Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project empowers biology educators to bring real-world scientific research into the classroom with inquiry, discovery, biotechnology, and a culture of excellence. Through this immersive lab series, students will discover arthropod species in their local community; obtain DNA sequences of potentially new genetic strains of Wolbachia; and determine the evolutionary relatedness of these Wolbachia strains to other sequences published by scientists in the NCBI national genetic database.
The four core goals of this initiative are:
- Engage students in nature and real-world research
- Encourage international participation in the collection of new scientific data on bacterial endosymbionts (Wolbachia)
- Enhance student interest in science through an integrative lab series spanning biodiversity to molecular biology
- Give students an idea of what it’s like to be a scientist.
About Wolbachia
Wolbachia pipientis is a symbiotic bacterium that lives within the cells of filarial nematodes and about half of the world’s arthropods, including insects, spiders, mites, and crustaceans. It passes from mother to offspring and, in arthropods, is generally associated with host reproductive manipulations such as male killing, feminization, parthenogenesis, and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). In research labs, Wolbachia is a model organism to study animal-microbe interactions, evolution, genetics, ecology, and human health.
Awards
The Wolbachia Project is honored to receive the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education from the Genetics Society of America and the T.H. Huxley Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution.
Resources
The Wolbachia project strives to provide students and educators with resources that they need to make molecular biology and biotechnology more accessible. The project provides free DNA controls, arthropod controls, and primers and loans out equipment on a case-by-case basis. They also have a wide variety of video tutorials available on their Youtube channel, such as the DNA extraction tutorial below.