester-long follow-up programs. A semester after institute completion, the majority of Biology FEST alumni reported adding active learning to their courses. These instructor self-reports were corroborated by audio analysis of classroom noise and surveys of students in biology courses on the frequency of active-learning techniques used in classes taught by Biology FEST alumni and nonalumni. Three years after Biology FEST launched, faculty participants overwhelmingly reported that their teaching was positively affected. Unexpectedly, most respondents also believed that they had improved relationships with departmental colleagues and felt a greater sense of belonging to the department. Overall, our results indicate that biology department-wide collaborative efforts to develop scientific teaching skills can indeed attract large numbers of faculty, spark widespread change in teaching practices, and improve departmental relations

RPM-1 suppressors Act in synapse formation and axon termination in Caenorhabditis elegans

One prevailing question in developmental neurobiology is how neurons form precise connections with their targets. The PHR (Pam/Highwire/RPM-1) protein family is highly conserved from mammals to zebrafish and is important for both axon termination and synapse formation. Caenorhabditis elegans RPM-1 (Regulator of Presynaptic Morphology) is a large protein with multiple domains. One role of RPM-1 is to negatively regulate a mitogen- activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade via proteasomal degradation. To learn more about the RPM-1 signaling pathway, a genetic suppressor screen was utilized to identify additional molecules downstream of RPM-1. Suppressors were initially tested by non-complementation against known rpm-1 suppressors to identify novel suppressors. One prevailing question in developmental neurobiology is how neurons form precise connections with their targets. The PHR (Pam/Highwire/RPM-1) protein family is highly conserved from mammals to zebrafish and is important for both axon termination and synapse formation. Caenorhabditis elegans RPM-1 (Regulator of Presynaptic Morphology) is a large protein with multiple domains. One role of RPM-1 is to negatively regulate a mitogen- activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade via proteasomal degradation. To learn more about the RPM-1 signaling pathway, a genetic suppressor screen was utilized to identify additional molecules downstream of RPM-1. Suppressors were initially tested by non-complementation against known rpm-1 suppressors to identify novel suppressors. One prevailing question in developmental neurobiology is how neurons form precise connections with their targets. The PHR (Pam/Highwire/RPM-1) protein family is highly conserved from mammals to zebrafish and is important for both axon termination and synapse formation. Caenorhabditis elegans RPM-1 (Regulator of Presynaptic Morphology) is a large protein with multiple domains. One role of RPM-1 is to negatively regulate a mitogen- activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade via proteasomal degradation. To learn more about the RPM-1 signaling pathway, a genetic suppressor screen was utilized to identify additional molecules downstream of RPM-1. Suppressors were initially tested by non-complementation against known rpm-1 suppressors to identify novel suppressors. My dissertation provides characterization of a novel protein involved in synaptogenesis and the addition of mapping information for additional proteins important in synapse formation downstream of RPM-

A Ubiquitin E2 Variant Protein Acts in Axon Termination and Synaptogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

In the developing nervous system, cohorts of events regulate the precise patterning of axons and formation of synapses between presynaptic neurons and their targets. The conserved PHR proteins play important roles in many aspects of axon and synapse development from C. elegans to mammals. The PHR proteins act as E3 ubiquitin ligases for the dual-leucine-zipper-bearing MAP kinase kinase kinase (DLK MAPKKK) to regulate the signal transduction cascade. In C. elegans, loss-of-function of the PHR protein RPM-1 (Regulator of Presynaptic Morphology-1) results in fewer synapses, disorganized presynaptic architecture, and axon overextension. Inactivation of the DLK-1 pathway suppresses these defects. By characterizing additional genetic suppressors of rpm-1, we present here a new member of the DLK-1 pathway, UEV-3, an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme variant. We show that uev-3 acts cell autonomously in neurons, despite its ubiquitous expression. Our genetic epistasis analysis supports a conclusion that uev-3 acts downstream of the MAPKK mkk-4 and upstream of the MAPKAPK mak-2. UEV-3 can interact with the p38 MAPK PMK-3. We postulate that UEV-3 may provide additional specificity in the DLK-1 pathway by contributing to activation of PMK-3 or limiting the substrates accessible to PMK-3