Gülnur Birol

• PhD
• Managing Director at University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia-Vancouver (UBC-V) implemented a campus-wide survey of faculty teaching practices and perceptions. All 11 Faculties participated, resulting in a total of 1177 responses for an overall response rate of 24%. We compared response patterns of faculty who reported spending less than 25%, between 26-50%, between 51-75%,...

In this paper, we report on a model that uses a mathematically and cognitively augmented Latent Semantic Analysis method to automatically assess aspects of written argumentation, produced by students in a science communication course.

Students’ academic experiences can influence their conceptualization of science. In contrast experts hold particular beliefs,perceptions,opinions,and attitudes about science that are often absent in first-year undergraduate students. Shifts toward more expert-like attitudes and views have been linked to improved student engagement,critical-thinking...

In October 2014, the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus (UBCV) ran a campus-wide survey to establish baseline information on teaching practices and attitudes among faculty, to measure the impact of existing teaching and learning initiatives and to identify the conditions leading to change in practices and attitudes around teaching. Ove...

We followed established best practices in concept inventory design and developed a 12-item inventory to assess student ability in statistical reasoning in biology (Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory [SRBCI]). It is important to assess student thinking in this conceptual area, because it is a fundamental requirement of being statisti...

This paper describes a model for embedding science communication into the science curriculum without displacing science content. We describe the rationale, development, design, and implementation of two courses taught by science faculty addressing these criteria. We also outline the evaluation plan for these courses. The courses emphasize broad com...

A first year non-majors biology course, with an enrollment of around 440 students, has been redesigned from a course of traditional content and teaching style to one that emphasizes biological concepts in current global issues and incorporates active learning strategies. We were informed by the education literature incorporating many aspects of est...

Interest in student conception of experimentation inspired the development of a fully validated 14-question inventory on experimental design in biology (BEDCI) by following established best practices in concept inventory (CI) design. This CI can be used to diagnose specific examples of non-expert-like thinking in students and to evaluate the succes...

The First Year Seminar in Science (SCIE113) was developed during 2009/2010 academic year through an exemplary collaboration between faculty, administrators and educational support staff in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC). SCIE113 reflects the vision and values of the Faculty of Science and UBC by offering an enric...

We have designed, developed, and validated a 17-question Meiosis Concept Inventory (Meiosis CI) to diagnose student misconceptions on meiosis, which is a fundamental concept in genetics. We targeted large introductory biology and genetics courses and used published methodology for question development, which included the validation of questions by...

This paper describes a newly adapted instrument for measuring novice-to-expert-like perceptions about biology: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Biology (CLASS-Bio). Consisting of 31 Likert-scale statements, CLASS-Bio probes a range of perceptions that vary between experts and novices, including enjoyment of the discipline, p...

The objectives of this study were to investigate the alignment of exam questions with course learning outcomes in a first year biology majors course, to examine gaps and overlaps in assessment of content amongst the sections of the course, and to use this information to provide feedback to the teaching team to further improve the course. Our ultima...

Transient changes in intraretinal oxygen tension (PO(2)) in response to light stimuli were studied in order to understand the dynamics of light-evoked changes in photoreceptor oxidative metabolism. PO(2) changes during illumination were recorded by double-barreled microelectrodes in the outer part of the perifoveal retina in five macaques (Rhesus a...

The oxygen distribution in the retina of six anesthetized macaques was investigated as a model for retinal oxygenation in the human retina in and adjacent to the fovea. P(O2) was measured as a function of retinal depth under normal physiological conditions in light and dark adaptation with O(2) microelectrodes. Oxygen consumption (Q(O2)) of the pho...

Biotechnology is one of the active domains in the NSF funded Engineering Research Center VaNTH (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, University of Texas, and Harvard/MIT) where educational modules have been developed. These modules cover a collection of challenges designed around bioreactors, mass and momentum transfer issues, microbial kinetics, and downstre...

This paper describes an educational package for use in tertiary level tissue engineering education. Current learning science principles and theory were employed in the design process of these educational tools. Each module started with a challenge statement designed to motivate students and consisted of laboratory exercises centered on the "How Peo...

This study investigated the changes in pH during retinal artery occlusion by means of extracellular H+ concentration ([H+]o) measurements in the retina under both air and 100% O2 ventilation. Occlusion was produced in intact anesthetised cats by pressing with a probe onto a retinal artery. [H+]o profiles were recorded across the retina with pH sens...

This work assessed the hypotheses that (1) hyperoxia is preferable to air breathing during retinal arterial occlusion, (2) hyperoxia during occlusion is beneficial in promoting recovery from arterial occlusion, and (3) hyperoxia has value even if it is delayed relative to the onset of the occlusion. Reversible branch retinal artery occlusion was pr...

The integration of simulation package into Bioengineering course to explore glucose insulin interaction in the human body, with the aid of simulator was discussed. The simulations could introduce realistic problems situations and support a particulary active form of learning by letting students manipulate the conditions of the system, and observe t...

The system of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae growing in a batch reactor is highly nonlinear, and its fermentation characteristics are of particular interest. In this paper, a new algorithmic approach is proposed to determine the generic form of the system under study. Experiments were conducted at different initial starch concentrations, and...

This paper describes our cross-disciplinary collaboration to design and implement educational materials in the domain of biotechnology. We designed our course activities to follow a challenged-based model of learning and constructed our learning environment to align with current theories of how people learn. The nature of our work was cross-discipl...

