A hallmark of PBL is its project-driven education and training program which integrates students directly into ongoing research projects and collaborative initiatives. Through experiential learning opportunities, undergraduate and graduate students gain hands-on training in modern plant biotechnology while contributing to research with real-world impact. Qualified students may participate through semester-long independent studies, research courses (CMB 490/499) and laboratory internships. Since its establishment in 2004, the PBL has provided research and biotechnology training to hundreds of undergraduate students, helping prepare the next generation of scientists, innovators, and leaders in agricultural biotechnology.
Additional Offerings
Workshops and Short Courses: Plant tissue culture; transformation methods; CRISPR editing design and validation.
Student Research and Mentorship: Independent studies, internships, postdoctoral training and visiting positions, thesis projects, and lab rotations.
Facility Demonstrations: Structured sessions on genetic engineering of plants for classes and visiting programs, visiting demonstrations for high schools.
Safety and Compliance: Required lab safety and biosafety training prior to bench work.
Training Programs
● Fundamentals of Plant Tissue Culture (1–2 days)
● Agrobacterium & Biolistics Methods (1–3 days)
● CRISPR Design & Validation (1–2 days; design and genotyping)
● Custom Workshops (tailored to species/traits)
Format & Audience: Hands-on bench sessions in our dedicated core lab; suitable for students, technicians, faculty, and industry scientists.
Prerequisites: Basic lab safety; pre-reads provided. PPE required.
Facilities That Support Teaching
- 8 student six-foot laminar flow hoods, autoclave, incubators, media prep area (lots to add here)
- Shared microscopy and imaging stations
- Dedicated transgenics demonstration space
Project-driven education and training toward commercial product development; A paradigm shift
The traditional academic model for education and training is familiar. Undergraduates primarily take courses with some lab exposure, graduate students work on focused research problems and with their advisors to publish papers in academic journals, professors write federal grants to fund further research, and so on. The papers on basic research, if commercially viable, must be repeated in industry, patented, and developed into useful products for the consumer. This is changing and we propose a new model.
The entire system of education and training becomes re-directed toward the making of useful products for the consumer. Students are involved with commercial development of a product through their education and training, where through a public-private partnership with an industry entity, the product is commercialized. In this model the revenue streams from the royalties and the products are re-directed back to the universities through the public-private partnership. In this model, all the participants in the successful commercial product development projects would be rewarded, including the students; essentially everyone involved.
Recent papers from the Kausch Lab outlined an educational platform designed to recruit, train, and retain future researchers in agricultural biotechnology (Tetteh, Donnelly, Kausch, 2025; Tetteh et al., 2023a,b; Tetteh & Kausch, 2023a,b). The program begins with a general education STEM course, Issues in Biotechnology: The Way We Work With Life, open to all students regardless of major or academic year. This course has drawn recent interest from industry collaborators at Bayer for the possible use as Professional Enhancement Certificates.
This initial course is followed by Agriculture and Biotechnology, which introduces the history, theory, and applications of biotechnology in agriculture. Students then progress to Principles and Techniques in Molecular Cloning Applied to Plant Genetic Engineering, where they construct individual molecular vectors and analyze transgenic plants. These vectors are not just training tools – they are the vectors used in projects for traits directly involved with product development, designed in the public-private partnership as a part of the commercialization program.
In the final two courses, students use the vectors they made to introduce into plants and analyze for the traits. Offered as a two-semester sequence titled Plant Transformation and Genome Editing, this experience provides hands-on training in tissue culture and genetic engineering of plants. Students use their own constructs to recover stable transgenic plants, engaging directly in trait development. Again real world experience with real world outcomes, and incentive to “burn the midnight oil”.
The program emphasizes collaborative training and research partnerships, including staff and student exchanges, to support capacity building and technology transfer.
This model is not yet in place, but if you are interested to learn more and get involved please contact us.
Faculty inquiries and student placements