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UF-HHMI
Undergraduate Core Lab |
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The UCL Administration: Director:
Dr. David Julian Coordinator:
Dr. Gabriela Waschewsky Science for
Life Program Director: Dr. Ben Dunn Participating Departments and Programs: School of Teaching
and Learning |
About the UF-HHMI UCL: The UCL promotes
interdisciplinary instruction by providing a centralized location and
curriculum in which cutting-edge biotechnology laboratory instrumentation,
modern instructional equipment, and innovative instructional methods for
physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics can be integrated. This new model
facilitates and promotes coordination across departments that have
historically been separated in undergraduate coursework, while increasing the
effectiveness with which we can teach our traditional undergraduate
laboratory courses. Why the UF-HHMI UCL
was created:
The extraordinary advances in life sciences research in recent years leave
the “fundamental” techniques taught in our traditional undergraduate
life-sciences laboratory courses bearing little resemblance to those used in
modern research. Cutting-edge life sciences research is increasingly
interdisciplinary and quantitative, merging classical biology with
mathematics, physical sciences, engineering and computer science. UF faculty
are on the forefront of modern biomedical research, but this typically does
not translate into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Furthermore,
modern research in biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology,
physiology, neuroscience and genetics is increasingly built on a foundation
of techniques and instrumentation that are commonly referred to as
“biotechnology”. As a result, the techniques and instrumentation needs of
diverse natural sciences and engineering research laboratories have begun to
converge. This presented the opportunity to share cutting-edge
instrumentation, instructional staff, expenses and space across departments,
while simultaneously updating undergraduate laboratory instructional
exercises to be more consistent with modern research. By allowing the shared
use of equipment by an increased number of students across departments and
throughout the academic year, the UF-HHMI UCL can achieve an economy of scale
that enables the purchase and maintenance of high-end instrumentation that
would be prohibitively expensive and inefficient for use by a single
department in a single course. |
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