Genetics Websites

Ruthanne B. Pitkin

During the summer of 2001, a colleague, Bill Patrie, and I gave a one week workshop entitled "Mendelian and Population Genetics Investigations" designed for middle and high school teachers. We used some ABLE labs from our Principles of Biology class such as Human Genetics: What will your children be like?; Why Do Mendel’s Peas Wrinkle?; and Population Genetics using Hardy-Weinburg Equations. We also used a biotechnology exercise on human DNA typing using the ALU polymorphism. Then the participants made a comparison of their genotypes with other populations using the Cold Spring Harbor website.

In preparation for the class, I went looking for web sites and found some of the ones listed below. Bill and the students added more sites. The students liked working on the web and most of them incorporated the sites in the teaching modules that they developed for their classes.

These sites are current as of publication of this newsletter. I have taken descriptions from the sites and added comments to create a very sketchy annotated list that I hope will be useful to you. There is a lot of free information available for educators. For example, I used the video from "The Human Genome Project" from National Human Genome Research Institute (http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/) for a discussion of medical ethics.

Genetics Education Center: http://www.kumc.edu/gec/
University of Kansas Medical Center

• For educators interested in human genetics and the human genome project.
• Topics include: Human Genome Project, Resources (books, videos, curricula), Lesson Plans, Networking, Genetic Conditions, Careers, Programs / Resources, Museum Exhibits, Plays, and others

Dolan DNA Learning Center: http://vector.cshl.org/
Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724

• Choosing "BIOSERVERS" will take you to: Custom Workspaces and Educational Databases for Bioinformatics. From here you can do DNA database searches, statistical analyses, and population modeling.
• Lots of great stuff, including Multimedia guide to genetic diseases and News about DNA. Great site.

Blazing a Genetic Trail : http://www.hhmi.org/GeneticTrail/reading/read.htm
Howard Hughes Institute

• Losts of simple illustrative material about Human Genome, DNA Human Genetic Diseases and more.
• If you go to the main Howard Hughes page, you can get free material like the Virtual Lab Series that Ann Cordon used in her presentation at Chicago.

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM): http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/

• This database is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders authored and edited by Dr. Victor A. McKusick and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere, and developed for the World Wide Web by NCBI, the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
• The database contains textual information, pictures, and reference information. It also contains copious links to NCBI's Entrez database of MEDLINE articles and sequence information.

Office of Science Policy National Institutes of Health: http://science-education.nih.gov/

The NIH Curriculum Supplement Series are interactive teaching units that combine cutting-edge science research discoveries from the National Institutes of Health, one of the world's foremost medical research centers, with state-of-the-art instructional materials. This series (is):

• FREE to Science Teachers and School Administrators
• Consistent with National Science Education Standards
• Targets grades K-12
• Incorporates real scientific data

Foundation For Blood Research: http://www.fbr.org/

• Go to "Science Works for ME" (A site for science educators in Maine)
• Look at Chance’s Choice. This is a very elaborate scenario about a family named Chance with as many genetic problems as a soap opera. Roberta Williams used this site in a mini-workshop at ABLE 1991.
• The cost $75.00. However, you can preview first chapter. If you order the package, you get overhead transparency masters.
• Lots of great links.

The National Human Genome Research Institute: http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/

Lots of links, including:

• Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of Human Genetics Research
• Genomic and Genetic Resources on the Web
• Reseachers Resources

Molecular Genetics by Dr. Ulrich Melcher: http://opbs.okstate.edu/~melcher/MG/MG01.html

• A professor's web site about Molecular Genetics containing explanations with figures
• Very simple and easy to understand.

Access Excellence: http://www.accessexcellence.org/
National Health Museum

• Lots of stuff for educators.
• Activities Exchange has lab exercises.
• Resource center has list of web sites for genetics.

Human Genome Project.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/guide/human/
National Center for Biotech Informantion

• NCBI's Web site serves as an integrated, one-stop, genomic information infrastructure for biomedical researchers from around the world so that they may use this data in their research efforts.
• You can do a Blast Search to compare your sequence to the genome or click on a chromosome and see map of genes.
• Great site with free stuff.

Biology Labs On-Line: http://www.biologylab.awlonline.com/

• Biology Labs On-Line offers a series of interactive, inquiry-based biology simulations and exercises designed for college and AP high school biology students. There are 6 genetics labs including Fly Lab to simulate Fruit Fly Crosses.
• This is a commercial site, but you can get on for a free 3-day trial before ordering.

The Biology Project: http://www.biology.arizona.edu/
University of Arizona:

• In the Human Biology section are activities such as interpreting karyotypes, and using RFLP’s for a family tree.