The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of just over $1 million to Missouri Western State University and Davidson College in North Carolina for undergraduate synthetic biology research. The grant is the largest research grant in Missouri Western’s history.
“One thing that really sets Missouri Western apart is the opportunity that we provide undergraduate students to work with faculty members on significant research projects,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, who announced the grant during a press conference in the Remington Hall Atrium. “The synthetic biology research project is a good example of the kind of learning activity that in most large universities would be reserved for graduate students. I commend Dr. Todd Eckdahl, professor of biology, Dr. Jeff Poet, professor of mathematics, and their colleagues at Davidson College for this significant acknowledgement of their hard work.”
Missouri Western is the lead institution for the grant proposal, which was written by Dr. Eckdahl, Dr. Poet and their Davidson College colleagues Dr. A. Malcolm Campbell (biology) and Dr. Laurie Heyer (mathematics).
The collaborative grant will support research on the development of a system to reprogram the genetic material of bacteria to optimize a metabolic process of the team’s choosing. The system has applications in energy, the environment, pharmaceuticals, food production, biomining and bioremediation.
The three-year grant will provide 18 undergraduate students on each campus with full-time summer research jobs and summer support for the faculty researchers. It will also pay for research supplies and equipment, face-to-face research meetings on each campus and travel to professional conferences.
“The grant application succeeded because we have a track record of collaborating across disciplines and across institutions to provide valuable educational experiences for students while they conduct cutting-edge synthetic biology research,” Dr. Eckdahl said.
Since the synthetic biology team was formed in 2006, they have published 10 papers in professional journals, and 79 undergraduate students from Missouri Western and Davidson were listed as coauthors. Two papers published in the “Journal of Biological Engineering” are the two most accessed papers in the journal’s history.
“These students get the experience of not only answering questions that have not been addressed before, they get to ask questions that have never been asked,” Dr. Poet said. “And they work alongside us to devise approaches to address those questions.”
This is the fourth NSF grant the project has received, but local funding from Missouri Western and from the Missouri Western Foundation was very important in starting the synthetic biology research program, Dr. Eckdahl said.
The program is just one example of students conducting research and creative projects with faculty members at Missouri Western, which has a statewide mission of applied learning. Other projects are supported by the Program of Research Teaching and Applied Learning (PORTAL), which provides support for professors to engage students in projects in disciplines throughout the campus. Anyone interested in supporting PORTAL is encouraged to contact the Missouri Western Foundation.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.