University Archives

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) integrate authentic research into the curriculum and allow students to engage in the process of scientific discovery within a classroom setting. These experiences facilitate research exposure for many students and promote critical thinking, collaboration, and a sense of science identity by emphasizing inquiry, data analysis, and the generation and presentation of novel results. We present progress toward the development a bioanalytical chemistry CURE that we are implementing at the University of Detroit Mercy for the first time during the fall 2025 academic term. The research project will assess the viability of putative 2-methylcitrate dehydratase (PDH1)-deletion mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast in comparison to a wild-type control strain. Yeast is a simple, single-celled eukaryote that serve as an excellent model organism for a general chemistry research experience because they grow rapidly, are easy and inexpensive to culture, are nonpathogenic and classified as Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) organisms. Yeast is also a widely studied model organism and shares many conserved cellular and genetic processes with higher organisms. Further, yeast are highly amenable to genetic manipulation, making them ideal for studying fundamental biological processes such as metabolism, cell division, and gene regulation. PDH1 is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial protein that participates in propionate metabolism. The metabolic consequences of PDH1 deletion have not yet been fully characterized. To further explore the viability and overall metabolic activity of PDH1 yeast, students will perform a fluorescence-based assay to compare PDH1 deletion mutant yeast to BY4741 wild-type yeast. In the assay, the non-fluorescent dye resazurin is incubated with yeast. Living cells reduce the dye into the fluorescent compound resorufin. Preliminary results demonstrated significantly lower fluorescence in PDH1 yeast compared to wild-type yeast after incubation with resazurin. The lower fluorescence suggests that PDH1 yeast have significantly reduced cellular metabolic activity, and, therefore, reduced viability. Additional preliminary data and details regarding the design of the research experience will be described.