Genome Solver: Microbial Comparative Genomics part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Genome Solver began in 2011 as way to teach Bioinformatics tools to undergraduate faculty. As part of the Genome Solver project as a whole, we developed a Community Science Project (CSP) for faculty and students to join. The CSP explores horizontal gene transfer (HGT) between bacteria and the phages that infect them. Students get involved in this project and develop testable hypotheses about the role HGT between bacteria and phages play in microbial evolution. Our own work has demonstrated that undergraduates can produce publishable data using this approach. We invite faculty and their students to participate in the search for additional evidence of this type of HGT by investigating the vast wealth of phage and bacterial sequences currently in databases. All that is needed is a computer, an Internet connection, and enthusiasm for research. Faculty and students can work on an organism of interest or we can help them pick organisms to explore these phenomena. By pooling all of the information from a variety of small projects under the umbrella of the Genome Solver CSP, we will be able to better understand the role of HGT in bacterial evolution.

Using Ocean Plastic Research to Increase Student Engagement and Persistence in Biology part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at National University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by adding research experiences to undergraduate biology courses. Through a collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this project incorporates course-based undergraduate research (CURE) biology courses for biology majors and for non-majors. The research topics focuses on plastic pollution in the ocean, particularly the microbial populations attached to floating plastic. The CURE is modular and can be adapted for undergraduate courses of different levels. In addition, a virtual adaptation was implemented during the Covid-19 epidemic lockdown phase. A version of the CURE designed for microbiology courses uses the established Tiny Earth methodology to isolate antibiotic producing bacteria from plastic debris.