Community Science: Webster University Researches Bugs, DNA with Missouri Botanical Garden

Victoria Brown-Kennerly, Associate Professor at Webster University, has been working with collaborators at Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) to bring hands-on genetics to St. Louis communities.

The Garden's Earthways Center, in partnership with the University's Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics recently hosted a series of outreach events, serving as the 2024-2025 regional "hub" for the Citizen DNA Barcode Network (CDBN).

The CDBN is a National Institutes of Health-funded, nationwide biodiversity research project that uses DNA sequencing and comparative genetics to support and accelerate biosurveys of various organisms. Collaborators at the research hub were trained by staff from Dr. David Micklos' laboratory at the Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center, with Brown-Kennerly serving as the local science adviser.

The CDBN project had been monitoring ants, mosquitos and beetles across the United States for a few years, and had been looking for collaborators in the Midwest region. Brown-Kennerly became interested in starting a hub in St. Louis after teaching students in her genetics laboratory classes how to use DNA barcoding in combination with the iNaturalist app to precisely identify local small invertebrates.

"Many of our recent undergraduate senior thesis projects focused on ants,” Brown-Kennerly said. “The CDBN's recent focus aligned with our students’ interest in insects, so this seemed like a natural fit to recruit the project to the St. Louis region."

Brown-Kennerly began working with Mike Dawson, an adjunct full professor at Webster University and conservation education liaison at the Saint Louis Zoo. Together, they approached several public-facing science education centers in the region searching for a potential "hub" partnership. The leadership and staff at EarthWays expressed interest and was willing to take the leap into molecular biology.

"The EarthWays folks fearlessly dove into a new world to learn the lab methods and biology of DNA barcoding, quickly getting up to speed as interpreters to share this technology with a wider community of all ages,” Brown-Kennerly said. “It has been a fun and fruitful partnership."

The project has also benefitted Webster University students; seven undergraduates have contributed to the research by participating in the field and laboratory projects and assisting in outreach events. As the grant concludes in 2025, Brown-Kennerly indicates the knowledge and technology are here to stay, with the group already brainstorming new ideas and projects.

Webster University’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Missouri Botanical Garden are hosting two upcoming events open to the public. Learn more and register on the Missouri Botanical Garden website.