Nicole C Kelp

• PhD Molecular Biosciences
• Professor (Assistant) at Colorado State University

Strong communication skills are essential for future science professionals, but practical training has not been featured strongly in undergraduate curricula. To better train diverse life science majors in communication theory and skills, we created a foundational 200-level course and an advanced 400-level science communication course. Here, we outl...

ABSTRACT It is critical for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students to develop competencies in science communication, including science writing. However, it can be difficult for instructors and departments to assess the quality of their students’ science writing. Many published science writing rubrics are specific to certa...

Communication regarding COVID-19 vaccines requires evidence-based strategies. We present findings from a quantitative survey measuring participants’ understanding, trust, and decision-making in response to information conveying low or high uncertainty regarding the vaccine. Communication conveying high uncertainty led to lower self-assessed underst...

There has been an increased push for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and scientists to be trained in science communication. Science communication researchers have outlined various models of how scientists interact with nonscientists-including deficit, dialogue, and inclusive approaches. We wanted to analyze whether...

Parasitic zoonoses, which are rising in the wake of climate change, impact the interface of human and animal health. In this perspective paper, a historical analysis is presented regarding the role veterinarians have played from the 1990s to 2022 in addressing parasitic infections. Utilizing a thematic analysis of popular veterinary science article...

The expression of members of the progesterone receptor membrane component (PGRMC) family, particularly PGRMC1, is elevated in diverse types of cancers, particularly those of the female reproductive system. While xenograft tumor studies using human transformed cell lines in immunocompromised mice have suggested that PGRMC1 enhances tumor growth and...

Solving the multisectoral, complex challenges involved in One Health requires inclusive collaboration and communication. Unfortunately, many natural scientists have not been trained in the social science research that informs effective science communication. In this Overview, I review the principles of inclusive science communication—intentionality...

This paper presents the development of and validity evidence for a multifactorial survey scale based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to measure STEM students' attitudes/norms, self-efficacy, behaviors, and behavioral intents in inclusive science communication.

Within a changing research and media landscape, misconceptions and misinformation about microorganisms and microbiomes can arise, necessitating improvements in science communication practices through insights in public perceptions of the microbial world. Yet, little is known about public perceptions of microorganisms and microbiomes, making it diff...

Teaching science in an age of disinformation and misinformation requires empowering students to address inaccurate information in evidence‐based ways. Science communication scholarship highlights the growing importance of inclusive and relational approaches for addressing misinformation. Thus, we developed, implemented, and evaluated an interdiscip...

In university STEM classrooms, the incorporation of inclusive practices improves student performance, decreases disparities in the academic success of underrepresented students, and increases student retention and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Inclusive pedagogical practices include effective inst...

What is the educational challenge?Medical schools invest significant resources into the creation of multiple-choice items for assessments. This process is costly and requires faculty training. Recently ChatGPT has been used in various areas to improve content creation efficiency, and it has otherwise been used to answer USMLE-style assessment items...

Introduction It is critical for STEM students to be able to discuss science with diverse audiences, yet many STEM students do not receive adequate training in these skills. When students have the skills to communicate about science, they may feel a resulting sense of empowerment as a scientist as well as help members of society understand science....

This paper investigates the relationship between scientists’ communication experience and attitudes towards misinformation and their intention to correct misinformation. Specifically, the study focuses on two correction strategies: source-based correction and relational approaches. Source-based approaches combatting misinformation prioritize sharin...

In this paper, we present a science writing assignment in which students focus on targeting specific audiences when writing about a socioscientific issue as well as participate in a peer review process. This assignment helps students consider inclusive science communication in their writing, focusing on engaging unique audiences about the intersect...

The subject of scientific literacy has never been more critical to the scientific community as well as society in general. As opportunities to spread misinformation increase with the rise of new technologies, it is critical for society to have at its disposal the means for ensuring that its citizens possess the basic scientific literacy necessary t...

While numerous studies have examined how scientists perceive doing public communication and engagement, there is limited research on undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) student attitudes toward these meaningful activities. Undergraduate students are more diverse than STEM faculty and may serve as boundary spanners in com...

Training in career preparation is vital for biomedical science, microbiology, and related life science undergraduates to know the types of careers available in the field, to obtain employment after graduation, and to be successful in these careers. This is especially critical for historically marginalized students who have lower science, technology...

