JoinAll Case Studies
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In keyword search, list the criteria you would like to find cases. Multiple criteria can be listed separated by commas (i.e. directed, high school)
Educational levels are defined as follows: Elementary, Middle, High School, College
Types of cases are defined as follows: Analysis/Issues, Clicker, Debate, Intimate Debate, Demonstration, Dilemma/Decision, Directed, Discussion, Interrupted, Jig-saw, Journal Article, Laboratory, Student Presentations, Mini-case, Problem-Based Learning, Public Hearing, Role-Play, Trial, Flipped, Game
No Matter If You’re Black or White
By Srikripa Chandrasekaran, Linda Niedziela
Human populations have adapted to varying intensities of sunlight with varying tones of skin coloration. The balanced interplay between melanin content and UV absorption allowed populations to successfully migrate from sub-Saharan Africa by influenci...
By Ann T.S. Taylor
The protagonist of this two-day flipped case study, “Maria,” has two problems. She doesn’t like it when the apple slices in her lunch turn brown, and she needs to find a project for her biology class that includes molecular biology, preferably ...
By Anne G. Rosenwald
This case study describes a visit by "Naomi" to her physician, who upon seeing Naomi's bloodwork decides to prescribe her a cholesterol-lowering agent, a statin....
Wiggles Isn’t Wiggling: Apoptosis Edition
By Sigrid A. Carle
This case study tells the story of a family pet that is diagnosed with cancer. Claire learns that her dog Wiggles has lymphoma, and that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) offer a potential treatment. Students integrate material related to ...
Wiggles Isn’t Wiggling: Gene Expression Edition
By Sigrid A. Carle
This case study tells the story of a family pet that is diagnosed with cancer. Claire learns that her dog Wiggles has lymphoma, and that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) offer a potential treatment. Students integrate material related to ...
By Abigail R. Wilson, Ashley E. Rhodes, Timothy G. Rozell
This case study explores the topics of diffusion, osmosis, membrane transport, and the physiological significance of glucose and insulin in the human body. The story begins with a high school athlete, Timmy, who is incredibly efficient at metabolizin...
By Charlie W. Zhao, Kevin Xo, Tom L. Haffie (rr)
This case study follows a young cystic fibrosis (CF) patient named Lucas. Through Lucas's story and interactions between his parents and pediatrician, students learn about the scientific background and basis of CF. By reviewing email correspondence b...
By Amy B. Dounay, Lori L. Driscoll, Phoebe M. Blessing, Hallie M. Comfort, Joshua M. Mares
This interrupted case study explores the scientific, legal, and societal complexities of repurposing an illicit substance, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as "Ecstasy" or "Molly," into a clinically accepted medicine for treating ...
By Megan M. Emge, Zenobia N. Okwunwanne, Raphinos Uragu, Johnna L. Yowell, Breanna N. Harris
This interrupted case study tells the story of Michael, a Harvard law graduate with a stressful job and a seemingly heavy drinking problem. Students are provided with background information, medical history, and lab results in order to guide them tow...
By Nadia Sellami, Julie A. Morris, Sheela Vemu
Lactose intolerance, caused by a lack of persistent lactase enzyme expression, is a trait commonly observed in adult humans, with varying geographic prevalence depending on dietary habits in different cultures. This case study follows a diverse group...
By Ann T.S. Taylor
Taylor must write a report about a natural toxin while she is home from college on break. After a family dinner conversation about the latest attempt to poison a politician via a letter, Taylor decides to explore how ricin acts as a poison....
By Lalitha S. Jayant, Christine Priano, Sarah N. Salm, Lauren N. Goodwyn
When covering the process of cellular respiration, advanced high school and undergraduate biology classes present fermentation as a means of anaerobic energy production in certain organisms and in muscle metabolism. Although most biology textbooks co...
By Merle K. Heidemann (rr), Peter J.T. White, James J. Smith
This case study is based on Dr. Richard Lenski’s ongoing studies of evolution in E. coli. Students are introduced to prokaryotic biology and to Lenski’s studies based on serial broth cultures of E. coli, which have been monitored for genotypic an...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
Three experiments carried out by the Mars Viking landers in 1976 remain, to this day, our only attempt to detect life on another planet. All other efforts have looked for the presence of elements or conditions thought to be necessary for life rather ...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux, Nicole F. Magill, Tatiana N. Bliss
In biology classes, students are typically taught that spontaneous generation does not take place. And yet, at the origin of life, life had to arise without parents from abiotic processes. What were those processes that gave rise to the first life?&n...
From Prairies to Corn Fields for Fuel
By Glenna M. Malcolm
With increasing U.S. government support for biofuel production in the late 2000s came increased pressure to convert more land to cornfields for ethanol. To make way for more corn, millions of acres of prairie grassland were plowed under, destroying a...
By Karobi Moitra
This case study examines the structure of hemoglobin and myoglobin and how the structure of these molecules dictates their function. The case is written as a play in which several candidates have responded to a help wanted ad seeking an employee with...
By Karobi Moitra
This case study details the historical discovery of the structure of DNA. Images of this key molecule are as iconic as those of the Mona Lisa, and identifying its structure has proven to be as intriguing a mystery for scientists as the reason behind ...
By Eric J. Herrera
In 2012, Mike Prickett, a world-renowned underwater cinematographer, was working on a commercial photo shoot in Tahiti when he witnessed a fellow diver sinking and drowning. While saving the drowning victim, Mike fell victim to decompression sickness...
