Biology subjects

Chin, A. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Chin, A. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Developing Future Biologists: creating and assessing a portable short course to engage underrepresented undergraduate students in developmental biology

Many barriers discourage underrepresented students from pursuing science careers. To access graduate education, undergraduate students must first gain exposure to a particular subject and subsequently accumulate related coursework and research experience. Many underrepresented students lack exposure to developmental biology due to limited undergraduate course offerings and finite resources at smaller institutions. To address this disparity, a group of University of Michigan graduate students and postdoctoral fellows created a portable short course focusing on developmental biology, titled \"Developing Future Biologists\" (DFB). This weeklong educational initiative provides hands-on laboratory sessions, interactive lectures, and professional development workshops to teach students about developmental biology and increase awareness of scientific career options. To evaluate course effectiveness, we developed a pre-post assessment, incorporating main ideas from the BioCore Guide. Student understanding of basic concepts and perceived experience in developmental biology increased in DFB participants, despite the abbreviated nature of the course. Here, we provide all course materials and an in-depth analysis of the assessment we created. The DFB portable short course model is an easily adaptable tool that connects undergraduate students with opportunities for advanced study and lowers barriers for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2017

Bacterial Colonization Stimulates A Complex Physiological Response In The Immature Human Intestinal Epithelium

The human gastrointestinal tract is immature at birth, yet must adapt to dramatic changes such as oral nutrition and microbial colonization. The confluence of these factors can lead to severe inflammatory disease in premature infants; however, investigating complex environment-host interactions is diZcult due to limited access to immature human tissue. Here, we demonstrate that the epithelium of human pluripotent stem cell-derived human intestinal organoids is globally similar to the immature human epithelium and we utilize HIOs to investigate complex host-microbe interactions in this naive epithelium. Our findings demonstrate that the immature epithelium is intrinsically capable of establishing a stable host-microbe symbiosis. Microbial colonization leads to complex contact and hypoxia driven responses resulting in increased antimicrobial peptide production, maturation of the mucus layer, and improved barrier function. These studies lay the groundwork for an improved mechanistic understanding of how colonization influences development of the immature human intestine.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Identification, Isolation, and Characterization of Human LGR5-positive Colon Adenoma Cells

The intestine is maintained by stem cells located at the base of crypts and distinguished by the expression of LGR5. Genetically engineered mouse models have provided a wealth of information about intestinal stem cells, while less is known about human intestinal stem cells due to difficulty detecting and isolating these cells. We established an organoid repository from patient-derived adenomas, adenocarcinomas, and normal colon, which we analyzed for variants in 71 colorectal cancer (CRC) associated genes. Normal and neoplastic colon tissue organoids were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and fluorescent-activated cell sorting for LGR5. LGR5-positive cells were isolated from 4 adenoma organoid lines and were subjected to RNA-sequencing. We found that LGR5 expression in the epithelium and stroma was associated with tumor stage, and by integrating functional experiments with LGR5-sorted cell RNA-seq data from adenoma and normal organoids, we found correlations between LGR5 and CRC- specific genes, including DKK4 (dickkopf WNT signaling pathway inhibitor 4) and SMOC2 (SPARC related modular calcium binding 2). Collectively, this work provides resources, methods and new markers to isolate and study stem cells in human tissue homeostasis and carcinogenesis.

cancer biology↗