BIO 342 (Hamilton): Topic Selection

For Ecology and Environmental Science

• University of Edinburgh, School of Biological Sciences Ecology and Evolution page
• 10 ways CRISPR will revolutionize environmental science - How the CRISPR gene editing technique is being used in environmental science
• 10 myths about GMOs - describes some of the issues and research about genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• San Diego Zoo, Conservation Genetics - Be sure to scroll down to their blog!

For Health and Medicine

• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Gene and Environment Interaction page
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Epigenetics page
• National Library of Medicine, Understanding Human Genetic Variation
• Cleveland Clinic, Genetic Disorders

Remember that the topics on these lists are very broad and will need to be narrowed significantly.

For example, if you choose a genetic disease, you might want to focus on therapies that involve using CRISPR. If you want to focus on the conservation of an endangered species, research how genetic diseases have impacted the species.

These are a couple of suggestions to give you a start on how to narrow. Doing some searches on these narrower topics will help you narrow further if necessary. For example, you may notice that many scientists are researching a specific gene that can increase a person's risk for developing pancreatic cancer, so you focus your project on just that one gene.

It often takes multiple rounds of searches before you hit on a topic that is narrow enough for this type of assignment. Your instructor and I (Krista, your librarian) are here to assist you with this process.