Curing "gFP-itis" in Bacteria with Base Editors: Development of a Genome Editing Science Program Implemented with High School Biology Students

Abstract

The flexibility and precision of CRISPR-Cas9 and related technologies have made these genome editing tools increasingly popular in agriculture, medicine, and basic science research for the past decade. Genome editing will continue to be relevant and utilized across diverse scientific fields in the future. Given this, students should be introduced to genome editing technologies and encouraged to consider their ethical implications early on in precollege biology curricula. Furthermore, instruction on this topic presents an opportunity to create partnerships between researchers and educators at the K-12 levels that can strengthen student engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. To this end, we present a 3-day student-centered learning program to introduce high school students to genome editing technologies through a hands-on base editing experiment in Escherichia coli, accompanied by a relevant background lecture and facilitated ethics discussion. This unique partnership aims to educate students and provides a framework for research institutions to implement genome editing outreach programs at local high schools. We have included all requisite materials, including lecture slides, worksheets, experimental protocols, and suggestions on active learning strategies for others to reproduce our program with their local communities.