BRINGING SCIENCE TO LIFE IN THE CLASSROOM

 Nancy Boury, a senior lecturer in animal science, incorporates real- life scenarios to engage students in microbiology, biology and genetics.

By Barbara McBreen

Microbes rule the world. That’s a fact that Nancy Boury shares with students in her Microbial World class.

“There are more microbes in one person’s gut than there are people who have ever lived on earth,” says Boury, a senior lecturer in animal science (’97 PhD molecular, cellular and developmental biology).

To make introductory micro- biology, biology and genetics interesting, Boury incorporates real-life scenarios into her classes. In one class she asked students to bring evidence both for and against the idea that microbes can influence weight gain. She also asked students to analyze the source of the research they used as evidence.

“I want students to think and not just memorize,” Boury says. “Information literacy is important because students need to understand the source of information they use to make decisions.”

Making students comfortable in the classroom is a priority for Boury. She does that by trying to memorize everyone’s first name, which isn’t an easy task when you have more than 250 students. She also asks them to submit a question on the first day of class. Every fall she spends two weeks responding to each question.

“It would be easier to teach these classes if I didn’t care, but I care,” Boury says. “I went to a small, private, liberal arts school and I try to take the advantages of that setting and bring them to the class.”

If you sit in on one of her classes it’s obvious the students enjoy her and are involved in the learning process.  Her goal is to encourage students to reach their full potential, provide an active learning experience and bring science to life.

Boury advises first and second year microbiology students and is the Microbiology Learning Community coordinator. One former student and advisee, Janae Hohbein (’09 microbi- ology) who is attending the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine, says she still uses the study techniques she learned from Boury.

“I can honestly say that without her mentoring, I would not be flourishing in medical school,” Hohbein says. “Many professors can boast about the grades their students get and the things their students achieve, but only a few can boast about who their students become as people.”

Ed Braun, professor of plant pathology and microbiology, team-teaches the microbiology class with Boury. Braun focuses on the plant aspect and Boury’s focus is more on the animal and human health areas. He says Boury has a great rapport with students.

“It’s fantastic to watch the level of inter- action she has with the class,” Braun says. “She’s serious, but leavens it with humor.”

That humor is important to Boury. She asks students to bring in cartoons or other microbial humor she can share with her classes and says student compete to be featured.

CREATING GREENER CHEMICALS WITH BIOMASS

By Ed Adcock

Biochemist Basil Nikolau looks for ways to improve foods and animal feed with better nutrition and development of biorenewable sources of industrial chemicals.

The national focus on using biomass to substitute for some petroleum based products has given biochemist Basil Nikolau’s work new focus.

Since 2008 the Frances M. Craig Professor in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology has served as deputy director of the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC) based at Iowa State University.

Nikolau works with director Brent Shanks in engineering to lead the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center of 10 academic and 30 industrial partners.

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The center concentrates on biologically producing chemicals similar to those currently produced from petroleum. Nikolau says that’s where the potential for growth lies. He uses the petroleum industry as an example.

“If you take a barrel of oil, about 75 percent of the barrel is burned for fuel and worldwide that’s worth about $400 billion. The 5 to 10 percent that ends up in chemicals is worth the same amount,” Nikolau says. Biofuels are a commodity product, worth the going rate at the pump.

The chemicals are produced at a premium price. “For fuels you need such a large amount of carbon, whereas chemicals you don’t need that much and yet it’s worth a lot more,” he says.

Being worth more provides more incentive for research. Developing new ways of producing chemicals from biomass also opens up more opportunities for obtaining intellectual property rights.

CBiRC’s researchers seek to find catalysts that promote the reactions to efficiently produce biorenewable chemicals. Another goal is to educate students to be creative engineers by exposing them to multidisciplinary research.

The spice of biology

Nikolau and his wife, Eve Wurtele, a professor in genetics, development and cell biology, joined Iowa State in 1988 during a period when many young faculty were hired to respond to the promise of biotechnology. He took a multi-disciplinary appointment in biochemistry and the food science and human nutrition departments.

“I’ve stayed more on the wet lab aspect of things and she’s taken on more computational aspects of research, but these are complementary approaches. The biological research with genomics has become more data generating, and managing that data and deducing valuable information out of that has become more important,” he says.

