Support cutting edge undergraduate research on infectious disease genome science

UPDATE: We were able to raise our original goal of $5,000! We will be stretching our goal to $10,000 and hope to secure that goal during the month of February.

We are integrating undergraduates into discovery-driven genome science to improve food security. Bacterial pathogens called Ralstonia are major threats to agriculture, especially for subsistence farmers in the global tropics.

We will achieve three goals:

1. Provide real-world technical training.
2. Providing students an opportunity to develop a sense of identity as scientists.
3. All while generating genome resources that are useful for plant health: Genomes of diverse Ralstonia can help track epidemics & maybe identify potentials sources of an exotic pathogen.

In the Ralstonia Genomics Cohort-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), each cohort of students works with a population of Ralstonia isolates collected around the world by our collaborators (Sally Miller, Dave Norman, Caitilyn Allen, and prior Ralstonia scientists). We carry out a DNA extraction boot-camp where the students carry out the scientific process: Pipetting 101, DNA extractions, and DNA quantification. We send the extracted DNA for Illumina sequencing. The costs are ~$200 per student researcher.

Then we spend 10 weeks exploring the data and generating new insight on the wonder of the biological world. The cohorts work together to understand and carry out the process of putting together the DNA puzzle pieces to generate a genome sequence. They explore their strains' evolutionary relatedness to other pathogens. Then, depending on the student's interests, they explore what biological traits are encoded in their bacterium's genome. Does the bacterium have genes that allow them to "smell out" chemicals from plant roots? Does the isolate have genes that allow them to chew holes in plant cell walls?

Finally, students carry out an experiment to test how fast their bacterium causes disease on tomato plants. We inoculate each of their strains into tomato plants and we measure how fast the bacteria clog up the plant's vascular system. This leads the plant to wilt--you could say that Ralstonia cause the "plant version" of a heart attack.

We actively recruit first-gen college students, with an emphasis on first-year community college transfer students. As we co-work, Prof. Lowe-Power, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers all share advice to junior scientists about careers in academic research, public health, and biotech. The cohort experience provides an opportunity for students to bond with each other and deeply engage with cutting-edge research. In Spring 2022, we ran a pilot of the program with a cohort of 4 UC Davis undergraduates, and in Winter 2023, we are collaborating with a cohort of 15 UC Davis undergraduates.