Melissa Zwick

 

 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Student-Centered Active Learning, Neurobiology, Physiology

 

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RESEARCH INTERESTS

My graduate training is in cellular neurobiology but I have recently shifted to a hypothesis-driven research program focused on understanding how innovative teaching techniques can facilitate student learning. This area of research falls under the broader umbrella of scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL).I am particularly interested in the effects of student-directed projects and activities on long-term knowledge retention and student attitudes towards science. My current projects focus on 1) using team-based, project-based approaches in teaching neurobiology; 2) identifying techniques to help students learn to read, cite, and paraphrase scientific literature; and 3) using an inquiry-based, student-directed physiology experiment to increase core STEM competencies and science process skills (experimental design, hypothesis formulation, data analysis, generation and interpretation of graphs).
 

PUBLICATIONS

Zwick M, Springer ML, Guerrero JK, DiVentura D, York KP. 2019. An Activity to Promote Recognition of Unintentional Plagiarism in Scientific Writing in Undergraduate Biology Courses. Journal of microbiology & biology
education 20(2). https://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v20i2.1751

Zwick, M. 2018. The Design, Implementation, and Assessment of an Undergraduate Neurobiology Course using a Project-Based Approach. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 16(2), A131.

Wang S, Davis BM, Zwick M, Waxman SG, Albers KM. 2006. Reduced thermal sensitivity and Nav1.8 and TRPV1 channel expression in sensory neurons of aged mice. Neurobiology of Aging 27:895–903.

Woodbury CJ, Zwick M, Wang S, Lawson JJ, Caterina MJ, Koltzenburg M, Albers KM, Koerber HR, Davis BM. 2004. Nociceptors lacking TRPV1 and TRPV2 have normal heat responses. Journal of Neuroscience 24:6410–6415.

Zwick M, Molliver DC, Lindsay J, Fairbanks CA, Sengoku T, Albers KM, Davis BM. 2003. Transgenic mice possessing increased numbers of nociceptors do not exhibit increased behavioral sensitivity in models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Pain 106:491–500.

Zwick M, Davis BM, Woodbury CJ, Burkett JN, Koerber HR, Simpson JF, Albers KM. 2002. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor is a survival factor for isolectin B4-positive, but not vanilloid receptor 1-positive, neurons in the mouse. Journal of Neuroscience 22:4057–4065.

Zwick M, Teng L, Mu X, Springer JE, Davis BM. 2001. Overexpression of GDNF induces and maintains hyperinnervation of muscle fibers and multiple end-plate formation. Experimental Neurology 171:342–350.