Incorporating Evolutionary Medicine into an Introductory Biology Lab Program

 

Donna Bozzone

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2014, Volume 35

Abstract

Since “nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution,” we designed a multi-week lab unit that connects our students’ interest in medicine and health care to evolutionary biology. Students design experiments to test an aspect of the antimicrobial hypothesis, which states that humans eat spices because this behavior is an adaptation that reduces infections and illness. Students explore the capacity of spices to affect the growth of various microbes; present their results; and integrate their findings with relevant published literature. This lab project is suitable for majors’ introductory biology, microbiology, evolutionary biology, and non-majors’ biology courses, with appropriate modifications.

Keywords:  bacteria, antimicrobial, evolutionary medicine

University of Calgary (2013)