By Heather K.L. Harden, Michael L. Foley, Rachel A. Poon, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
During the Paleolithic era, human life expectancy was only 33 years—roughly half of what it is today. We owe our more extended lives in part to better hygiene, medicines, and more plentiful foods. Yet some people aspire to return to that earlier er...
By Brahmadeo Dewprashad
This case study begins with a real news article about a six-month-old baby who died from an overdose of medication administered by hospital staff. The infant was diagnosed with pneumonia and given an intravenous dose of the antibiotic azithromycin, t...
Joel E. Greengiant Learns About Peas
By Merle K. Heidemann (rr), Peter J.T. White, James J. Smith
This case study follows purveyors of peas, Joel E. and Jolene Greengiant, as they learn about the origin, biochemistry, genetics and eventual artificial selection of sweet (wrinkled) peas, all in the context of evolutionary biology. This integrative ...
To Be or Not to Be ... an Inhibitory Neurotransmitter
By Frank Miskevich
Jessica and George are students struggling to understand the forces which control ions moving across membranes. For the nervous system in particular, ions create the electrical signals neurons use to communicate with one another. Jessica ...
By Carly N. Jordan, Elizabeth A. Flaherty, Jonathan F. Prather
In this case study, students play the role of a NASA scientist tasked with analyzing samples of atmosphere and soil collected on Mars as part of the Mars Curiosity Mission. The case study takes place in the future when samples of the Martian atmosphe...
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
The discovery of a bacterium capable of substituting arsenic for phosphorus in its DNA was announced with much fanfare in 2010. It was immediately and very publicly critiqued by researchers posting their analyses of the paper on their blogs. The auth...
By Tonya Laakko Train
This case is based on the true story of a woman with choriocarcinoma, a rare type of rapidly dividing and metastatic cancer derived from cells of the placenta. The case begins with Yvette being admitted to a hospital due to neurological irregularitie...
Diabetes and Insulin Signaling
By Kristy J. Wilson
Cellular signaling, otherwise known as signal transduction, is the mechanism by which cellular context and environmental situation are used to regulate or adjust cellular behavior. Multicellular organisms use cellular signaling to coordinate response...
Pharmacogenetics: How Genetic Information Is Used to Treat Disease
By Maureen Knabb
In this clicker case, two teenagers are diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the bone marrow where there is an abnormal overproduction of lymphocyte precursors. The girls' reactions to treatment are very different, however, ...
From Cow Juice to a Billion Dollar Drug, With Some Breakthroughs in Between
By Justin F. Shaffer
Before the discovery of insulin in 1921, being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. Despite the successful management of diabetes with purified animal insulin, potentially severe side effects were abundant, and alternative ways to pro...
By Peggy Brickman
In this "clicker case study," students learn about the chemical nature of protein molecules-in particular, how the constituent parts of proteins (amino acids) contribute to protein three-dimensional structure and folding. Several important human dise...
Oh, What a Difference a Carbon Can Make!
By Betty Jo Chitester, Weslene T. Tallmadge
Sarah, trapped in the middle of a two-hour lecture on enzyme inhibition, attempts to escape by asking a question. She relates an old story she heard about some teenagers who drank from bottles of antifreeze marked "alcohol." Half of them died, but th...
By Nancy M. Boury
In this "clicker case," students assume the role of pre-med students participating in a summer internship. As interns, they diagnose several different genetic deficiencies of glycolytic pathway enzymes based on the biochemical activity of blood sampl...
By Nancy M. Boury
This case is a variation of a longer case in our collection titled "Murder or Medical Mishap? Death on the Metabolic Ward," which has a "murder-mystery" aspect to it. In both versions of the case, students assume the role of pre-med students pa...
African Illness: A Case of Parasites?
By Kevin M. Bonney
This case is based on a British patient presenting to a hospital with an array of symptoms after returning from an African safari. Students learn about potential causes of the symptoms based on the patient's potential exposure to parasites endemic to...
By Terry Platt, Eric Ribbens
This clicker case is designed to lead students to a conceptual understanding of oxidative phosphorylation (and, by analogy, photosynthesis). Students begin with a pre-class handout that presents background information on DNP, a weight-loss drug that ...
The Molecular Origin of Life: Replication or Metabolism-First? Advanced Version
By Annie Prud’homme-Genereux, Rosalind H. Groenewoud
This case explores both the evidence and inconsistencies in the two major hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth: Replication-First or Metabolism-First. The case has two versions published on this website; one is written at the introductory leve...
By Tonya Laakko Train
This case centers on a fictional group of young adults who studied abroad together in Scotland as college students. A number of them develop disease symptoms and die a few years after the trip. The cause of death is determined to be a prion disease. ...
By Brahmadeo Dewprashad
This case study on the chemistry of cocaine is in the form of a classroom discussion between a professor and her students about cocaine, its addictive properties, a search for an addiction treatment, and the chemistry involved in the synthesis of coc...
Newsflash! Transport Proteins on Strike!
By Dianne W. York
This role-play case study teaches students about plasma membrane transport and the functions of transport proteins in the phospholipid bilayer. Students act out the parts of molecules and structures in a fantastical cellular world where the unionized...
By Dustin J. Eno, Annie Prud’homme-Genereux
This four-part interrupted case on phage therapy was developed for a freshmen non-majors course in molecular biology. The case begins with a story inspired by real events where Europeans imposed a treatment for cholera on the unwilling population of ...