TrendsTalk What was the motivation behind Laboratory about hosting the course; the Biology of Biology of Parasitism (BoP)? MBL agreed. When did it first start? Parasitism: A Broad Although we were not part of the course How is the course structured and when it started, we reached out to John how has that evolved over time? and Deep David (Professor Emeritus, Harvard T.H. The original course was structured in two Parasitology Chan School of Public Health), the first parts: six weeks of lectures and topic- BoP course director, and Dyann Wirth based lab instruction followed by four Discovery Course (Chair, Immunology and Infectious Dis- weeks of independent research projects, eases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Pub- culminating in presentations at the MBL lic Health), a faculty member of the course annual meeting. The lectures and labs cov- at its inception who subsequently ered a broad range of approaches and medically-important parasites, with a bit more immunology focus than current day.

Over the years, the scientific emphases of the course have changed as the field of parasitology has evolved, however, the emphasis on molecular approaches and the latest science has been a constant throughout. The course has always been designed to go both broad and deep, exposing the students to a wide variety of cutting edge techniques, research questions and parasite systems.

The length of the course changed over the years from 10 to 7 weeks, with the 4 weeks of independent student research being eliminated. The shortening of the course reflects the increased demands on the time of students and faculty, which make it difficult for people to be away from Biology of Parasism, Class of 2016 their home laboratory for 10 weeks.

From the start, the course has been struc- tured around morning lectures from lumi- [8_TD$IF] Since 1980, the Marine Biological Labo- became course director. They both point naries and rising stars in the field, followed ratory (MBL) at Woods Hole, MA, USA, to the critical role of Joshua Lederberg, by experimental work in the afternoons has hosted the Biology of Parasitism who realized that advances of modern and evenings. The current course is (BoP) course. For the duration of the science and medicine had left parasitic divided into topic-based lab/lecture course, graduate students and postdocs diseases behind and felt that a parasitol- [9_TD$IF]‘modules’, each 1–2 weeks long and work alongside and interact informally ogy course similar to the bacteriology run by a different expert in the field. In fi with experts in the eld. Photini Sinnis course at Cold Spring Harbor could trans- 2017, the modules will focus on the[10_TD$IF] fi and Gary Ward, two former students of form the eld. Ken Warren, a leader in the immune response to helminths and Toxo- fi the MBL Discovery courses, are the eld of parasitology who had galvanized plasma; the biology and insecticide resis- course directors for 2017. In this short the support of the Rockefeller and Mac- tance of mosquitoes that transmit interview with Trends in Parasitology, Arthur Foundations for the Great malaria; developmental differentiation of Photini and Gary spoke about their com- Neglected Diseases, worked with Leder- Giardia; drug resistance in African trypa- fi mitment to teaching the next generation berg to nd faculty and a venue for the nosomes; mechanisms of malaria sporo- of scientists and shared the secrets to the course. They approached both Cold zoite motility; and metabolomics of success of BoP. Spring Harbor and the Marine Biological Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trends in Parasitology, June 2017, Vol. 33, No. 6 415 A typical day in the course begins with a every sense of the word, including geo- recent survey of course alumni from the 2hlecture[1_TD$IF] in the morning from an invited graphic diversity and diversity of research last decade revealed that 56% of speaker chosen by the module directors interests/organisms. It is almost always a respondents considered their experience to complement the work being done in very international class. in the course [13_TD$IF]7‘transformative’. 26% of the the lab portion of the course. A subset of BoP alumni are currently finishing up their the students joins the speaker for lunch in We admit 16 students per year, typically doctoral studies, 45% are postdoctoral the dining hall. All students return to the mid- to late graduate students and post- fellows and 23% are faculty members at lab after lunch to begin the experimental docs. We occasionally admit more senior academic institutions. work for the day, which usually lasts well applicants; for example, two years ago into the evening. Between experiments, we admitted a junior faculty member What is the secret to the success the students wander in and out of the who was looking to move his research of BoP? break room where they interact informally focus from nematode-insect interactions Bringing bright, motivated students with that day’s speaker and the speaker to parasitic worms of humans and other together with established leaders and ris- for the next day. Lunch and breakroom vertebrates. ing stars in the field, and providing them time with visiting lecturers are two of the with a stimulating but informal setting for many informal networking opportunities There has been a lot of scientific interaction. This environment available to the students; many a postdoc discussion on the needs and encourages students to ask questions, have been arranged in the BoP break attitudes of students towards challenge ideas and engage intellectually room in the wee hours of the morning. education and the best with the faculty and one another. The pedagogical approaches to faculty are committed to a high level of When did you first become address them. How has BoP engagement with the students and they involved with the course? What dealt with these challenges? Are organize experimental modules to be flex- motivated you? there any examples of success ible and incorporate new ideas that arise Similar to many former BoP course direc- you would like to share? during their time with the students. The tors, we were both students in one of the Active learning plays a very big part in this informal interactions that take place MBL Discovery courses and have partici- course; the students spend many hours in between students and faculty extend to pated in the BoP course over the years as the lab, learning by doing. They work interactions with the broader MBL scien- lecturers and module directors. Both of us alongside experts in the field, using state tific community. The MBL is a special are committed to teaching the next gen- of the art equipment to address real prob- place to be in the summer: there is an eration of scientists and believe that BoP lems in parasitology research. This is a atmosphere of scientific engagement and course is a uniquely effective way to major part of the excitement and attrac- excitement from which everyone benefits. engage some of the best and brightest tion of the course, both for the students http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2017.03.006 students and postdocs in parasitology and the faculty: these are not lab exer- research and connect them with the cises, these are real experiments asking larger parasitology community. It is fun important questions, the outcome of Science & Society and rewarding for us and all who have which is not known by anyone at the start served as course faculty to follow the of the module. The module directors set Promoting Science great things that these students go on the general parameters of what will be to do in their careers. studied, but within that context the stu- in Secondary School dents have a lot of flexibility to design their Education What are the criteria for student own experiments or take them in new and 1,y selection? interesting directions. This is why MBL Anthony Chiovitti, y Admission into the course is competitive. calls BoP a [12_TD$IF]‘Discovery Course’. Jacinta C. Duncan,1, and Applications are reviewed by a committee Abdul Jabbar2,y,* of current and former course faculty. The The quality of the research done in the fl committee reviews the applications for course is re ected in the many papers Engaging[65_TD$IF] secondary school stu- research experience, strong letters of ref- subsequently published in which BoP stu- dents with science education is erence, a personal statement that makes dents are acknowledged for having gen- crucial for a society that demands a good case for how the candidate will erated the idea or the preliminary data a high level of scientific literacy in benefit from the course and a clear com- that led to the published study. In terms mitment to parasitology research. We of the students themselves and the effect order to deal with the economic strive to admit a class that is diverse in the course has had on their careers, a and social challenges of the 21st

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