ɬÀï·¬

Advocacy and outreach

Advocacy town hall

Learn how the ɬÀï·¬ Public Affairs Advisory Committee advocates on behalf of ASBMB members with policymakers. During the second half of this event, members can ask questions about science policy and advocacy.

Sarina Neote, ASBMB
Ann West, University of Oklahoma

Advocating for science workshop

Sarina Neote, director of public affairs, will host a workshop on how to take action and advocate for science in your community and beyond. Attendees will learn about the basics of advocacy and different tools to advocate.

Sarina Neote, ASBMB

Digital storytelling: Science communication for the digital world

Unlock the power of social media to amplify your science! This dynamic workshop is designed to teach you how to break down complex scientific concepts and craft captivating, shareable content. Whether you're posting on messaging, video, photo, or professional platforms (i.e., Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok), you'll learn insider tips and tricks to engage audiences productively and develop your online presence. From storytelling to eye-catching visuals, we’ll cover it all – plus, we’ll arm you to combat misinformation while building an online reputation for scientific credibility and ethics. Work with us to transform your science into ready-to-post digital content!

Crystal Mendoza, Apriori Bio
Amy J. Hawkins, University of Utah School of Medicine
Chloe Kirk, Arnold & Porter

Education

Building an Inclusive Teaching Toolkit (BITT) workshop

This workshop aims to bring faculty members together to learn new strategies for creating a classroom environment in which all students feel welcomed and supported in their learning. The workshop will introduce 5 main themes focused on Self, Empathy, Climate, Teaching and Learning, and Network Structures.

Jennifer Roecklein–Canfield, Simmons University

Building worlds to build knowledge: How to create a role-playing game for classroom use

Are you looking for a new and exciting activity to use in your courses? This workshop will teach you the skills needed to create your own role-playing game (RPG), including world building, character design, and storyline development. You will learn how to adapt this method for the course and/or topic or your choice, and you'll leave with a self-created map and complete outline designed to take your students on an imaginative journey. Adventure awaits!

Gabriella Papale, Salve Regina University

Empowering neurodiverse learners: Adapting upper level undergraduate curriculum for inclusive excellence

Join us for a dynamic workshop focused on enhancing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion in upper-level biology and chemistry education. Participants will gain practical tools to create and adapt course content for neurodivergent students, with specific examples including modifications to course-based undergraduate research (CURES), evidence-based teaching practices for executive function challenges, and multimodal approaches for content delivery. The workshop will also explore the incorporation of alternative media such as videos and podcasts, as well as self-paced active learning case studies.

Christin Monroe, Landmark College
Sue Vincent, Landmark College
Gabrielle Woolgar, Landmark College

Eterna: RNA design for the classroom and community

Looking for an interactive activity about RNA for your classroom? Need a community outreach activity for a grant? Learn how the Eterna citizen science video game can help satisfy both requirements by teaching interactive RNA structure modeling through gameplay. This workshop will highlight how Eterna has been used at the college teaching level and introduce two new resources: a Coursera offering about RNA in biology and am outreach iPad app and playbook. Attendees will be able to try out each element during the workshop.

Sarah Smaga, University of California, Berkeley
Jill Townley, Eterna

Exploring uses of AI in teaching scientific writing

While many professional journals have established policies on the permissible use of generative AI (GenAI) in manuscript submissions, higher education has yet to fully determine AI's role in supporting student learning. For faculty teaching scientific writing, understanding how instructional methods must adapt if AI becomes a significant tool is crucial. In this workshop, writing and science experts will guide participants through the potential applications of AI in teaching scientific writing. We will begin by addressing current constraints on AI usage as outlined in many academic integrity policies. Next, we will explore various ways AI can be incorporated into writing instruction and how these tools might reshape teaching methods. Finally, participants will collaborate to design an assignment that effectively integrates AI, tailored to the courses they teach.

Michael Ibba, Chapman University
Susan Lang, Ohio State University

Tips and advice for writing and publishing your BMB educational research

This is an interactive workshop to help authors plan, evaluate, and publish pedagogical research. It will include the following information, with worksheets for participants to share and discuss ideas.

Information will include:

• Why publish
• What to publish
• Defining and linking goals
• Assessment strategies
• Securing and documenting ethical approvals and consent

Marilee Benore, University of Michigan at Dearborn
Phillip Ortiz, State University of New York

Unleashing Desmos Classroom on biochemistry concepts

Participants will be introduced to Desmos Classroom, a freely-available web-based software that is more than just another classroom response system. In addition to allowing instructors the ability to monitor real-time responses from students, it seamlessly includes manipulable graphs and non-linear data fitting in custom classroom activities that can be built from scratch or modified from a pre-existing activity. The workshop will provide an overview of the software and an interactive demo of the wide-ranging student input types allowed in Desmos Classroom. Attendees will complete an activity concerning ligand binding or enzyme kinetics that highlights the ease of non-linear data fitting using the embedded graphing calculator. Participants will leave ready to use a freely-available Desmos Classroom activity in their biochemistry course and with the skills to begin building their own activities using the software and modifying activities built by others.

Jeffrey Potratz, Wisconsin Lutheran College

Scientific tools and techniques

Four interpretable machine learning techniques to immediately accelerate your biological research

Are you eager to accelerate your biological research through data science and interpretable machine learning, but unsure where to begin? This beginner-friendly training session is your gateway to utilizing these powerful tools without needing any prior coding experience or software setup. Hosted by the newly established NSF National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences (NCEMS), this hands-on session will equip you with the skills to harness the four most widely used data-science techniques. You will learn how to calculate the association between a feature and a phenomenon; identify key features driving biological behaviors; control for confounding factors; and avoid common pitfalls like data overinterpretation.

Melanie McReynolds, Pennsylvania State University
Maowei Dong, Pennsylvania State University
Daniel Nissley, Pennsylvania State University
Edward O'Brien, Pennsylvania State University
Justin Petucci, Pennsylvania State University

Translating your functional studies for disease variant classification

The main objective of this workshop is to make attendees aware of the considerable problem of variants of uncertain significance in genetic diseases and how functional assays they may already be doing in their own laboratories could become an important component in classifying these variants. The workshop will provide an introduction to how variants are classified for clinical use and the role that functional studies play in that classification. Attendees will also be introduced to the statistics behind generating predictive values such as Odds of Pathogenicity and how that impacts the way assays can be planned and executed so that their data can be used as evidence to help interpret variants clinically. We will provide an example of work currently being done with variants in the DNA mismatch repair genes linked to hereditary colorectal cancer. We will also describe how this work can lead to new translational grant opportunities.

Christopher Heinen, University of Connecticut Health Center
Marc Greenblat, University of Vermont Medical Center

Use of virtual reality for biomolecular visualization in 3D

This hands-on workshop will provide a short overview of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Participants will be introduced to the Meta Quest VR/MR hardware and the molecular visualization App Nanome, a program originally designed for drug design. Nanome allows users to collaboratively visualize, build, and manipulate biomolecules in 3D. After a brief introduction, participants will be guided to use the built-in Nanome tutorial with Meta Quest headsets and hand controllers. Time permitting, participants can download and view their favorite molecule or protein of interest.

Melanie Berkmen, Suffolk University
Josh Beckham, University of Texas at Austin
Betsy Martinez–Vaz, Hamline University
Celeste Peterson, Suffolk University