{"id":88265,"date":"2023-08-31T16:32:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T16:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=88265"},"modified":"2023-09-05T17:54:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T17:54:01","slug":"uri-students-augment-their-lab-learning-with-virtual-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2023\/08\/uri-students-augment-their-lab-learning-with-virtual-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 students augment their lab learning with virtual apps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 31, 2023 \u2013 At the 溏心vlog免费B站, students in biomedical science classes are boosting their learning with new virtual and augmented reality applications. The collaborative effort was recently featured in a paper published in Biotechniques<\/a>. The apps are also available for learning beyond 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apps are the result of a collaboration between 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s ITS – Innovative Learning Technologies program, the 3D Science Visualization Teaching program, and the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) Molecular Informatics Core (MIC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They already have a track record of success<\/a> creating short video clips illustrating how drugs work at the molecular and cellular levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virtual Rx<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The intuitive apps help students visualize molecules in order to master complex science concepts and have been positively reviewed by student users. The apps can also be used by visiting middle and high school students interested in STEM topics and students at other colleges. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first app developed focused on a medicine many of us are familiar with: aspirin. The app offers a virtual museum of aspirin, in five rooms: introduction, its precursor salicylic acid as a natural product, history and development, applications and alternatives, and pharmacology and biochemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The well-known anticancer drug methotrexate (MTX) is another app subject. Students using the app can see how the drug targets a component enzyme, allowing experimentation with molecular animations and interactive quizzes that provide users with a detailed look at drug actions and a better understanding of the drug\u2019s anticancer activity. The app was used in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s oncology classes, so that pharmacy students could visualize the drug\u2019s complex molecular interactions and biochemical processes to better understand its anticancer effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis immersive and interactive experience helps students grasp the spatial arrangements and structural features that dictate drug action,\u201d says Bongsup Cho, director of INBRE. \u201cThe VR apps can also create a \u2018Wow 3D\u2019 factor, enabling students to see how drug effects unfold at a cellular level, which might be challenging to convey using traditional teaching methods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programming success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the apps are deployed by students in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s pharmacy programs, they were created by a team of computer science undergraduates with faculty and staff oversight. The apps turned out to be particularly useful during the pandemic when the school switched to remote learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen R. Szpak, Jr. \u201923 , a recent chemical engineering (pharmaceutical track) graduate, was a beta tester for the new software. \u201cVirtual\/augmented reality is a great addition to classroom settings as it is a way to get a sort of ‘hands-on’ experience before ever stepping into a lab,\u201d he says. \u201cIt can supplement lecture-style learning and help develop lab safety knowledge and experimental techniques before using fragile and expensive materials and machines. Being a visual learner myself, the ability to see the creation of nanoparticles play out before me in the virtual space with built-in learning checkpoints was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lab time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jyothi Menon<\/a>, associate professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences \/ chemical engineering, came up with an app for cell culture, an important laboratory technique that is being increasingly implemented across various disciplines from biotechnology to virology. But there are barriers to providing hands-on training on aseptic cell culture techniques: insufficient workspaces to train large numbers of students, high cost, the difficulty of containing cell culture contamination, and time-intensive training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The app mimics a modern cell culture laboratory enabling students to learn techniques in a safe environment before transitioning to wet lab training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the virtual laboratory equipment is interactive (e.g., pipettes can take and expel liquids, cabinets can be opened and closed, containers opened, etc.). Interactive quizzes test students’ knowledge as they proceed through the simulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVirtual and augmented reality applications enable us to train students in a virtual cell culture laboratory where they will learn essential laboratory skills and interact with the equipment used,\u201d she says. \u201cThis training enhances student competency so they can easily transition to hands-on experimentation in the laboratory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As students are familiar with the technology, the non-graded programs help build their comfort level around the topics in a fun and familiar space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tried to keep it interactive,\u201d says the RI-INBRE MIC Director Christopher Hemme, \u201cgiving students the chance to act, to make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student app designers worked creatively to make the apps both user-friendly and scientifically sound. In their first iterations of the apps, publicly available 3D models for in-app objects were used, but this was not always ideal, as the models for scientific instruments were often inaccurate or \u201ccartoony.\u201d 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s student programmers could do better and created scientifically accurate content, approved by faculty, to simulate \u201creal\u201d scientific laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis generation is open to multiple ways of learning and accessing information,\u201d Hemme says. \u201cThe biochemistry remains the same, but additional tools help. Students will understand more, if we explain it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall feedback from students regarding the apps has been very positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In pre-surveys for the MTX app, for instance, half (52%) of the students about to experience the VR simulation thought it might help them learn MTX\u2019s mechanisms. This number increased dramatically (to 96%) in the app\u2019s post-survey, showing students dramatically built their confidence in understanding MTX’s anticancer action in just one of the apps offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also offered are applications for Diuretics, Nanotech (Nanoparticles and Liposomes), and Natural Products. An app for 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Medicinal Garden in augmented reality form is also pending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper has already been downloaded more than 800 times since publication and Hemme and Roy Bergstrom from 溏心vlog免费B站 ITS – Innovation Services will present a demonstration of the apps at the Educause annual conference in October, which showcases top thinking in higher education technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team says these apps not only help 溏心vlog免费B站 students master their course content, but they are also vital for outreach to the larger Rhode Island community, such as visiting middle and high school students interested in STEM topics or prospective College of Pharmacy students. The team hopes to expand the scope of apps available to other colleges at 溏心vlog免费B站 and to other institutions in the RI-INBRE network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Aug. 31, 2023 \u2013 At the 溏心vlog免费B站, students in biomedical science classes are boosting their learning with new virtual and augmented reality applications. The collaborative effort was recently featured in a paper published in Biotechniques. The apps are also available for learning beyond 溏心vlog免费B站. The apps are the result […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":88266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88265"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88345,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88265\/revisions\/88345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}