CURE Courses Offer In-Class Research Opportunities

Most peer-reviewed research papers are written by multiple authors—collaboration is crucial in research—but it’s rare for studies to be published with over 20 undergraduate co-authors.

Joseph Coolon, associate professor of biology and director of the College of Integrative Sciences, has published five papers, with three more coming, co-authored by the students in his BIO310: Genomics Analysis class. Since he began teaching the class in 2016, he has published work with more than 120 students.

This class is a part of the College of Integrative Sciences' course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) program, which offers students the ability to do in-class research on real-world questions and data. Students investigate these questions through the scientific practice, from designing and refining experimental methods to data collection and analysis. Through this program, students can gain valuable research experience and make novel findings that can contribute to scientific knowledge—no prior research experience required.

“A CURE is a different way to approach the education that the students are getting in the class, where we want to actually introduce them to authentic scientific research in the classroom,” Coolon said at a lecture for the Wesleyan community in April.

Coolon’s lab studies insects and ways to make pest control more environmentally friendly through analysis of either genetic or genomic data. His CURE class focuses on analysis of biological data associated with the same driving questions. As part of the research effort, students use a DNA-sequencing approach to measure the ways genes are expressed in a genome and determine how genes in an organism respond to different environmental challenges. Following a data interpretation period, students do a literature review and write up their findings. At the end of the semester, Coolon and the teaching assistant for the class combine his students’ work into a paper that is submitted for peer review and, hopefully, publication in a scientific journal.

“You're asking the students to engage in an original research project and address real, unanswered questions in whatever field you're in,” Coolon said. “Students learn through discovery rather than through just lectures in class. These experiences are typically designed to mimic how you would approach doing science if these students were in my lab.”

Macy Thompson ’25 was engaged in her senior thesis research on antimicrobial resistance in polluted environments and struggling to get a handle on the best practices of genomic research on her own when she started Coolon’s CURE course. Taking his class changed that, she said. “The hands-on and research-oriented nature of the course set me up to not only understand the theory behind what I was doing, but also to quickly implement what I was learning in real time into my own research,” Thompson said.

Thompson said she found the course deeply engaging because it felt like she was contributing to real-world research. She said the class opened her mind to other potential research topics and she is now applying to graduate programs—a path that was solidified by her work in Coolon’s CURE course.

Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Amy MacQueen said CURE courses are most beneficial for teaching students practical skills that directly apply to future lab work while engaging them in research that is exploratory. MacQueen teaches a spring CURE course, MB&B 394: Advanced Laboratory in Molecular Biology and Genetics, where students do a series of novel experiments to explore the molecular mechanisms that lead to reproductive cell formation—similar scientific questions to those MacQueen investigates in her federally funded research lab.

In a relatively short period of time, students can contribute new discoveries that can be incorporated into peer-reviewed research, she said. Students in the Spring 2025 course, for example, discovered that two crucial proteins we knew to be involved in reproductive cell formation directly interact. This information, which is a key advance in understanding how these factors function in the cell, was completely unknown prior to the students’ work. This finding is currently being incorporated into a manuscript MacQueen plans to submit for peer review.

“Beyond giving students practical skills in molecular biology that they will utilize wherever they end up ‘doing’ science, this lab course aims to spark curiosity, to motivate students to appreciate the large number of unsolved questions that still exist, and to build the confidence and drive to set about answering these questions,” MacQueen said.

CURE classes also lower the barrier to entry to do this type of work. Giving undergraduate students a space to tweak experiments can energize them and help them gain confidence in the lab setting, she said.

“I think the broader range of research opportunities you're exposed to, the better,” said Associate Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Colin Smith. “…getting exposure to different areas of research, I think, makes it a lot more likely the students are going to find an area where it's actually going to stick and that they'll be excited to do.”

Smith studies computational protein design and he created a CURE course where he taught students how to design protein structures last spring. The highest-quality structures they created were then used for the research of faculty within the Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Departments, he said.

This semester, three CURE courses are being offered through the Biology Department and the Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC). The College of Integrative Sciences invites proposals for CURE courses from all University faculty, departments, and divisions. Those interested are encouraged to contact the CIS CURE Committee.