Isolation and characterization of antibiotic-producing soil bacteria
Maria Messner, Lenoir Community College
One of the biggest threat in hospitals is the rising cases of people who harbor antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Therefore, it is critical to find and characterize novel antibiotics to combat the resistant strains. Most of the antibiotics used in healthcare settings come from anti-biotic producing bacteria and fungi found in the soil. The goal of this CURE will be to isolate antibiotic-producing bacteria and fungi from the soil in the local area, and to determine the chemistry of the antibiotics. An extension of the project will be to determine how the presence of antibiotic-producing microbes affect other organisms resident in the soil, as it is unclear as to why microbes use energy to produce antibiotic factors.

Get the Lead Out: Impacts of Toxins from SuperFund Sites on Human Health, Ecology, and Socioeconomic Conditions, with an Evaluation of Environmental Racism in Regional Communities
Jessica Smith-Rohrberg, Massachusetts Bay Community College
Students in a community-college introductory Environmental Studies course will extract soil samples from a Massachusetts-based SuperFund site. They will analyze toxins and perform research to enhance and promote scientific literacy, to examine impacts of environmental toxins on human health and development, and to discuss equity and environmental racism.

Learning by Design: Learning Anatomy Through Construction of Body Prototypes
Tyjuanna LaBennett, North Carolina Central University
Developing a course-based undergraduate research experience would serve two purposes in the Human Anatomy & Physiology course. First, it would allow students an opportunity to engage in learning that supports the development of practical skills needed for becoming successful as nursing clinicians, pharmacists, nutritionists, public health educators, and physical trainers. When students are allowed to use their creative abilities in search of answers to perplexing problems, unlimited possibilities arise. Therefore, it is necessary, even in a world of technology crazed (social media hooked) students, to tap into their intrigue of discovery by using traditional hands-on methodologies melded with emerging technologies to stretch capacities beyond the obvious. As a proponent of traditional hands-on approaches, it is clear that enhancing traditional methods with technologies that support learning is the primary goal with the CURE approach. Through discovery, students will learn how prototypes are developed and will use methods and equipment suggested by the Fab Lab Director for designing workable limbs and models through CAD equipment. By researching problems associated with amputations, strokes and neurological problems or disorders, students learn how to develop a prototype to address the mechanical issue that may hinder human activities or movement. Once a plan is developed, students design models that serve to alleviate movement type problems associated with the limb. Students learn details of bones, joints and the elements that cause malfunctions of bones and joints. In addition, the cost of design and development of prosthetic limbs will be indicated.

Using C elegans for environmental toxicity testing
Porche' Spence, North Carolina Central University; Carresse Gerald, North Carolina Central University
This course consists of teaching the students the skills necessary to complete an independent innovative collaborative research study, which will focus on the application of environmental toxicology concepts. Learning objectives will consist of: (1) Discussing the fundamental principles and methods of toxicology; (2) Classifying the factors impacting the fate of chemicals throughout the body; (3) Discussing the potential biological effects associated with chemical exposures; (4) Analyze the impact of toxic levels of chemicals on major organ systems; (5) Explaining the complexity of toxicological issues impacting the field of toxicology; (5) applying the process of science to enhance the interpretation and integration of the environmental toxicology concepts. A group of 3- 5 students will collaborate to investigate the dose response testing of an environmental toxin on the soil dwelling nematode, C. elegans, a well-established eukaryotic model. By conducting toxicity testing with known known environmental contaminates, students will analyze the reproductive cycle and how chemicals can affect the stages of development. C. elegans have a 3 day life cycle, are translucent and have 900-1000 somatic cells. Due to the chemotactic behavior of C. elegans, they seek food (bacteria) and have the innate ability to travel through concentration gradients, which makes them easy to use in toxicity studies. Students enrolled in this CURE course will learn how to: (1) synthesize simple microbiological techniques by culturing E.coli, the bacteria that serves as the C. elegans food source and (2) utilize C. elegans for detecting toxins in soil ecosystems.

Heterogeneous Anodes Rapidly Perused for Oxygen Overpotential Neutralization (HARPOON) as a module in the introductory chemistry laboratory
Lori Del Negro, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Analysis of antibiotic-resistance in bacteria isolated from organic food products from local supermarkets and Farmers' markets in Fayetteville, NC
Danielle Graham, Fayetteville State University

Burk in the Dirt: Characterizing the bcpAIOB operons of environmental Burkholderia species
Elizabeth Danka, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Students will be isolating species of the bacterial genus Burkholderia from soils from in and around the town of Walla Walla, WA. We will be cultivating these organisms, identifying their species using 16S sequencing, and sequencing particular sets of genes that have been shown to be involved in interbacterial interactions. Students will then choose a next step for their experiment, and will explore gene expression or interbacterial competition or virulence. At the end of the semester, the students will organize their project and present their work as a formal scientific poster presentation.

Hunting for Microbes
Barbara Stegenga, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In this introductory research course, students will develop microbiology skills to help them identify soil bacteria and perform co-culture screens to investigate bacterial interactions. Students will collect soil samples, predict how treatments will affect bacteria and then isolate the bacteria. The treated bacteria will be co-cultured with a reporter strain so that fluorescence among colonies can be screened to identify the organisms whose secreted compounds induced the bacteria to differentiate. Discovery of new products formed by bacteria is an exciting possibility in this course for students.

How might urbanization affect avian diversity and community structure?
Jay Mager, Ohio Northern University
The loss of species diversity in response to increasing development of natural areas has been staggering.

Microbial evolution for antibiotic resistance
Sonia Singhal, Johnson C Smith University