This is exemplified in the emerging science of metabolomics. The W.M. Keck

Metabolomics Research Laboratory uses analytical instruments to measure the biochemicals, or metabolites, that make up an organism. “It’s really geared to give biologists the analytical tools needed to measure metabolism. It could be any biological system, but we’ve focused more on plants. All our spices, fragrances and flavors come from plant sources. And these are pharmacologically active metabolites,” he says, giving examples such as aspirin and lovastatin drugs whose design principle originated from plant metabolites.

Metabolomics research should lead to improvement in foods and animal feeds with better nutrition and also aid in the development of biorenewable sources of industrial chemicals, Nikolau says. He calls it “the spice of biology.” Multitasking in multiple labs Nikolau’s many projects—he maintains three labs on campus—reflect his varied interests and the multidisciplinary nature of his work.

“Iowa State has a long history in plant genetics and I’ve dove-tailed into that by moving more into biochemistry,” he says.

The Frances M. Craig Professor of Biochemistry says research was a challenge when he first started out, relating his specialty in lipid metabolism to nutritional concerns. First, fat isn’t considered good for people.

“Another difficulty to consider is that, you’re trying to alter peoples’ well-being by modifying what they are eating. So we were trying to alter one biological system—the plants that we eat—which is difficult enough to do, so when you eat them you become better. Altering one biological system—plants—in order to make a

second biological system—humans— better is difficult,” he says. His research is much more straightforward since becoming involved in biorenewable materials.

“CBiRC enabled me to put this larger umbrella over the research, a justification relative to a real nice application. Before it was a little bit eclectic in the form of

a justification or a rationale. Now CBiRC provides a rationale that is all encompassing,”Nikolau says.

CBiRC is in its fourth year of funding and has been renewed out to eight years, with an expectation to be funded to 10 years. By then the intent is to be self-supporting. The center is starting to make chemicals that several companies are interested in. Some of the industrial partners are sponsoring research.

Nuturing future scientists Nikolau’s teaching in biochemistry focuses on research-based education and training. Graduate students conduct the bulk of the research with opportunities for inclusion of undergraduate students, high school students and teachers.

In addition, Nikolau leads a grade school through high school program,

Symbi, funded by the National Science Foundation, which allows graduate

students to participate in classroom activities in Des Moines middle schools.

The graduate students become resident scientists in the classroom, providing them an opportunity to expose forefront research to young Iowans at an early stage of their education.

PREPARING FUTURE SCIENTISTS

Alum Lucas Carlstrom, right, stopped by Matthew Ellinwood's lab to catch up and share how he is doing in med school at Mayo Clinic. Carlstrom credits his work in Ellinwood's lab for helping him develop problem solving and critical thinking skills.

The management and care of research animals is a necessary, behind-thescenes aspect of scientific study that animal scientist Matthew Ellinwood has made a learning experience for undergraduates.

“We take seriously the role these dogs and cats play in addressing new treatments or possibly cures for conditions that have a big, negative impact on people, especially children,” he says.

After earning his doctoral and veterinary degrees, Ellinwood became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Part of his duties was the management of dogs and cats used to research human genetic diseases—most of them fatal pediatric diseases. Graduate students did a lot of the work, offering valuable hands-on experience. Ellinwood brought this model of students caring for animals to Iowa when he started at ISU about seven years ago.

About 18 undergraduates per semester provide animal care and management and two or three conduct lab work, such as molecular diagnostics, routine biochemistry and inventory management. Led by Ellinwood, the team looks for answers behind what causes human diseases like glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness world wide.

Nearly all the students have a pre-vet or pre-med focus. Most are animal science students, but there are also those majoring in animal ecology and biology. The work offers an especially good experience for pre-vet students who plan to concentrate on small animals.

Some students get involved for research experience, others because they enjoy animal care and management. Whatever the goal, they find a unique environment for learning.

“Dr. Ellinwood not only created an opportunity for students to learn basic medical care of companion animals, he’s given us the opportunity to think on our feet, be attentive to detail and apply what we’ve learned in other classes to what we’re studying in the research colony,” says Allie Ludwig, a sophomore in preveterinary animal science.

