Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)
What is a CURE?
While traditional lab courses often focus on teaching you protocols and techniques by conducting experiments with known outcomes, CURE lab courses invite you to step into the role of a scientist.
In a CURE, you will address real-world research questions where the answer is not yet known. These courses integrate original research into the curriculum, allowing you to contribute data and knowledge to the broader scientific community, while earning credit toward your degree.
Why enroll in a CURE?
Participating in a CURE provides a pathway to a genuine research experience. We realize that finding an independent research position in a faculty lab can be competitive and challenging. CUREs bring the research experience directly to your curriculum, giving you an opportunity to participate in original science. By participating in a CURE
- Your data may not end with a grade. It may lead to new discoveries, be presented at national conferences, or even included in peer-reviewed publications.
- You gain high-level technical skills, from bioinformatics to experimental design, that are highly valued by employers, medical schools, and graduate programs.
- You learn to navigate the unexpected results, challenges, and iterations that are part of the scientific process, building critical thinking and troubleshooting skills.
- You work closely with faculty and peers in a collaborative environment, helping you build your professional network.
CURE vs. Inquiry-based labs
Inquiry-based labs are similar to CUREs, in that they model a more authentic scientific research experience compared to traditional labs. By participating in inquiry-based labs you gain many of the same benefits that you gain from a CURE, including building technical, critical thinking, and communication skills, and learning to navigate unexpected results. However, inquiry-based labs typically do not generate new knowledge for the scientific community.
How to enroll in a CURE or Inquiry-based lab
CUREs are listed in the course catalog just like regular lab courses. If you meet the pre-requisites for the class, you are eligible to enroll as you would any other course.
Check out the lists below to identify CUREs available in our department!
Our current CURE and Inquiry-based lab offerings
Biology
BIO 267 Research in the Life Sciences I: Research Skills – Part I of the Research PackTrack Program
Prerequisites: C- or better in BIO 181 and corequisite of BIO 183
Type: Inquiry-based
Semester Offered: Spring
What you’ll do: You will take ownership of a scientific project of interest to you, moving from developing your research question to conducting and analyzing literature-based research. The course culminates in a professional poster presentation to share your research findings at a department colloquium.
BIO 269 Research in the Life Sciences II: Guided Research – Part II of the Research PackTrack Program
Prerequisites: C- or better in BIO 183 and B- or better in BIO 267
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall
What you’ll do: You will generate your own research goals, write a research proposal, and conduct original mentored independent research under a faculty mentor. Topics of research are dependent on your interest and the faculty mentors. The course culminates in a professional poster presentation at an NC State poster symposium and local conferences.
BIO 418 Cell Biology Lab
Prerequisites: C or better in PB 414 or BIO 416
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Spring
What you’ll do: You will engage in high-level collaborative science by designing and implementing original experiments to investigate mechanisms related to cellular growth, metabolism, cell signaling pathways, or apoptotic processes. Throughout the semester you will function as a professional researcher, analyzing scientific literature, maintaining a detailed laboratory notebook, and presenting your findings at the end of the semester.
Biotechnology
BIT 410 Manipulation of Recombinant DNA
Prerequisites: C- or higher in BIO 183 or ZO/BIO 160 AND CH 223 or CH 227
Type: Inquiry-based
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: You will learn the fundamentals of modern biotechnology by executing a complete workflow of molecular cloning starting with subcloning and preparation of competent cells for transformation. As you generate recombinant DNA, you will learn to screen your results before testing expression and analysis of your protein through SDS-PAGE, affinity purification, and Western blots. The experience culminates with pharmacological testing in mammalian cell culture. These techniques provide the technical foundation required for advanced research in genetics, molecular biology, and microbiology.
BIT 458 Directed Evolution
Prerequisites: BIT 410 or BCH 454
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Spring – 8-week course
What you’ll do: You will harness the power of “survival of the fittest” by using directed evolution to design new enzymes or microbial pathways to produce useful products. In this course you will act as an architect of molecular selection, designing and implementing selective pressures to guide the evolution of enzymes and whole microbial pathways toward specific, useful goals. You will be at the forefront of metabolic engineering as you create and validate mutant phenotypes through protein engineering and whole-cell evolution.
BIT 460 CRISPR Technologies
Prerequisites: BIT 410 or BCH 454
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring – 8-week course
What you’ll do: You will explore the immense potential of genome editing by designing and applying CRISPR technologies across three modalities: in silico (computational design), in vitro (biochemical testing), and in vivo (living systems). You will gain direct experience using CRISPR techniques to modify bacterial genomes and assess the efficacy of your genetic edits. By the end of the course you will have a toolkit to harness CRISPR for diverse biological applications.
