The basic ideas of CUREs in Biochemistry were initially promoted by Ellis Bell in a series of presentations at ASBMB Meetings in the 1990s. (Research Based Laboratory Experiments for Undergraduate Biochemistry Classes” Ellis Bell The FASEB Journal 11, A845: E25, 1997
“Creating the Research Mindset in a Teaching Laboratory” Ellis Bell The FASEB Journal 13, A1517: 1069, 1999- )
These ideas were formalized in a 2001 article in Nature Reviews (Bell E. The future of education in the molecular life sciences. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2001 Mar;2(3):221-5. doi: 10.1038/35056610. PMID: 11265253.), and the initial watermelon Malate Dehydrogenase expression construct was shared by Len Banaszak with Ellis Bell that led to initial MDH Based CUREs and to a seminal publication (Cox B, Chit MM, Weaver T, Gietl C, Bailey J, Bell E, Banaszak L. Organelle and translocatable forms of glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase. The effect of the N-terminal presequence. FEBS J. 2005 Feb;272(3):643-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2004.04475.x. PMID: 15670147).
Subsequently my lab shared the expression plasmid with Joe Provost which he used in two publications(Knutson K, Smith J, Wallert MA, Provost JJ. Bringing the excitement and motivation of research to students; Using inquiry and research-based learning in a year-long biochemistry laboratory: Part I-guided inquiry-purification and characterization of a fusion protein: Histidine tag, malate dehydrogenase, and green fluorescent protein. Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2010 Sep;38(5):317-23. doi: 10.1002/bmb.20400. PMID: 21567851.and Knutson K, Smith J, Nichols P, Wallert MA, Provost JJ. Bringing the excitement and motivation of research to students; Using inquiry and research-based learning in a year-long biochemistry laboratory : Part II-research-based laboratory-a semester-long research approach using malate dehydrogenase as a research model. Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2010 Sep;38(5):324-9. doi: 10.1002/bmb.20401. PMID: 21567852.} where he acknowledged the source of the clone and encouragement in his endevours.“Acknowledgment—The authors would like to thank Dr. Ellis Bell for his support, insight and the initial MDH clone to make this project happen”
At around the same time I published the paper: “Using research to teach an "introduction to biological thinking". Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2011 Jan-Feb;39(1):10-6. doi: 10.1002/bmb.20441. PMID: 21433247”. Reporting a full semester CURE using MDH and pedagogical outcomes.
Subsequently, a group of Biochemistry educators met in a thinktank organized with NSF Funding (NSF- 0957205. RCN-UBE, Ellis Bell PI) to discuss Biochemistry CUREs which led to a publication::
Bell JK, Eckdahl TT, Hecht DA, Killion PJ, Latzer J, Mans TL, Provost JJ, Rakus JF, Siebrasse EA, Ellis Bell J. CUREs in biochemistry-where we are and where we should go. Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2017 Jan 2;45(1):7-12. doi: 10.1002/bmb.20989. Epub 2016 Jun 30. PMID: 27357379; PMCID: PMC5297992.
A number of this group were subsequently involved in the official formation of the Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community funded by NSF (NSF-1726932 EHR-IUSE:, Ellis Bell PI)
An Interdisciplinary Faculty Community Using a Protein-focused CURE to improve student learning.
Many of the Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community resources, some of which have now been deposited in AddGene were developed with funding from this grant or were developed by students in CURE courses taught by Ellis Bell between 2000 and 2100. A number of these have been published as illustrated by a few samples below.
Myint & Bell ? “Crystallographic Studies of Glyoxysomal Malate Dehydrogenase Mutants D193Nand H220Q” First published: 07 March 2006
https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.20.5.A907-c
Jean & Bell “Defining the Role of “Second Sphere” Residues in the Activity of Glyoxasomal Malate Dehydrogenase” First published: 06 March 2006
https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.20.4.A45-d
Hedrick & Bell “The Varied Roles of Conserved Arginine Residues near Beta-turns in GlyoxysomalMalate Dehydrogenase” First published: 01 April 2010
https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.469.3
Billue & Bell “The Role of Methionine Residues in Activity and Subunit Communication inMalate Dehydrogenase” First published: 01 April 2012
https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.558.9
Adam Johnson, Ellis Bell. “Engineering Tryptophan Residues into Glyoxysomal Malate Dehydrogenase as Probes of Structure and Function” First published: 06 March 2006https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.20.4.A53-b