D2D Poster Symposium

Please join Dr. Sharif Rumjahn's 190L Design 2 Data (D2D) Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) students for a poster session showcasing their work this semester.

The D2D CURE project introduces students to biotechnological laboratory methods, while assisting a national project in verifying protein-folding software predictions and subsequent enzyme activity. This Biol 190L CURE applies concepts of gene expression and enzyme activity in a 16-week lab course. Students take ownership of their semester-long projects and gain an appreciation for the rigors of medical research.

The overarching goal of this national project is to test the accuracy of protein-modeling software predictability by comparing an enzyme’s activity (how well the enzyme works) when a single amino acid is substituted/mutated to a different amino acid. Protein-folding software applications such as FoldIt, the software that we used, are invaluable as they can be used to advance medical or agricultural research by the integration of technology in conjunction with wet lab procedures.