Abstract
Active, hands-on learning has been shown to improve educational outcomes in STEM subjects. However, implementation of hands-on activities for teaching biology has lagged behind other science disciplines due to challenges associated with the use of living cells. To address this limitation, we developed BioBits®: biology education activities enabled by freeze-dried cell-free reactions that can be activated by just adding water. Here, we describe detailed protocols for labs designed to teach the central dogma, biomaterial formation, an important mechanism of antibiotic resistance, and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing via cell-free synthesis of proteins with visual outputs. The activities described are designed for a range of educational levels and time/resource requirements, so that educators can select the demonstrations that best fit their needs. We anticipate that the availability of BioBits® activities will enhance biology instruction by enabling hands-on learning in a variety of educational settings.
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Acknowledgments
J.C.S. was supported by an NIH/NCI F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship 1F32CA250324-01 and an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship PF-20-143-01-LIB.
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Huang, A., Bryan, B., Kraves, S., Alvarez-Saavedra, E., Stark, J.C. (2022). Implementing Hands-On Molecular and Synthetic Biology Education Using Cell-Free Technology. In: Karim, A.S., Jewett, M.C. (eds) Cell-Free Gene Expression. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2433. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1998-8_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1998-8_25
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Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1997-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1998-8
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