I just finished teaching a one-credit engineering class (part of JHU’s HEART). It was an opportunity for students and me to indulge our curiosity about a really neat topic: namely, epigenetics.

Epigenetics is the study of DNA packaging and decoration. DNA packaging and decoration control how and when DNA gets used, so they shape other fields, such as stem cell engineering, immunology, and genetics. Epigenetics is fundamental to life.

This course was also about navigating scientific literature purposefully and documenting the results of that search in a way that is easy to understand, read, and share. This is an essential part of the research process, and without it, you will never gain autonomy in a scientific job. Unfortunately, it’s a skillset that many people struggle with, even more mature researchers, and it’s rarely taught. Here, students spent serious time practicing these skills on a topic of their choice. I was really happy to have this chance to focus on digesting and reorganizing scientific literature.

If you are curious about these topics or my take on them, or if you want to offer this as a class or workshop, most of the materials are available here. If the YouTube hyperlinks are dead, I’m happy to send you the videos too. For a lite preview, click through to the project description and an example. Another example is this outstanding work (docx) from Rozanne Lim, a student who took the class.