Welcome to BIOL-4750/6750

Cell-Extracellular Matrix InteractionsSpring 2011

George Plopper, Ph.D.

Course ObjectivesLearning outcomes: A student that successfully completes this course should be

able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of course content and critical thinking skills, defined by the exam performance rubric, by answering questions on written examinations.

• Demonstrate team working skills, defined in the group evaluation form, in ad-hoc teams during class and in out-of-class teams.

• Demonstrate team presentation skills, defined by the presentation rubric, by giving a presentation on a given course topic and by involving the audience in discussions.

• Contribute substantially to in-class discussions of course content, defined by the participation rubric.

• Demonstrate analytical thinking by proposing possible research questions, and designing suitable research strategies for answering the questions (Graduate level students only).

• Critically evaluate a mock research grant proposal, according to the grant review rubric.

Note that these objectives are entirely independent of subject matter. Every year, this is a new class, with (almost) entirely

new content. YOU get to choose the content, with my guidance/permission

What is this class?

• A student-centered seminar course, primarily peer-to-peer teaching.

• Course structure centered on Bloom’s Taxonomy, other critical components of formal education practice. (More on this later.)

History of this class: 2005-2008

Plopper(Biol 49XX)

Stegemann(BMED 49XX)

“Biology and Engineering of the Extracellular

Matrix”

ECM

BIOL BME

History of this class: 2009

Corr, Dai,

Nobody

“Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions”

ECM

BIOL BME

History of this class: 2010

“Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions”

ECM

BIOL BME

History of this class: 2011

“Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions”

ECM

BIOL BME

This means this year’s course will have a much stronger biology emphasis than any previous year

How it works

All students

Group 2

Group 3

Group 5

Group 6

Group 1

Group 4

How it works

Group 1

Topic 1

Topic 1

Tuesday: Background Presentation

Friday: Research Presentation

Meet with Dr. Plopper prior to each presentation

Group 2

Topic 1

Topic 2

Tuesday: Background Presentation

Friday: Research Presentation

Meet with Dr. Plopper prior to each presentation

How do I get an A? 

Contribution

In-class survey (first day of class only)- instructors' exam performance rubric

0%

Attendance: No unexcused absences allowed 10%

Two Group Presentations- based on student audience surveys (5%), presenters' team survey (5%) and instructors’ assessment (10%) from the presentation rubric

20%

Participation in class (including Grant Review Session) – instructors’ participation rubric

20%

Two Take-home Exams (15% each)- instructors’ exam performance rubric

30%

Final examination: In-class grant review- instructors’ grant review rubric

20%

What are we going to talk about?

What are we going to talk about?

• Cell Biology:– How do cells sense their external environment?– How do cells attach to their external

environment?– How do cells interpret their extracellular

environment?– How do cells respond to their extracellular

environment?– What happens when this system breaks down?

Figure 19-1 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

What are we going to talk about?

What are we going to talk about?

• Physiology:– How do cells form teams (tissues)?– How do tissues function, at the cellular level?– How can we engineer new tissues?– Why haven’t we succeeded in building most

human tissues?

Creating a Presentation• While preparing the background presentation, keep these things in mind:

– Build your presentations in reverse chronological order• What do you want your audience to be able to do at the end of the week? (Friday’s Learning

Outcomes)• What research paper will you pick to help you reach your Friday Learning outcomes?• What do you want your audience to be able to do before they read your chosen research

paper? (Tuesday’s Learning Outcomes)• What background reading will you pick to help you reach your Tuesday Learning outcomes?

– Be selective- you will be graded on how effective your presentation is, not how many facts you put in it.

• Choose effective Learning Outcomes, and achieve them• Your peers (audience) will evaluate you after every presentation, as will I.

– Do NOT discuss anything you don’t understand yourself. Your audience will figure that out, quickly.

– Be confident that you can find the information you need, quickly.– Plan ahead. Consider how much time will it take to prepare the presentation? Ask

veterans of this class format for advice. The audience can tell how well you are prepared.

Creating a Presentation• Learning Outcomes: What do you want your

audience to be capable of doing when you are done? (Verbs like learn, understand, comprehend, etc. are not actions, so don’t use them.)– Demonstrate how something works.– Explain the reasoning behind a series of experiments.– Predict the outcome of a new experiment.– Create an analogy for a biological process.– Solve a problem related to the subject material.– Develop a hypothesis to explain a set of related facts.

Creating a Presentation• Assessment: decide how you will measure the

success of your presentation. How will you find out if the audience did what you intended?– Question/answer is a popular mechanism to ascertain

whether the audience can explain, predict, create, etc. (avoid questions that require simple memorization)

– Handouts/worksheets can help determine whether the audience can demonstrate, solve, develop, etc.

– Interactive games can test working in teams, peer-to-peer explaining, using an analogy, ranking, etc.

Creating a Presentation• Time Management: While preparing any

presentation, keep these things in mind:– Figure out how each person in the presenting group

will spend their allotted presentation time. Simply dividing the subject into parts and assigning one to each presenter is not very effective. How will the group integrate their parts?

– Know before you give your presentation how long it will take, and keep it on schedule.

Education 101Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational

ObjectivesBloom’s domains

• cognitive (about knowing)• affective (about attitudes, feelings)• psychomotor (about doing)

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy

Bloom’s TaxonomyCognitive domain- A hierarchy of six levels:6. create: make judgments about the value of materials

or methods; new knowledge5. evaluate: can pull together many disorganized

elements or parts so as to form a whole4. analyze: can break down a communication into its

constituent parts, revealing the relationships among them

3. apply: all of levels 1 and 2, plus can take information of an abstract nature and use it in concrete situations

2. understand: can recall, but can do a little more (e.g. paraphrase, define, discuss to some extent)

1. remember: the recall of specific itemsHighschool

This course

2000-level

Create

Evaluate

Analyze

Apply

Understand

Remember

Knowledge Dimension

Cognitive Process Dimension1. Remember 2. Understand 3. Apply 4. Analyze 5. Evaluate 6. Create

Factual

Conceptual

Procedural

Meta-cognitive

Bloom’s Grid

Today’s Example: • Objectives:

– Define the constituents of the ECM and its receptors– Explain the contributions of each constituent to

tissue structure and function– Rank different ECM and manufactured materials for

their potential usefulness in tissue engineering applications

– Predict how mutations in ECM components and receptors impact tissue structure function

Figure 19-1 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

The Big Picture

•Four tissue types•Basement membrane (aka basal lamina) is specialized form of ECM at the interface of different tissue types

Cell-ECM constituents

•Structural glycoproteins

•Proteoglycans

•Receptor types

•Cytoskeletal linkages

Figure 19-68a Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-60b Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-39 (part 1 of 3) Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-39 (part 2 of 3) Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-39 (part 3 of 3) Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-40 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-41 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-43 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-45 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-46 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Figure 19-53 Molecular Biology of the Cell (© Garland Science 2008)

Applications: Tissue Engineering

• What tissues are in demand?• How many tissues can we make now?• What organs are in demand?• How many organs can we make now?• What’s the most successful product of tissue

engineering?

The medical angle: mutations

• Let’s review the kind of mutations…• How would these mutations affect the

function of ECM proteins and their receptors?• How could one treat individuals with these

mutations?

Today’s Example: • Objectives:

– Define the constituents of the ECM and its receptors• Divide into groups of three.• Write down a group list

– Explain the contributions of each constituent to tissue structure and function

• Fill in the table as instructed.

– Rank different ECM and manufactured materials for their potential usefulness in tissue engineering applications

• See Executive Summary handout.

– Predict how mutations in ECM components and receptors impact tissue structure function

• Explain the differences between the panels in the figure on the next slide.