This award will establish an REU Site at North Dakota State University for eight students in the area of Plant Molecular Biology during the summer of 1988. Student Participants will be selected mainly from the community colleges and 4-year liberal arts colleges in ND, SD, MN, IA and WI, with a particular emphasis on recruiting minorities from institutions that have a high Native American and/or women enrollment. The research activities will be led by four faculty members active in plant and molecular biology research and will focus on DNA structure, DNA replication and protein synthesis in selected plants and plant organelles. Besides doing fundamental research, each REU Participant will also gain insights into experimental design, development of organizational skills and communication of research results. The REU Participants will work in pairs, each pair under the direction of one of the four REU Faculty Advisors. The Participants will participate in special weekly Colloquia to discuss research progress and plans, have weekly presentations by other scientists on the Campus on topics related to cellular and molecular biology (ex. plant, animal and insect tissue culture, plant micropropagation, electron microscopy, monoclonal antibody and immunology) and have discussions with three to four visiting scientists. Tours of biotechnology laboratory facilities in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN are planned.