An educational software (GLUCOSIM) is developed for illustrating the dynamics of blood glucose and insulin levels in Type I diabetes patients. This work extends the use or GLUCOSIM to closed-loop control of blood glucose levels with the use of an implantable glucose sensor and an insulin infusion pump. Various control strategies are applied to main...

A team of domain experts, learning scientists, learning technologists, assessment experts and students are currently working on developing and refining educational tools for biotechnology as well as for other domains within the "How People Learn" framework in the NSF funded VaNTH ERC in Bioengineering Educational Technologies. Educational modules I...

New modular materials and methods for teaching biotechnology have been developed based on the 'How People Learn' (HPL) framework and classroom tested in a STAR Legacy sequence. Domain-specific questions targeting each of the learning objectives were used in a pre/post assessment strategy that seeks to measure the change in learner capabilities. One...

Simulation software based on a detailed unstructured model for penicillin production in a fed-batch fermentor has been developed. The model extends the mechanistic model of Bajpai and Reuss by adding input variables such as pH, temperature, aeration rate, agitation power, and feed flow rate of substrate and introducing the CO2 evolution term. The s...

A simple structured model is proposed for simulating batch cultivation data on growth, substrate utilization, and heterologous enzyme production of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae YPB-G. The enzyme is a fusion protein displaying alpha-amylase and glucoamylase activities. Cell growth is modulated mainly by intracellular substrate and ethanol co...

A morphologically structured model is proposed to describe penicillin production in fed-batch cultivations. The model accounts for the effects of dissolved oxygen on cell growth and penicillin production and variations in volume fractions of abiotic and biotic phases due to biomass formation. Penicillin production is considered to occur in the suba...

The conditions that precede the onset of autonomous oscillations in continuous yeast cultures were studied in three different types of experiments. It was found that the final state of the culture depended on the protocol used to start up the reactor. Batch cultures, switched to continuous operation at different stages of the batch growth curve, al...

Illinois Institute of Technology initiated a cross-course platform that offered a joint term project to those students taking the "Introduction to Bioengineering" (IB) and "Process Control" (PC) courses. This initiative enabled the testing of the hypothesis that integrating cross-course concepts in bioengineering and process control courses through...

Glucose-insulin interactions in healthy and insulin-dependent diabetic humans are simulated using an overall and a detailed model based on pharmacokinetic diagrams of insulin and glucose. Both models are capable of predicting blood glucose and insulin levels, total glucose uptake and renal glucose excretion. The simulator is integrated with a graph...

Plasmid stability of the recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae YPB-G strain harbouring a YEp plasmid with α-amylase and glucoamylase genes as a fusion has been investigated in shake flasks and in a bioreactor using various compositions of media containing glucose or starch as the main carbon source. The medium composition affected both the growth ch...

Measurements of state variables from oscillating chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were analyzed by Fourier transformation. Of the signals tested, carbon dioxide and oxygen in the exit gas stream and dissolved oxygen in the medium, all gave identical results. Analysis of data from reactors operated at fixed conditions showed that after...

On-line real-time monitoring of fermentation processes is a crucial task. Conventional on-line process monitoring techniques and an adaptive hierarchical Principal Component Analysis technique were applied. A hybrid supervisory knowledge-based system with a heuristic rule-base was also developed and integrated with on-line monitoring techniques for...

Batch and fed-batch bioprocesses generally exhibit batch-to-batch variation. Multivariate statistical monitoring of these processes based on the use of empirical models developed from the multiway principal component analysis was performed by using contribution, T² and square prediction error plots. To cope with uncertainties in the ferm...

Glucose-insulin interaction in an insulin-dependent diabetic patient has been simulated using an overall and a detailed model based on pharmacokinetic diagrams of insulin and glucose. Both models are capable of predicting the blood glucose and insulin levels, total glucose uptake and the renal glucose excretion. The simulator is integrated with a g...

A simulation package is developed for the glucose-insulin interaction in insulin-dependent diabetic patients. The simulator may be used to perform virtual experiments with various characteristics, diet and exercise conditions

Fermentation characteristics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 9763 immobilised in Ca-alginate gel beads have been investigated in a stirred batch system at 2, 4, 8, 10% (w/v) initial glucose concentrations. The experimental results were tested using eleven different kinetic models relating biomass and ethanol production and glucose utilisation in d...

The production of ethanol from starch has been investigated in three genetically modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (YPG/AB, YPG/MM, and YPB-G). Two of the three strains produce the Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase together with either the Bacillus subtilis (YPG/AB) or the mouse (YPG/MM) α-amylase as separately secreted polypeptides. YPB-G,...

The mechanism of starch fermentation by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae in batch reactor is studied. Experiments were carried in the presence and absence of oxygen, with different initial starch concentrations. A variety of data concerning biotic and abiotic phases are collected. Nonlinear data analysis techniques are used to determine the blo...

Biotechnology is one of the active domains in the NSF funded Engineering Research Center VaNTH (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, University of Texas, and Harvard/MIT) where an educational mosaic is currently being developed. This mosaic covers a collection of challenges designed around bioreactors, mass/momentum transfer issues, microbial kinetics, and do...

As part of the NSF funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) VaNTH (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, University of Texas, and Harvard/MIT) we have revised courses in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Northwestern University. Various changes were made in the course content and structure to create opportunities for students to engage in solving realis...