The purpose of GCAT is to:
- Bring Functional Genomic Methods into Undergraduate Curriculum Primarily Through Student Research
- Use Centralized Chip Reader to Make Microarray Experiments Affordable
- Create a Clearing House of Information for Teachers to Use when Teaching Genomics
- Create Large Database of Raw Data and Analyzed Results for Pedagogical Use
- Develop a Global Network of Teachers Using Functional Genomics in the Undergraduate Curriculum
Everyone using GCAT chips is a faculty member working with undergraduates and trying to bring genomics into the curriculum to help students. We often have to figure out things as we go along. GCAT helps coordinate stuff, but you and your students do all the work. You design the experiments, produce the probes, hybe/wash, process and analyze the data. All GCAT does is scan the chips.
Now GCAT is branching out to other areas of genomics education. We are partnering with Dr. Sarah Elgin at Washington University in St. Louis to sequence genomes as part of real research projects. Working with Dr. Drew Endy at MIT, GCAT members are conducting synthetic biology research and participating in the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition. Furthermore, GCAT is helping high school faculty bring genomics into their curricula at an appropriate level. [For more information, click here.]