Inappropriate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) leads to genomic instability, cell death, or malignant transformation. Cells minimize these detrimental effects by selectively activating suitable DSB repair pathways in accordance with their underlying cellular context. Here, we report that hMSH5 down-regulates NHEJ and restricts the extent o...

The University of Colorado School of Medicine is implementing comprehensive curricular reform designed to produce physicians with a life-long dedication to leadership, curiosity, and commitment. The new longitudinally integrated and case-based curriculum interweaves content on basic/medical sciences, clinical skills, and health systems content such...

We previously demonstrated that 5’-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is essential for normal reproductive functions in female mice. Conditional ablation of Prkaa1 and Prkaa2, genes that encode the α1 and α2 catalytic domains of AMPK, resulted in early reproductive senescence, faulty artificial decidualization, uterine inflamma...

Progesterone Receptor Membrane Component 1 (PGRMC1) interacts with PGRMC2 and disrupting this interaction in spontaneously immortalized granulosa cells (SIGCS) leads to an inappropriate entry into the cell cycle, mitotic arrest and ultimately cell death. The present study revealed that PGRMC1 and PGRMC2 localize to the cytoplasm of murine granulosa...

Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a highly conserved heterotrimeric complex that acts as an intracellular energy sensor. Based on recent observations of AMPK expression in all structures of the female reproductive system, we hypothesized that AMPK is functionally required for maintaining fertility in the female. This hypoth...

To determine whether conditional depletion of Progesterone Receptor Membrane Component (PGRMC) 1 and PGRMC2 affected ovarian follicle development, follicle distribution was assessed in ovaries of young (≈ 3 month-old) and middle-aged (≈6 month-old) control (Pgrmc1/2fl/fl) and double conditional PGRMC1/2 knockout (Pgrmc1/2d/d) mice. This study revea...

The uterus is a highly dynamic organ, undergoing dramatic physiological changes during normal cyclicity and pregnancy. Many of these changes involve remodeling of the uterine vasculature in order to provide oxygen and nutrients to the developing embryo/fetus. Vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, vasodilation/vasoconstriction, and vascular permeability are...

The non-classical progesterone receptors, progesterone receptor membrane component (PGRMC) 1 and PGRMC2 have been implicated in regulating cell survival of endometrial and ovarian cells in vitro and are abundantly expressed in these cell types. The objective of this study was to determine if Pgrmc1 and Pgrmc2 are essential for normal female reprodu...

Triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are highly aggressive and grow in response to sex steroid hormones despite lacking expression of the classical estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4) receptors. Since P4 receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) is expressed in breast cancer tumors and is known to mediate P4-induced cell survival, this study was des...

Inappropriate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) – the most deleterious form of DNA lesions – leads to genomic instability, cell death and malignant transformation. Cells minimize the detrimental effects of DSBs by selectively activating suitable DSB repair pathways on the basis of their underlying cellular context. We report here that hMSH5...

Inappropriate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) – the most deleterious form of DNA lesions – leads to genomic instability, cell death and malignant transformation. Cells minimize the detrimental effects of DSBs by selectively activating suitable DSB repair pathways on the basis of their underlying cellular context. We report here that hMSH5...

Strong metacognition skills are associated with learning outcomes and student performance. Metacognition includes metacognitive knowledge-our awareness of our thinking-and metacognitive regulation-how we control our thinking to facilitate learning. In this study, we targeted metacognitive regulation by guiding students through self-evaluation assig...

Endometrial cancer is the leading gynecologic cancer in women in the United States with 52,630 women predicted to be diagnosed with the disease in 2014. The objective of this study was to determine if progesterone (P4) receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) influenced endometrial cancer cell viability in response to chemotherapy in vitro and in viv...

It is clear from studies using progesterone receptor (PGR) mutant mice that not all of the actions of progesterone (P4) are mediated by this receptor. Indeed, many rapid, non-classical P4 actions have been reported throughout the female reproductive tract. Progesterone treatment of Pgr null mice results in behavioral changes and in differential reg...

The prominence of the human mismatch repair (MMR) pathway is clearly reflected by the causal link between MMR gene mutations and the occurrence of Lynch syndrome (or HNPCC). The MMR family of proteins also carries out a plethora of diverse cellular functions beyond its primary role in MMR and homologous recombination. In fact, members of the MMR fa...