Center for Clinical and Translational Science

The SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) program is run by the Center for Biomolecular Modeling at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). SMART Teams are comprised of teachers and groups of middle or high school students working with research scientists to design and construct physical models of molecules that are being investigated by the scientists. The SMART program has partnered with Rockefeller University’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) in a new community outreach effort. This program begins with teachers enrolling in a professional development course designed for learning approaches to teaching biomolecular structure and function, as well as how to integrate computer and physical modeling into the classroom curriculum. After completing the course, participating teachers form SMART Teams in their home schools. These teams work with a Rockefeller University faculty member to design and build a physical model of a protein or other molecular structure using the technique of 3-dimensional printing.

Ms. Sherlyne Gilles, Rockefeller University outreach alumni member and middle school teacher at the Jackie Robinson School PS 375 in Brooklyn, New York, participated in the SMART professional development course several years ago. She is one of five alumni of the Rockefeller University Outreach Teacher program who were encouraged to take the MSOE course in biomolecular modeling and make use of MSOE’s modeling kits to help motivate their students to ask questions about how a molecule's structure relates to its function. Ms. Gilles was matched last year by Dr. Bonnie Kaiser, Rockefeller’s SMART Team Program Director, with Dr. Barry Coller’s Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology. Ms. Gilles and her SMART Team students traveled to the Rockefeller campus in January 2008 to tour Dr. Coller’s laboratory and participate in an interactive session in which Dr. Coller described the research being conducted in his laboratory. After learning about how blood platelets contribute to hemostasis and thrombosis, and the important role that the integrin alphaIIbß3 receptor plays in platelet function, Dr. Coller and the SMART Team decided to make a model of this protein complex using a computational model developed by Dr. Coller’s collaborator, Dr. Marta Murcia, from the crystal structures of alphaIIbß3 and related receptors.

In May, Drs. Coller and Kaiser visited the SMART Team at their home school, bringing with them the 3-D model of the áIIbâ3 receptor that had been prepared by the Center for BioMolecular Modeling in Milwaukee. They received an enthusiastic welcome from Ms. Gilles and her students. The students listened as Dr. Coller reviewed the role of platelets and the importance of ligand binding to the receptor. They asked insightful questions about the biological and medical implications of the research, and demonstrated a keen interest in medicine and biology.

The Rockefeller University SMART Team (RU SMART) began this collaboration in 2003 and meets regularly to devise strategies for promoting the involvement of SMART-trained teachers at Rockefeller. Along with Dr. Coller, other Rockefeller scientists who work with these past and present Outreach Teachers in RU-SMART activities are Drs. Darst, Fischetti, Friedman, MacKinnon, Pfaff, and Sakmar. If you are interested in working with a SMART Team to build a model of a molecule you are studying, please contact Dr. Bonnie Kaiser at (212) 327-7431 or email Bonnie.Kaiser@mail.rockefeller.edu.