Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science, Freshman Research Initiative, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science, High School Research Initiative, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jul 25;19(15):3270. doi: 10.3390/s19153270.
Aptamers have a well-earned place in therapeutic, diagnostic, and sensor applications, and we now show that they provide an excellent foundation for education, as well. Within the context of the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) at The University of Texas at Austin, students have used aptamer selection and development technologies in a teaching laboratory to build technical and 21st century skills appropriate for research scientists. One of the unique aspects of this course-based undergraduate research experience is that students develop and execute their own projects, taking ownership of their experience in what would otherwise be a traditional teaching lab setting. Of the many successes, this work includes the isolation and characterization of novel calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (anti-CIAP) RNA aptamers by an undergraduate researcher. Further, preliminary survey data suggest that students who participate in the aptamer research experience express significant gains in their self-efficacy to conduct research, and their perceived ability to communicate scientific results, as well as organize and interpret data. This work describes, for the first time, the use of aptamers in an educational setting, highlights the positive student outcomes of the aptamer research experience, and presents the research findings relative to the novel anti-CIAP aptamer.
适体在治疗、诊断和传感器应用方面有着良好的应用前景，我们现在证明，它们也为教育提供了极好的基础。在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校新生研究计划（FRI）的背景下，学生们在一个教学实验室中使用适体选择和开发技术，培养适合研究科学家的技术和 21 世纪技能。这种基于课程的本科生研究体验的一个独特方面是，学生们开发并执行自己的项目，在传统的教学实验室环境中，让学生对自己的体验拥有所有权。在许多成功案例中，这项工作包括由一名本科生分离和表征新型小牛肠碱性磷酸酶（抗-CIAP）RNA 适体。此外，初步调查数据表明，参与适体研究体验的学生在进行研究的自我效能感以及他们感知的沟通科学成果以及组织和解释数据的能力方面都有显著提高。这项工作首次描述了适体在教育环境中的应用，强调了适体研究体验对学生的积极影响，并介绍了与新型抗-CIAP 适体相关的研究结果。