BIT 473 Protein Interactions
Prerequisites: BIT 410 or BCH 454
Type: Inquiry-based
Semester Offered: Fall – 8-week course
What you’ll do: You will investigate the complex molecular networks that drive cellular life by identifying and analyzing the physical interactions between proteins. Using a variety of in vitro and in vivo techniques, you’ll validate and characterize protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions with the goal of improving DNA repair mechanisms.
BIT 482 Virus Biotechnology: Pathogens to Therapeutics
Prerequisites: BIT 410 or BCH 454
Type: Inquiry-based
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: You will explore the dual nature of viruses, shifting from their role as pathogens to their revolutionary use as molecular tools for medicine and biotechnology. You will investigate how viral vectors are engineered for gene therapy and other therapeutic applications, learn to quantify viral titers, and assess the efficacy of engineered viral systems for gene delivery.
Genetics
GN 312 Elementary Genetics Lab
Prerequisites: None; Corequisite: GN 311 (you can take GN 311 and GN 312 at the same time, or you can take GN 312 in a later semester after having completed GN 311). Transfer students who have completed a different genetics course may contact the instructor for enrollment.
Type: CURE
Modality: In-Person and Online Asynchronous options
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: You’ll engage in a collaborative research project that contributes to innovative solutions to the global plastic waste problem. Through a collaboration with the NC Beekeepers Association, both in-person and online students will study the genetic underpinnings of the unique ability of wax worms (G. mellonella) to biodegrade plastic. In person students will examine sequence variation in genes encoding plastic biodegrading saliva enzymes among wild and commercial wax worm populations, while online students will work together to annotate a recently sequenced wax worm genome. Throughout the semester, online and in person students will communicate and collaborate using Yellowdig.
GN 425 Advanced Genetics Lab
Prerequisites: GN 312; Corequisite: GN 421
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: You will spend the semester immersed in a supervised research project based on the current investigations happening in the coordinating faculty member’s lab. Using a model genetic organism and molecular techniques, you will investigate a contemporary genetics research question through in-depth literature reviews, developing and testing your own hypothesis and analyzing and communicating your original findings.
Microbiology
MB/BIT 210 Phage Hunters
Prerequisites: High school biology; typically restricted to first-year students or by permission.
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall
What you’ll do: As part of the national HHMI SEA-PHAGES program, you will conduct authentic discovery-based research by isolating unique bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) from local soil samples. You will learn microbiological techniques to purify and characterize your phage, visualize it using electron microscopy, and extract its DNA for sequencing. This course provides a rare opportunity for first-year students to contribute data to a global genomic database.
MB/BIT 211 Phage Genomics
Prerequisites: MB/BIT 210 preferred but not required
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Spring
What you’ll do: You will complete the journey of discovery started in Phage Hunters by transitioning from the wet lab to bioinformatics. Using the unique bacteriophage you isolated and purified in the previous semester, you will learn to navigate, analyze, and annotate its genome. This authentic research experience culminates in a formal submission of your findings to GenBank and the creation of a professional poster presentation, contributing permanent data to the global scientific community.
MB 252/254 General Microbiology Lab
Prerequisites: None; Corequisite: MB 251
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: In this course you will engage in authentic research focused on food microbiology and fermentation. Your goal is to assess the role of salt on microbial populations in cucumber fermentation. This project connects microbiology lab work with commercial and industrial applications in food microbiology where we partner with the Mt. Olive Pickle Company. Through your research, you will learn essential microbiological skills including aseptic technique, enumeration methods to quantify the number of bacteria in a sample, cultivation and identification of unknown bacteria, and microscopy.
MB 312 Medical Microbiology Lab
Prerequisites: MB 252 or MB 254; Corequisite: MB 311
Type: Inquiry-based
What you’ll do: In this real-life simulation you will work as part of an infection control research team tasked with investigating a suspected outbreak in a hospital unit. You will apply the process of science to identify an unknown pathogen and conduct molecular typing to determine relatedness of clinical strains and track how the outbreak may have occurred. You’ll gain experience in the safe handling, cultivation, and identification of pathogenic microorganisms while tracking the transmission of the disease and developing methods to stop its spread.
MB 360 Scientific Inquiry in Microbiology
Prerequisites: C- or better in CH 101 AND BIO 183
Type: CURE
Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
What you’ll do: You’ll engage in the iterative cycle of professional research as part of a faculty-led project exploring current questions in the microbial sciences. The specific microbial question will vary between sections, but the research will work to address real-world problems. You will design and carry out experiments, maintain a professional lab notebook, interpret complex data, and present your original findings. This course will provide you with the transferable skills to work effectively in a professional research laboratory.
Previous MB360 Projects:
- Antibiotic discovery from soil microbes
- Microbial pathogens in food products
- Assessing commercial probiotic supplements
- Sequencing and characterization of Delftia isolates