Media Alert
SPELMAN COLLEGE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN NATIONWIDE SCIENCE EDUCATION EXPERIMENT
ATLANTA (December 12, 2007) Spelman is among 12 colleges and universities and the only historically Black college or university selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to participate in a national research course known as the Phage Genomics Research Initiative. Developed by HHMI’s Science Education Alliance, this experiment will give 20 first-year students at the College the opportunity to conduct authentic research on bacterial viruses (phages) in an ecology and evolutionary biology course.
Beginning fall 2008, the two-semester course will be supervised by Cynthia Bauerle,Ph.D., biology professor and department chair, and Latanya Hammonds-Odie, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology. Students will have the opportunity to participate in discovering novel bacteriophages, harmless particles that live in host bacterial cells found in common soil. These bacterial viruses are ubiquitous in nature and reflect a high degree of genetic diversity, making them very interesting to study.
"This is an exciting opportunity for Spelman students," said Dr. Bauerle. "Students will gain hands-on experience with a number of powerful molecular and bioinformatics techniques by participating in a national scientific experiment in their very first semester at college."
In the fall, students will collect soil samples from Spelman's campus and conduct molecular analysis of the isolated bacteriophages in the laboratories of the Albro-Falconer-Manley Science Center. In the spring, Charles Hardnett, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer and information sciences, will provide technical support to the student investigators who will analyze and annotate their genetic sequence data. The results will be uploaded into a national bacteriophage database that will be available to investigators around the world.
PGRI, the first major initiative of SEA, is a national experiment designed to immerse students in the process of doing science and equip them with the critical thinking and communication skills necessary for successful research careers. The program, made possible by a $4 million grant from HHMI, will be supported by SEA for a three-year period during which 24 additional institutions will be added, bringing the total number of participants to 36 institutions and more than 720 students.
“We hope their work will make a significant contribution to the field of genomics,” said Tuajuanda C. Jordan, a biochemist and director of SEA.
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Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in
the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top
75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta,
Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding
alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman;
U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and
Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the
full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the
student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman
students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than
2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more
information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu.
