Final Paper

An Intriguing Class

As I signed up for classes during the worst time given out for freshman, I carefully scanned the choices of freshman seminars which had been depleted greatly from the first day of registration. I narrowed my preferences between a seminar about neurological disorders or one called Harnessing Life’s Molecular Machines. Thinking that neurological disorders would be impossibly hard I chose Harnessing Life’s Molecular Machines. The title mentions hydrogen cars, and my potential major is environmental science or engineering, so I thought this first year seminar would pertain to my interests. Over Christmas break, I received an email stating that there would be specific groups that studied different molecular machines within the subject given to their group. One group in particular, global warming, ignited my excitement for the course.

The first day of class, we were shown a complex animated view of the inside of a cell. Our professor proceeded to explain multiple molecular machines and their functions as they were rapidly shown throughout the video. The fluidity and ability for so many molecular machines to work together efficiently and effectively was amazing. I was eager to learn more about the way we could use such “nanoscale” machines to our advantage and how they occur in nature. I was more anticipating expanding my knowledge on what I thought I wanted to pursue as a career, molecular machines that could be used to combat global warming.

The next class, we were assigned groups. The last two groups to be assigned a topic were my group and another with global warming up for grabs. Finally, my group generously gave up the controversial topic to the other group. So, our group was given the genetic code to research which our professor thought up at that moment. Of course the one biological topic that I have always had trouble understanding was given to us. In that same class, we were given an extensive vocabulary list of biological terms that could possibly be referred to in the course. While looking over the terms, neurological disorders started to look really good. Yet, the molecular machines had potential to become very interesting. Also, I was unaware of the entrepreneurial side of the course. I have never studied entrepreneurship so this aspect of the class kept me in it and ready for the challenge. During the previous class, our professor and a group of students created their own company. The prospect of possibly starting a business greatly effected my decision to stick with the course.

Student presentations made up a large portion of the class. Students were encouraged to read outside material which was an online book about Bionanotechnology. Our professor gave a few lectures on his research and a few other topics, but the rest of our class time was student presentations. One lecture was on how to effectively write a paper on molecular machines. Even after a lecture about what was required of us during the course, it was still vague what our professor wanted us to do. We were each given the opportunity to choose a particular molecular machine to research that was related to our group. I chose DNA polymerase not knowing much about its function except for its use in Polymerase Chain Reactions. Our professor suggested we use in our presentation different media such as movies and pictures to keep the presentations interesting. For my first presentation, I found a video on youtube.com of a music video for Polymerase Chain Reactions. After each presentation, the class commented on the student’s work so that we could improve each time.

We were also given “consultants” for our group’s benefit. These were students who had previously taken the course some of which were members of the BioBotz Inc., the company started from the first Molecular Machines first year seminar. We were to meet with our consultants one day a week. Our consultant helped us organize our presentations and determine the best topics to research. This way our group had a cohesive three presentations.

The first presentation was very difficult. I was unsure of the material I was reading about. I did not know how to effectively explain the protein structure consisting of beta sheets and alpha helices. My presentation went alright, but it was my second presentation that I actually felt comfortable with the complicated material of which I was learning. I never knew how interesting molecular machines were. Even the small DNA polymerase has an essential function of which a cell is dependent.

Our class also consisted of a few guest lectures and a field trip. It was very interesting to see real life examples in person of how molecular machines benefit mankind. Our field trip was to the Community Health Center. It is most likely the largest free health clinic in the Northeast or possibly the United States. Unfortunately some classmates took a wrong turn which caused us to lose part of our short class time so we were a little rushed. One of the head people at the clinic gave us a quick tour explaining how they are able to meet low income family’s health needs for free or little cost. We also had an enticing discussion about universal health care. The man who gave us the tour disagreed with the idea of universal health care. Dr. Ray Kuhn gave a lecture or more a guided discussion on entrepreneurship and the business he started with a few of his dedicated students. There were a few other guest lecturers scheduled in our syllabus but were either unable to come or we did not have the time for them.

Our class also had many controversial and invigorating discussions. We discussed topics from are we just machines to global warming and biases in science. We also discussed entrepreneurship and how any creative idea can spark a successful company. All one needs is the passion to create such a venture.

For every presentation we had to write a paper that corresponded with the topic being studied. The last paper we had the choice to write a children’s story about our molecular machine. I wrote an adaptation of Rumplestilskin to illustrate the function of DNA polymerase to children and explain the importance of a co-factor. Many others wrote very creative children’s stories that could possibly be used for the BioBotz inc. developed by our professor and run by a group of Wake Forest students. The company’s mission is to excite learning of molecular biology and bionanotechnology at an early age through children’s stories that explore the inside of a cell, comic books, video games, and even possibly an animated movie. It was fun to contribute something to the company that was started by this first year seminar.

Before this class, I was unaware of how a topic that had never interested me, genetic code, could become a fascinating subject. Although hard to comprehend, molecular machines play an extremely important part in everyone’s life in regards to biology or even the environment.

This freshman seminar challenged me to explore new topics in science that I never thought to research. The class was a great mélange of discussion, student presentations, guest lectures, and field trips. Groups worked together to effectively explain the intricate molecular machines present in their subtopic and the applications of the molecular machines that were researched. I was impressed with myself and other classmates of our ability to describe such complicated and difficult material. Although it was a great course, I wish there had been more lectures by the professor or guest speakers. It was great practice to present so many times. However, students’ presentations can only be so interesting for a short period of time.