Biological Sciences (61). Authentic Research Experience in Microbiology (AREM) is providing undergraduate students with research training addressing meaningful questions related to bacterial host-pathogen interactions using state-of-the art instruments and techniques. The AREM initiative is converting traditional microbiology lab sections, which were basically a series of disconnected exercises with predetermined results, into a format where students work on authentic research projects that contribute to the research objectives of the faculty. Students have an active role in designing experiments and are able to choose research modules that interest them. The physical merging of the AREM lab with the project director's research lab is reducing barriers that often prevent the effective integration of research and teaching. Students in the AREM lab begin the semester by isolating a strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens from an environmental sample they have collected. They compare their isolate with lab strains of A. tumefaciens, and they examine the natural "genetic engineering" ability of the bacteria by infecting Arabidopsis root segments. Students also use bioinformatics tools to identify possible Arabidopsis mutants that may have increased or decreased sensitivity to A. tumefaciens infection. At Kingsborough Community College students have the opportunity to work with the co-director of the project on a related set of research modules that examine the role of mycorrhizal fungi in promoting plant health and growth. The phase I AREM initiative serves as a model for the inclusion of authentic research projects into other undergraduate science labs at CUNY Brooklyn College, Kingsborough Community College and many other schools. The diversity of students at CUNY Brooklyn College and at Kingsborough Community College ensures that the benefits in research training stemming from the AREM initiative is reaching a wide range of students, including many students from groups typically underrepresented in the sciences.
