Kappler Ulrike, Rowland Susan L, Pedwell Rhianna K
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.
Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2017 May;45(3):235-248. doi: 10.1002/bmb.21033. Epub 2016 Dec 28.
Systems biology is frequently taught with an emphasis on mathematical modeling approaches. This focus effectively excludes most biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology students, who are not mathematics majors. The mathematical focus can also present a misleading picture of systems biology, which is a multi-disciplinary pursuit requiring collaboration between biochemists, bioinformaticians, and mathematicians. This article describes an authentic large-scale undergraduate research experience (ALURE) in systems biology that incorporates proteomics, bacterial genomics, and bioinformatics in the one exercise. This project is designed to engage students who have a basic grounding in protein chemistry and metabolism and no mathematical modeling skills. The pedagogy around the research experience is designed to help students attack complex datasets and use their emergent metabolic knowledge to make meaning from large amounts of raw data. On completing the ALURE, participants reported a significant increase in their confidence around analyzing large datasets, while the majority of the cohort reported good or great gains in a variety of skills including "analysing data for patterns" and "conducting database or internet searches." An environmental scan shows that this ALURE is the only undergraduate-level system-biology research project offered on a large-scale in Australia; this speaks to the perceived difficulty of implementing such an opportunity for students. We argue however, that based on the student feedback, allowing undergraduate students to complete a systems-biology project is both feasible and desirable, even if the students are not maths and computing majors. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(3):235-248, 2017.
系统生物学的教学通常侧重于数学建模方法。这种侧重点实际上将大多数非数学专业的生物学、生物化学和分子生物学专业的学生排除在外。对数学的侧重也可能会给系统生物学呈现出一种误导性的印象，而系统生物学是一项多学科的研究，需要生物化学家、生物信息学家和数学家之间的合作。本文描述了一个系统生物学方面真实的大规模本科研究体验（ALURE），该体验在一次实践中融入了蛋白质组学、细菌基因组学和生物信息学。这个项目旨在让那些具备蛋白质化学和新陈代谢基础知识但没有数学建模技能的学生参与进来。围绕该研究体验的教学方法旨在帮助学生处理复杂的数据集，并利用他们新获得的代谢知识从大量原始数据中找出意义。完成ALURE后，参与者报告称他们分析大型数据集的信心显著增强，而大多数学生群体报告在包括“分析数据模式”和“进行数据库或互联网搜索”等各种技能方面有良好或很大的提升。一项环境调查显示，这个ALURE是澳大利亚唯一大规模提供的本科水平的系统生物学研究项目；这表明人们认为为学生实施这样一个机会存在困难。然而，我们认为，根据学生的反馈，即使学生不是数学和计算机专业的，让本科生完成一个系统生物学项目也是可行且值得的。© 2016年，国际生物化学与分子生物学联盟，45(3):235 - 248，2017。
