@article{e77d1dd21bd643119d667b0296d74bfc,
title = "BioBits Health: Classroom Activities Exploring Engineering, Biology, and Human Health with Fluorescent Readouts",
abstract = "Recent advances in synthetic biology have resulted in biological technologies with the potential to reshape the way we understand and treat human disease. Educating students about the biology and ethics underpinning these technologies is critical to empower them to make informed future policy decisions regarding their use and to inspire the next generation of synthetic biologists. However, hands-on, educational activities that convey emerging synthetic biology topics can be difficult to implement due to the expensive equipment and expertise required to grow living cells. We present BioBits Health, an educational kit containing lab activities and supporting curricula for teaching antibiotic resistance mechanisms and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in high school classrooms. This kit links complex biological concepts to visual, fluorescent readouts in user-friendly freeze-dried cell-free reactions. BioBits Health represents a set of educational resources that promises to encourage teaching of cutting-edge, health-related synthetic biology topics in classrooms and other nonlaboratory settings.",
keywords = "CRISPR-Cas9, STEM curriculum, antibiotic resistance, biological engineering education, cell-free protein synthesis, fluorescence, synthetic biology",
author = "Stark, {Jessica C.} and Ally Huang and Hsu, {Karen J.} and Dubner, {Rachel S.} and Jason Forbrook and Suzanne Marshalla and Faith Rodriguez and Mechelle Washington and Rybnicky, {Grant A.} and Nguyen, {Peter Q.} and Brenna Hasselbacher and Ramah Jabri and Rijha Kamran and Veronica Koralewski and Will Wightkin and Thomas Martinez and Jewett, {Michael C.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Sheng Yang for the generous gift of the pCas9 plasmid. We also acknowledge Anne d{\textquoteright}Aquino for help running the antibiotic resistance laboratories with teachers, Benjamin Des Soye for helpful discussions about the rpsL R86S mutant lysates, and Prof. James Collins for helpful discussions. M.C.J. acknowledges support from the Army Research Office W911NF-16-1-0372 and W911NF-18-1-0200, National Science Foundation Grants MCB-1413563 and MCB-1716766, the Air Force Research Laboratory Center of Excellence Grant FA8650-15-2-5518, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Grant HDTRA1-15-10052/P00001, the Department of Energy Grant DE-SC0018249, the Human Frontiers Science Program Grant RGP0015/2017, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Grant DE-EE0008343, and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Program. J.C.S. is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. A.H. is supported by the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab. R.S.D. is funded, in part, by the Northwestern University Chemistry of Life Processes Summer Scholars program. G.A.R. is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or the U.S. Government. All plasmid constructs developed in this study are deposited on Addgene (constructs 117048, 117050, 117051, and 117052). Reagents are available by request from M.C.J. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 American Chemical Society.",
year = "2019",
month = may,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1021/acssynbio.8b00381",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "8",
pages = "1001--1009",
journal = "ACS synthetic biology",
issn = "2161-5063",
publisher = "American Chemical Society",
number = "5",
}
