MMC’s Dr. Wu to Present at American Chemical Society’s National Meeting

Mount Marty College (MMC) chemistry professor, Dr. Chun Wu will present her paper entitled “Implementation of Research On Drug Target Cloning and Characterization in Biochemistry Laboratory” to the technical program of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Spring 2019 National Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida on April 2, 2019.

Dr. Wu will present to the Division of Chemical Education during a session entitled Transforming the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory to Teach Transferable Skills and Develop Young Scientists.

Dr. Wu’s manuscript embodies the essence of three years’ efforts toward the enhancement of biochemistry laboratory education. “Undergraduate research is one step toward motivating and developing the next generation of scientific researchers,” says Wu. “We need to go beyond what can be offered in traditional scientific laboratory work, and provide exposure to the frontier research areas utilizing state-of-the-art equipment and techniques, and interact with mentors and other researchers to learn about the extent and depth of actual research.”

Wu added that the earlier a student starts their research practice, the sooner their interests can be identified. “In many cases, it’s a student’s early research experiences that help them make an informed decision on their career path.”

Wu’s manuscript describes the process she took in incorporating initial drug-discovery research into a biochemistry laboratory; a process which provided her students with real-world research experience and shed light on the big picture of drug-discovery.

“During a total of 42 hours, students were exposed to bioinformatics, molecular cloning, protein expression, purification, and characterization, as well as enzymatic kinetic assays,” explained Wu. “The research-orientated lab design covered the basic elements in common undergraduate biochemistry lab manuals, but also emphasized the logical connection among biochemical lab techniques, as well as the basic steps of drug discovery.”

Dr. Wu says, “If the public responds favorably to the paper, there’s hope that the paper can be expanded into a lab manual.”  

To learn more about the ACS visit https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html. To learn more about science-related degrees at MMC visit https://www.mtmc.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/.