The laboratory course that is the basis of this project is a timely addition to the recently expanded program on molecular and developmental biology. This course enables undergraduates to acquire a research experience with the benefit of a class structure; its aim is to stimulate interest in scientific research by presenting experimentation as an intellectual adventure. To this end, the course is designed to engage the student in actual research by its project-like format and by an investigative approach in interpreting lab results. With the use of polymerase-chain-reaction-based cloning techniques, radically shortened protocols allow undergraduates to clone novel genes from genomic DNA, then sequence and analyze genes with polymorphic differences, in less than 14 sessions. The student can perform the whole range of activities needed to clone and characterize a gene. The pooled results of the class can contain high sequence variation and resemble extensive experimentation by a research group. Each student, in the final paper, acts as a principal investigator. Two pilot classes have been conducted, and the program is now expanding through the purchase of equipment that permits further development of experiments, provides for a larger class, upgrades the instruments currently in use, and perfects procedures, making it possible for the course to be emulated elsewhere.
