Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching Proceedings of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education Vol. 34, 135-165, 2013 Introduction to the Genomics Education Partnership and Collaborative Genomics Research in Drosophila Julia A. Emerson1, S. Catherine Silver Key2, Consuelo J. Alvarez3, Stephanie Mel4, Gerard P. McNeil5, Kenneth J. Saville6, Wilson Leung7, Christopher D. Shaffer7 and Sarah C. R. Elgin7 1Amherst College, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst MA 01002 USA 2North Carolina Central University, Department of Biology, 2246 MTSB, Durham NC 27701 USA 3Longwood University, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, 201 High St., Farmville VA 23909 USA 4University of California San Diego, Division of Biological Sciences, 9500 Gilman Drive 0355, La Jolla CA 92093 USA 5York College/CUNY, Department of Biology, 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica NY 11451 USA 6 Albion College, Biology Department, 611 E. Porter St., Albion MI 49224 USA 7Washington University, Department of Biology, Campus Box 1137, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis MO 3130 USA (
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[email protected]) The GEP, a group of faculty from over 90 primarily undergraduate institutions, is using comparative genomics to engage students in research within regular courses. Using a versatile curriculum, GEP undergraduates undertake projects to improve draft genomic sequences and/or participate in the annotation of these improved sequences. An additional goal of the annotation curriculum is for students to gain a sophisticated understanding of eukaryotic gene structure. Students do so by carefully mapping the protein-coding regions of putative genes from recently- sequenced Drosophila species.