Lucas Carlstrom (’08 animal science) was another of Ellinwood’s students. While working in Ellinwood’s lab he was first author on one research manuscript and co-author on another—quite an accomplishment for a student, let alone an undergraduate.

He credits that experience for being accepted into the highly competitive combined medical doctor and doctoral Medical Scientist Training Program at the Mayo Clinic: College of Medicine, where he is engaged in molecular neuroscience and spinal cord regeneration research.

Spending time in a research setting allowed Carlstrom to develop self-guided problem analysis and advanced critical thinking skills. “These valuable training experiences enhanced my intellectual curiosity and afforded me the opportunity to solve relevant biomedical research questions that will hopefully improve human health and alleviate disease,” he says.

“The undergraduates we get are top-tier who I would put up against students at any other institution,” Ellinwood says. “They are certainly as skilled and bright, but they also have the traditional values of Midwest farm kids, that you may not see as often at other schools.”

Ellinwood says it’s important to challenge these talented students with real-world problems and to show them they can make a difference.

“Regardless of where they go, I hope they come out of my program with a heightened sense of achievement and accomplishment.”

BRIDGING CULTURES – Leading Students to Expand Knowledge and Worldview

Senior lecturer Ebby Luvaga is known among students for her enthusiasm and her tough love. "I hold students accountable and expect them to live up to their potential," she says, "but I also want them to feel comfortable enough with me to be open and honest."

She’d been sporting a short Afro, and then showed up in class one day with 500 shoulder length braids woven into her hair. For Ebby Luvaga, a native of Kenya, Africa, the dramatic change in hairstyle was nothing unusual. But for a classroom of Iowa State University freshman, many from small rural Iowa communities, the shift was totally unexpected.

“For some students I may be the first person of color they’ve interacted with,” says Luvaga. “In this case, I remember the students were silent and just stared.” So she opened her class time with a discussion about black hair care, letting students ask the questions they had on their minds. It was a practical and teachable moment—the kind that Luvaga employs regularly in her economic development class and as an adviser in the economics department. “I want students to feel comfortable asking me about my differences.”

The sense of her own differences was something that hit Luvaga the moment she arrived in New York City as a young college student in 1983, fresh from the small Kenyan village where she’d grown up. “I stepped off the plane and didn’t think twice about carrying my suitcase on the top of my head. It’s just how we carried things in Kenya,” she laughs. “I kept wondering why no one else was doing the same.”

The daughter of a school principal and a teacher, she was always encouraged to seek higher education. So when the opportunity to study in the United States presented itself, her parents were naturally supportive.

Luvaga graduated from Ohio University with a master’s in international affairs and a doctorate in economics education. “I always knew that I wanted to work closely with students,” she says. When a position that combined student advising, teaching economics and leading study abroad programs opened at Iowa State in 1997, she felt it was an “ideal” match.

Her role at Iowa State is a diverse one. She serves as a learning community adviser for the agricultural business major, working with 75 to 80 students each year. Luvaga recently won recognition from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for her ability to create a welcoming environment for students and increase their participation in the learning community process. She also teaches a class in economic development and leads study abroad courses to such places as Argentina, Spain, Australia and Panama.

Over the years, she’s developed a reputation for working enthusiastically with students, but also with a firm hand—a balance that reminds her of her father. “I hold students accountable and expect them

to live up to their potential,” she says, “but I also want them to feel comfortable enough with me to be open and honest.”

Tory Mogler, a 20-year-old sophomore serving under Luvaga as a learning community peer mentor, agrees that she can be “a bit of a stickler” when it comes to students doing things right. “But she has her heart in the right place,” he says. “I’m never hesitant to talk to her about things, and she always takes her role with students seriously.”

Coming from a small rural town in Iowa, he also remembers being one of those freshmen who hadn’t had a lot of exposure to diverse cultures. “Ebby sets herself out as an example and lets people ask her questions. She encourages curiosity. She helped me feel comfortable with her differences to the point where I don’t feel that we have them,” he says.

Luvaga sees herself as a “bridge,” helping the increasingly diverse range of students at Iowa State continue to expand their perspective. With her roots in Africa and her home now in Iowa, the sense of being part of a global community is central to Luvaga’s identity—and it’s what she imparts to her students.

Hear Ebby talk about learning communities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EskHMhOmMwg&feature=player_embedded.