Article by Diane Stopyra Photos by Amanda Oldham and courtesy of Oyenike Olabisi February 01, 2021
Editor’s note: First-year students, prospective students (and some of their parents) wonder and worry how they will handle the academic transition from high school to college. In a series of stories, UDaily speaks with University of Delaware professors who teach courses commonly taken by students during their first year on campus. In this story, Associate Professor Oyenike (Nike) Olabisi explains how she teaches biology.
Imagine seeing the mugshot of an escaped prisoner on the evening news. Now picture spotting that person in a grocery store the next day. What is your first move? You register danger, of course. You call the police. You protect others by signaling to fellow shoppers.
This is one of the metaphors adopted by Oyenike (Nike) Olabisi, associate professor of biology at the University of Delaware, in her teaching about mRNA, a molecule in the body that conveys protein-making instructions meant for cells. In the case of vaccinations for the coronavirus (COVID-19), synthetic mRNA injected into an arm contains the blueprint needed for producing coronavirus spike proteins — in other words: it contains the disease’s mugshot. This way, should a vaccinated person come into contact with COVID-19 at, say, a grocery store, the body is able to recognize these proteins as dangerous. The immune response is triggered. Surrounding cells are protected from harm.
Of course, Nike Olabisi (pronounced Nee-kay O-la-bee-see) does not need to incorporate into her curriculum America’s current pandemic at all. She could simply explain the basics of mRNA the way they are described in your typical textbook, in all their protein-encoding glory. But connecting foreign or abstract concepts to current events is one way she captures the attention of a class.
“For many of my students, the struggle is: ‘Why should I care about this’?” Olabisi said. “So it is central to my course design and philosophy that I help them see the relevance of what they are learning — not just to their lives, but to society.”
Olabisi’s Principles of Biology course (BISC 104) is taken by many first-year students, including those who major in music, elementary education or fashion merchandising. Translation: These are not people necessarily titillated by photosynthesis or frog dissection. Or, at least, they do not realize they are, until Olabisi connects these biological concepts to their true passions.