Graduate Symbiosis course translates to educational exhibit

Graduate Symbiosis course translates to ongoing educational exhibit

The International Symbiosis Society does have a main "headquarters." It is at Boston University on the third floor of Two Sherborn Street (Science/Biology Education offices). To highlight the Society and link it to studies, research and teaching going on amongst the students here, I (DZ) have worked with the support of the Curriculum and Teaching Department Chair Stephen Ellenwood to create an exhibit area. Well along in its development, it includes a small collection of plants from around the world, all of whom are of course dependent on symbionts such as mycorrhizae or cyanobacteria as in the case of Gunnera. Along the adjacent corridors are a series of posters developed by students in my graduate Symbiosis course offered each Fall.

I tell the students beforehand that the posters should be done much like a high quality professional research poster one would present at a research conference. Only in this case, rather than specific research findings, they would serve as up-to-date summaries of key symbioses. The students received specific criteria, and the Biology Department each year generously contributes funds to cover the costs of printing the power point-based final posters to the large custom sizes. The students usually work in pairs and produce uniquely rich, accurate, detailed visuals and narratives.

These students became quite intrigued by and involved in their symbiotic system that they had adopted, and consequently ended up with outstanding products. Each student or student pair was also required to give an organized presentation with a question and answer period at the site of each of the posters in follow-up. The students in 2005-- many of whom I are sure will carry on their symbiotic knowledge into research and teaching in the future -- are Jennifer Donovan and Chris Simons, Euprymna-Vibrio; , Michael D'Emic and Jodi McLaughlin, foraminifera-algae; Courtney Donahueand Sorelle Gash, aphids-mycetocytes; Chris Kim and Nicole Labutong, sponges-algae/cyanos; Caitlin Conway and Brandy Barta, Rhizobium-legumes; Dan Primack and Leela Paul, Azolla-Anabaena; Kara Coffey and Emily Brown, Wolbachia-insects; Ari Friedlandand Jennifer Holme, leafcutter ants/fungi/actinobacteria; Tom Brunette and Paul Paloglou, endophytic fungi and grasses; Janice Barnes and Divya Manoharan, cycads-Nostoc; and Jackie Garfield and Matthew Micari, ruminants and rumen microflora.

Students presenting their posters from the 2005 Symbiosis class, Boston University: