BIMS

Recently, three BIMS majors found out they will receive Bloomer and Beasley Research Fellowships for the coming year.  All three are students of Dr. Gary Wilson and will be pursuing different projects investigating Bacillus thuringiensis spore properties as they pursue Honors research and write their Honors theses in the next year.

The Charles and Lisa Bloomer Research Fellowship is awarded to support research of promising students in the School of Natural and Computational Science (SNCS).  This initiative of the Science and Math Advisory Board (SMAB) provides a research stipend for students as they work closely with McMurry faculty on a research project.  Dr. Bloomer is a successful oral surgeon in Abilene who has generously and regularly supported the sciences at his alma mater.  The biennial picnic the Bloomers host for SMAB members and SNCS faculty is a popular event building relationships and communicating the vision each holds for McMurry’s science future.  The Beasley Research Fellowship is a new program supporting student research in the biological sciences.  McMurry’s science alumni are spearheading an effort to create an endowment in memory of Dr. Clark Beasley, Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the Department of Biology who died this past summer.  This represents the first year this fellowship has been awarded.

Recipients of this year’s awards are Heather Rawls, Miranda Nguyen, and Nicole McGunegle.  Their projects will study wild type and genetically-engineered strains of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and Bacillus cereus (Bc) grown in rich and poor media.  Bt is a spore-former that produces an insecticidal toxin at the time of sporulation.  Bc is a commonly encountered and well-studied spore-former closely related to Bt but generally harmless.  The genetically-engineered strains include  Bt strains that do not form crystals and Bc strains that have been engineered to produce Bt crystals.  One project will look at how the presence or absence of the crystal in rich and poor media influences spore and crystal size and toxicity.  A second project will look at how growth conditions impact spore dormancy and the process of activation and germination.  It is possible an undiscovered variation of quorum sensing might be involved.  The third project will explore UV and chemical resistance of wild type and genetically-engineered strains produced in rich and poor media.  All projects fit the criteria for BIMS research:  a complete project doable in a short time frame, certain discovery no matter the experimental outcome, publishable work.

Stay tuned for updates on how this work is progressing!

Recently, our family celebrated the marriage of our older son to a beautiful and talented young lady.  When plans were being formed, they surprised us with one aspect of the reception that we could never have predicted – they wanted to square dance.  It seems square dancing was featured at an event they attended while in college and the experience was so much fun that they wanted to make it a part of their wedding celebration.  As much as we all were skeptical, they were RIGHT!  We all had a great time.

I mention this because square dancing requires a few talents and skills that our BIMS program will be needing in the coming year. First, you have to be a good listener and thinker.  Second, you have to be light on your feet.  As the Caller directs the dancers through some tricky moves, so the BIMS program is going to have to direct its students through some tricky times.

The reason?  Two of our BIMS faculty will be on sabbatical during the coming academic year.  Dr. Wilson will be out during the fall semester, and Dr. Benoit will be out for the spring.  They are working together on a project to develop a microbiology course for nursing majors that can be taught totally online.  Wilson will create a lab that is part simulation, part field trips, part “kitchen micro”.  Benoit will create over 100 20-minute lectures/activities to teach the content for the lecture portion of the course.

So in the same way that a square dancer has to be a great listener and thinker and light on their feet, the BIMS program is going to have to exhibit those skills as it adapts its course offerings and content to provide all BIMS curriculum over the two short-handed semesters.  We have studied the progress of our BIMS majors and have been listening to what students want in the coming year.  We have been thinking about appropriate substitutions from departments across campus.  And we have started being “light on our feet” as we adapt what we will be doing during the year for our BIMS students.

May our doh-si-doh and promenade get the job done!

This fall at universities around the world, some students will engage in a two-pronged approach to learning the knowledge and skills of microbiology lab technique.  They will learn the conventional way, loop and burner and tubes and plates, and they will expand their opportunity to think like a microbiologist and simulate their lab work using their computers with software developed by Dr. Gary Wilson and his partners at Intuitive Systems, Inc.  The software, VirtualUnknown(TM) Microbiology, is now over a decade old, and this summer marks the end of a two year-long development program to create a new, more versatile version.  Dr. Wilson’s son, Marcus Wilson, has been the Java-developer making it all happen.

The original VU Microbiology was developed with particular goals in mind:  solid microbiology instruction, true-to-life simulation requiring knowledge of aseptic technique, opportunities for students to make mistakes with consequences, detailed reporting in the Virtual Lab Report of all errors in technique and judgment – all in a game-like atmosphere.  Judging by the popularity of the software with allied health programs, it scores on all points.  But the leaps in technology over the past ten years have necessitated parallel improvements in the software.  Whereas the original product was PC-exclusively and largely stand-alone, the new version will be “platform neutral” and Web-based.  Testing on Mac, Linux, and Windows have all gone well, meaning any student with any computer will soon have equal access to this tool.  VirtualUnknown(TM) Microbiology Web Edition (VUWEB) will be “Micro Anywhere!” incarnate.

To make that happen, Dr. Wilson has spent the summer taking care of the content and support components, while Marcus has been polishing the look, feel, and action of the software.  Several tests were replaced with updated versions.  New Help files had to be created that accounted for the current state of computer skills in average students, rather than on the average computer skills of 1998.  A new lab activities manual was written, entitled Micro Digital Media(TM), along with an instructor’s key.  MDM gets right to the nuts and bolts of microbiology and spends its 100 pages helping students learn how lab skills are used in a health setting.  There is even an exercise to help students learn how to make fancy research posters to display their work.

What’s left?  The Help files are text- and graphic-centered,  but will also have extensive videos still in production.  And there’s extensive beta testing to come.  Anticipated product release will be Spring 2012.