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1. CURE Disrupted! Takeaways from a CURE without a Wet-Lab Experience

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01214  

   Sommers, Amie S.; Miller, Andrew W.; Gift, Alan D.; Richter-Egger, Dana L.; Darr, Joshua P.; Cutucache, Christine E. (February 2021, Journal of Chemical Education)

   null (Ed.)
2. Expanding the BASIL CURE

   https://doi.org/10.35459/tbp.2024.000273  

   Koeppe, Julia R; Dattelbaum, Jonathan D; Hall, Bonnie L; Mills, Stephen A; Offerdahl, Erika G; Pikaart, Michael J; Roberts, Rebecca; Sikora, Arthur; Craig, Paul A (January 2025, The Biophysicist)

   In the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL) course-based undergraduate research experience, students use a series of computational (sequence and structure comparison, docking) and wet lab (protein expression, purification, and concentration; sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS-PAGE]; enzyme activity and kinetics) modules to predict and test the function of protein structures of unknown function found in the Protein Data Bank and UniProt. BASIL was established in 2015 with a core of 10 faculty members on six campuses, with the support of an educational researcher and doctoral student on a seventh campus. Since that time, the number of participating faculty members and campuses has grown, and we have adapted our curriculum to improve access for all who are interested. We have also expanded our curriculum to include new developments that are appearing in computational approaches to life science research. In this article, we provide a history of BASIL, explain our current approach, describe how we have addressed challenges that have appeared, and describe our curriculum development pipeline and our plans for moving forward in a sustainable and equitable fashion. 

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3. Dipping Your Toe in The CURE Pool: Longitudinal Tracking of Instructors Suggests Use of a Short-Duration CURE Can Catalyze Expansion to Longer CURE Experiences

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.23-05-0091  

   Genné-Bacon, Elizabeth; Fux, Michal; Bove, Sara A; Payne, Finn; Xenakis, Georgia; Coley, John D; Bascom-Slack, Carol (September 2024, CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   Hewlett, James (Ed.)

   Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are an effective method of engaging large numbers of students in authentic research but are associated with barriers to adoption. Short CURE modules may serve as a low-barrier entryway, but their effectiveness in promoting expansion has not been studied. The Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (PARE) project is a modular CURE designed to be a low-barrier gateway into CURE use. In a series of interviews, we track and characterize use of PARE in 19 PARE-interested instructors throughout the Innovation-Decision Process described by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory. The majority (16/19) implement PARE at least once, and a majority of these implementers (11/16) expanded use by the final interview. Three of four cases of discontinuance were due to a disruption such as moving institutions or a change in course assignment and occurred for community college faculty. Expanders expressed fewer personal challenges than nonexpanders. Overall analysis shows that perception of barriers is nuanced and impacted by the innovation itself, the institutional context, and one’s own experiences. These results suggest that a short duration, low barrier CURE can serve as a catalyst for implementation of a longer duration CURE. 

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4. Diagnosis, Prevention, and Cure for Misinformation

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CogMI52975.2021.00028  

   Banerjee, Ritwik; Ray, Indrakshi (December 2021, Third IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Machine Intelligence, CogMI 2021)
5. Flexible Implementation of the BASIL CURE

   https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.21287  

   Roberts, Rebecca; Hall, Bonnie; Daubner, Colette; Goodman, Anya; Pikaart, Michael; Sikora, Arthur; Craig, Paul (August 2019, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education)

   Abstract Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) can be a very effective means to introduce a large number of students to research. CUREs are often an extension of the instructor's research, which may make them difficult to replicate in other settings because of differences in expertise or facilities. The BASIL (Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab) CURE has evolved over the past 4 years as faculty members with different backgrounds, facilities, and campus cultures have all contributed to a robust curriculum focusing on enzyme function prediction that is suitable for implementation in a wide variety of academic settings. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(5):498–505, 2019. 

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