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There is widespread agreement that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs should provide undergraduates with research experience. Practical issues and limited resources, however, make this a challenge. We have developed a bioinformatics project that provides a course-based research experience for students at a diverse group of schools and offers the opportunity to tailor this experience to local curriculum and institution-specific student needs. We assessed both attitude and knowledge gains, looking for insights into how students respond given this wide range of curricular and institutional variables. While different approaches all appear to result in learning gains, we find that a significant investment of course time is required to enable students to show gains commensurate to a summer research experience. An alumni survey revealed that time spent on a research project is also a significant factor in the value former students assign to the experience one or more years later. We conclude: 1) implementation of a bioinformatics project within the biology curriculum provides a mechanism for successfully engaging large numbers of students in undergraduate research; 2) benefits to students are achievable at a wide variety of academic institutions; and 3) successful implementation of course-based research experiences requires significant investment of instructional time for students to gain full benefit. [Contains 82 pages of Supplemental Material, which can be found at: http://www.lifescied.org/content/suppl/2014/02/12/13.1.111.DC1.html.]

This paper seeks to discover international students' perceptions of academic libraries. Specifically, Troy University's library in the southeast corner of Alabama was studied. This university was chosen because of the researchers' familiarity with it. Troy University was also chosen because of its diverse student population. By discovering the needs of this population of students and comparing them to the needs of more traditional American students, it will be possible to better understand the distinct needs of international students in general.

Genomics is not only essential for students to understand biology but also provides unprecedented opportunities for undergraduate research. The goal of the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP), a collaboration between a growing number of colleges and universities around the country and the Department of Biology and Genome Center of Washington University in St. Louis, is to provide such research opportunities. Using a versatile curriculum that has been adapted to many different class settings, GEP undergraduates undertake projects to bring draft-quality genomic sequence up to high quality and/or participate in the annotation of these sequences. GEP undergraduates have improved more than 2 million bases of draft genomic sequence from several species of "Drosophila" and have produced hundreds of gene models using evidence-based manual annotation. Students appreciate their ability to make a contribution to ongoing research, and report increased independence and a more active learning approach after participation in GEP projects. They show knowledge gains on pre- and postcourse quizzes about genes and genomes and in bioinformatic analysis. Participating faculty also report professional gains, increased access to genomics-related technology, and an overall positive experience. We have found that using a genomics research project as the core of a laboratory course is rewarding for both faculty and students. (Contains 10 figures and 2 tables.)

