Bacterial cellobiose metabolism: An inquiry‐driven, comprehensive undergraduate laboratory teaching approach to promote investigative learning

Technique‐centered biochemistry or molecular biology undergraduate laboratory curricula do not offer significant opportunities for thoughtful, in‐depth exploration of the science to foster investigative learning. To demonstrate inclusion of inquiry‐driven laboratory experiments into the undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology curricula, a comprehensive set of laboratory experiments, covering several principles of biochemistry and molecular biology, have been developed under a single theme. The laboratory curriculum described here comprehensively investigates bacterial cellobiose metabolism using multiple biochemical, molecular biological (RNA isolation, RT‐PCR, PCR, and enzyme assay), and analytical techniques (High Performance Liquid Chromatography, NMR, spectrophotometry, and thin‐layer chromatography) to explore the principles of metabolomics and genomics in a single undergraduate laboratory course setting using Caulobacter crescentus as the model organism. This laboratory module serves as a model for educators to develop easy‐to‐implement laboratory curricula incorporating contemporary biochemistry and molecular biology concepts and techniques to provide a course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) with defined learning objectives. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(4):438–445, 2019.