Infrastructure Enhancement for the New Interdisciplinary Pathobiology Phd & Teaching Nanobiotechnology to Veterinary & Graduate Students

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/>
The main goal of the capacity building education project is to enhance the infrastructure needed for teaching of "nanobiotechnology" to veterinary & graduate students and support the new "Interdisciplinary Pathobiology" PhD program to be launched in the fall of 2013 at Tuskegee University (TU), the only 1890 institution and the only minority institution across the country that has a School of Veterinary Medicine. Nanobiotechnology teaching modules will be introduced within the selected existing courses. New library books/journals and laboratory resources will be acquired to enhance infrastructure for the new PhD program with a focus on nanobiotechnology. This multidisciplinary project will take advantage of the existing expertise at TU's "Center of Excellence for Research on Nano-Biomaterials" and "Center for Nanostructured Materials"
both housed in the College of Engineering and expertise at collaborating USDA/ARS laboratories. Student's competency in nanobiotechnology research skills will be
achieved through experiential learning opportunities that are expected to create a pipeline of students into the new PhD program. The anticipated outcome is increased numbers of African-American students who pursue and graduate with PhD in food animal health and food safety using nanobiotechnology in their research.

<p>APPROACH:<br/>Plan of Operation and Methodology: Procedures to achieve Objective I: Initiate the new Interdisciplinary Pathobiology PhD (IPB PhD) program with focus on nanobiotechnology The new PhD will be initiated with a limited of number of students in the fall of 2013. We will recruit one technical staff member to manage the core laboratories with nanobiotechnology related equipment. The incumbent will upkeep the laboratories and provide technical support to students and faculty members. Initially, nanobiotechnology related teaching modules will be incorporated into a few of the relevant and existing courses (Advanced Pathogenic microbiology, Immunology & Special Problems in Microbiology). A new distinctive graduate level course (Nanobiotechnology) that could also be an elective course for Veterinary students will be developed during the second year of the
project.<br/>Procedures to achieve Objective II: Build up library and laboratory resources for teaching the enrolled students in the new IPB PhD program as well as veterinary & graduate students To keep a focus on "nanobiotechnology" there is a need to enhance library resources. In this proposal funds are requested funds to buy textbooks, journals and other related teaching materials to be decided by the PD and co-Co-PD's wit hadvise from the collaborators. These are essential as ready references for students and faculty as the new program evolves. Most of the equipment required to provide experiential learning for the students and for training PhD students are currently available. State-of-the-art instruments and apparatus are located in the three multiuser core laboratories in the Williams-Bowie Building, plus two core laboratories are available in the TU's Carver Research
Foundation. In addition, several pieces of expensive equipment are also available in the individual laboratories of the faculty members. The Co-PD's have identified immediate requirements for a "Nano-drop" spectrophotometer. Nano and molecular biology techniques and other scientific methods continue to rapidly evolve using progressively smaller amounts of material. Nano-Drop technology has successfully addressed the growing demand for micro-volume quantitation and analysis by being the first to solve the sample conservation issue using fiber optic technology and surface tension properties. This instrument will be purchased with funds requested in this project.
<br/>Procedures to achieve Objective III: provide experiential learning opportunities for veterinary & undergraduate students Using the enhanced laboratory resources summer experiential learning opportunities will be provided
for four selected undergraduate (two) and veterinary students (two), each year, that have interest in molecular research as well as expressed interest in pursuing the IPB PhD program. This will help in attracting potentially high caliber students into the graduate programs. Selected students will be groomed to be ready to join the IPB PhD program so, together with the other successful candidates, they will be career ready for positions in federal research laboratories or private sector research jobs (Animal Health Divisions of Pfizer, Merial, Intervet, etc) when they graduate with their Doctoral degrees. Students will receive hands-on experience in on-going nanobiotechnology related projects. Selected students will be advised to enroll in the elective courses that will have newly introduced nanobiotechnology lectures. The Advanced Pathogenic Microbiology course has a large laboratory
component where students learn advanced molecular techniques. They will design primer pairs, perform PCR and RT-PCR protocols and study expression of targeted genes, prepare samples for flow cytometry, and understand the strategies for plasmid construction and cloning. The participation in seminar classes, journal clubs and presentation of papers at local and national meetings will build their confidence in communicating with their peers in national and international organizations.
<br/>Procedures to achieve Objective IV: Faculty Preparation and enhancement for collaboration in teaching, and research. Systematic efforts must be made to support the development of faculty skills, knowledge, and abilities in order to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and service. Faculty preparation and enhancement for teaching is a continuous process which is relevant over a lifetime of career
development. Listed below are conferences/ workshops that are proposed for attendance by selected faculty members to achieve the objectives of this proposal, including the undertaking of curriculum modifications, developing and teaching of the "Nanobiotechnology" lectures and the preparation of a distinct elective course. 1) Workshops for Educators by nano4me.org (http://nano4me.org/educators.php ) 2) Annual Meeting of the American Society of Nanomedicine 3) BioNanoMed; International Congress on nanotechnology, Medicine, & Biology 4) Nanotek, International Conference on Nanotek and Expo. The workshops organized by "nano4me.org" are relevant for faculty members teaching the "Nanobiotechnology" course. The other conferences are relevant for faculty to attend the scientific sessions and present research papers. They are also relevant for graduate students to present papers. Faculty
members will be encouraged to become active members of the societies involved in Nanomedicine/ Nanobiotechnology. The faculty members attending these workshops will give seminars for the benefit of other faculty members but also incorporate appropriate new material into the courses they teach. </p>
<p>EVLUATION:</br>Quantitative measures and indicators of success of the project include: The new teaching and research infrastructure developed and implemented to achieve the major research objectives of this project Number of presentations at national scientific conferences by veterinary & graduate students and PI's. Number of peer-reviewed publications by the PI's and graduate students. Successful recruitment of students into the new PhD program Number of team oriented research proposals submitted for funding for programs such as USDA/NIFA/AFRI Research Initiative programs Students taking
courses including the new "Nanobiotechnology" will evaluate course and instructor at the end of each semester and the information will be analyzed by the "Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning Office" and relayed back to the instructor and department chair. Considering that evaluation will be more credible if an exclusive evaluator is used, we are proposing to use the services of Dr. John Heath, a TUSVM faculty member. He is a trained biomedical researcher and also a psychologist. He has prior evaluation experience in addition to being knowledgeable about the educational initiatives we are proposing. The results will be used to further refine/modify the educational resources. At the end of each project year, self-evaluation of the project will be undertaken by the PI and Co-PIs, leading to the preparation of annual progress reports to be submitted to the CRIS. The IPB PhD
Advisory Committee will conduct an annual assessment to determine effectiveness of program management that includes scholarly accomplishment and career direction. Post-graduation tracking will also be included.