Background: This pilot study addresses unmet needs for empirical evidence on real‐world data (RWD) on sleep to inform pharmacological management in older adults at‐risk for neurodegenerative conditions. Polypharmacy is prevalent among older adults, with potential adverse effects on physiological functions, including sleep. Sleep disturbances are prevalent in aging, may signal onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD), potentially contributing to the underlying pathology. Methods: 82 participants identified with cognitive decline (9 mild AD, 73 Mild Cognitive Impairment) (mean age = 76yrs; 47 male) and 56 age‐ and education‐matched controls (mean age = 75yrs; 19 male) (Table 1) self‐reported their prescribed medications. Only medications known to disrupt sleep (e.g., Cholinesterase inhibitors, ACE inhibitors) and administered orally daily were included in the analysis. Cognitive abilities were measured in all 138 participants at study induction using a battery of standard neuropsychological tests. Four weeks of nightly sleep data were collected using wrist‐worn actigraphy to estimate sleep duration and quality, including sleep efficiency [SE], wakefulness after sleep onset [WASO], and awakening count [AC]). Multivariate linear regressions examined the effects of the number of sleep‐disrupting medications and cognitive status on sleep variables, adjusting for age, gender, and education. Results: 45 participants did not take sleep‐disrupting medications, 46 took one, and 47 took two or more (Table 2). Greater numbers of the medications were linked to poorer SE (b = ‐0.26, p = 0.01), increased WASO (b = 0.27, p = 0.01), and greater variability in sleep duration (b = 0.23, p = 0.03), SE (b = 0.26, p = 0.02), WASO (b = 0.28, p = 0.009), and AC (b = 0.26, p = 0.01). Controls showed less variability in SE (b = ‐0.43, p = 0.01) and WASO (b = ‐0.37, p = 0.03) than those with cognitive decline. Conclusion: Our results, using RWD of sleep and medications, underscore that polypharmacy in older adults is associated with disrupted sleep patterns, with a greater number of sleep‐disrupting medications exacerbating poor sleep outcomes. These findings highlight needs for careful medication management to preserve sleep and suggest that targeted pharmacological strategies can mitigate medication‐related sleep disturbances, thereby enhancing brain health, behavior, and overall health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The various genome sequencing projects carried out during the past 15 years have vastly increased our understanding of the organization and structure of eukaryotic genomes. However, while DNA is [...], The fourth chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster has a number of unique properties that make it a convenient model for the study of chromatin structure. Only 4.2 Mb overall, the 1.2 Mb distal arm of chromosome 4 seen in polytene chromosomes combines characteristics of heterochromatin and euchromatin. This domain has a repeat density of ~35%, comparable to some pericentric chromosome regions, while maintaining a gene density similar to that of the other euchromatic chromosome arms. Studies of position-effect variegation have revealed that heterochromatic and euchromatic domains are interspersed on chromosome 4, and both cytological and biochemical studies have demonstrated that chromosome 4 is associated with heterochromatic marks, such as heterochromatin protein 1 and histone 3 lysine 9 methylation. Chromosome 4 is also marked by POF (painting-of-fourth), a chromosome 4-specific chromosomal protein, and utilizes a dedicated histone methyltransferase, EGG. Studies of chromosome 4 have helped to shape our understanding of heterochromatin domains and their establishment and maintenance. In this review, we provide a synthesis of the work to date and an outlook to the future. Key words: chromatin, heterochromatin, dot chromosome, Drosophila, silencing, PEV. Resume : Le quatrieme chromosome de Drosophila melanogaster possede certaines caracteristiques qui en font un excellent modele pour l'etude de la structure de la chromatine. D'une longueur totale de 4,2 Mb seulement, son bras distal de 1,2 Mb observe dans le chromosome polytenique combine des caracterisques de l'heterochromatine et de l'euchromatine. Ce domaine possede une densite de repetitions d'environ 35 %, comparable a quelques regions chromosomiques pericentriques, tout en maintenant une densite genique similaire a celle d'autres bras chromosomiques euchromatiques. Des etudes de la variegation par effet de position ont revele que les domaines heterochromatiques et euchromatiques sont disperses sur le chromosome 4, et des etudes tant cytologiques que biochimiques ont demontre que le chromosome 4 est associe a des marques heterochromatiques comme la proteine HP1 et la methylation de la lysine 9 de l'histone H3. Le chromosome 4 est aussi marque par la POF, une proteine chromosomique specifique au chromosome 4 et il utilise une methyltransferase d'histone specialisee, la EGG. Les etudes du chromosome 4 ont aide a batir notre comprehension des domaines de l'heterochromatine, de leur etablissement et de leur maintien. Dans cet article de revue, nous faisons la synthese du travail realise a ce jour et nous presentons un apercu de l'avenir. Mots-cles : chromatine, heterochromatine, chromosome punctiforme, drosophile, silencage, PEV.

Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin protein 2 (HP2) interacts with heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). In polytene chromosomes, HP2 and HP1 colocalize at the chromocenter, telomeres, and the small fourth chromosome. We show here that HP2 is present in the arms as well as the centromeric regions of mitotic chromosomes. We also demonstrate that Su(var)2-HP2 exhibits a dosage-dependent modification of variegation of a yellow reporter transgene, indicating a structural role in heterochromatin formation. We have isolated and characterized 14 new mutations in the Su(var)2-HP2 gene. Using [w.sup.m4h], many (but not all) mutant alleles show dominant Su(var) activity. Su(var)2-HP2 mutant larvae show a wide variety of mitotic abnormalities, but not the telomere fusion seen in larvae deficient for HP1. The Su(var)2-HP2 gene codes for two isoforms: HP2-L (~365 kDa) and HP2-S (~175 kDa), lacking exons 5 and 6. In general, mutations that affect only the larger isoform result in more pronounced defects than do mutations common to both isoforms. This suggests that an imbalance between large and small isoforms is particularly deleterious. These results indicate a role for HP2 in the structural organization of chromosomes and in heterochromatin-induced gene silencing and show that the larger isoform plays a critical role in these processes.