CRISPR‐cas9 gene editing in undergraduate laboratory experience

Undergraduate biology students learn that gene editing is revolutionizing basic science and biomedicine. We developed lab experiences for mid‐level undergraduate laboratory that actively engages students in the full process of design, implementation of a gene editing strategy, and interpretation of their results within a 15‐week semester where lab meets once a week for 3 hours. The laboratory experiences were centered around the use and application of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats‐cas9 (CRISPR‐cas9) gene editing technology in bacterial E. coli cells. In one course, students developed and implemented a strategy to deactivate expression of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). In another course, students carried out experiments to try edit a specific gene in bacterial cells to make the cells resistant to a specific antibiotic. Students were immersed in various methods that include: molecular cloning of plasmid construction, bacterial transformation, PCR, DNA sequencing to analyze gene edits, and microbiology techniques. Student assessment revealed many students achieved student learning outcomes, although there were challenges associated with the ambiguity associated with open‐ended research. We conclude that these lab experiences are accessible and effective in engaging students in the scientific practices and principles centered around targeted CRISPR‐cas9 gene editing. Support or Funding Information Funding was supplied by the Stetson University Biology Department. Molecular reagents from New England Biolabs were provided by the Course Support Program. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .