A P E R S O N A L V I E W

RESTORING PHYSIOLOGY TO THE UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY

CURRICULUM: A CALL FOR ACTION

Dee U. Silverthorn

Integrative Biology Section, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712

he National Research Council-sponsored report, BIO 2010: Transforming

T Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists, describes a num-

ber of significant changes that should be made to the undergraduate biology
curriculum if we are to adequately train students to become the researchers of the
21st century. What should be of concern to the physiology community is the lack of
identifiable physiology in the proposed revisions. This article describes the report
and suggests some steps that physiologists can take to enhance our discipline in the
undergraduate biology curriculum.
ADV PHYSIOL EDUC 27: 91–96, 2003;
10.1152/advan.00016.2003.

Key words: education; interdisciplinary studies; comparative physiology

Recently, a colleague gave me a new book to read, BIO as from the physical sciences and mathematics. This is
2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Fu- all true. What scared me, as a physiologist, was the
ture Research Biologists (2). BIO 2010 is the consensus absence of physiology as an identifiable discipline in
report of a special committee convened by the National the book’s discussions of biology curriculum.
Research Council, supported by grants from the Na-
tional Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Med- The Committee’s solution to how we should be train-
ical Institute. The committee was charged with consid- ing future biomedical researchers was “. . .a broadly
ering how undergraduate biology education should based education in biology with a strong foundation
prepare students for careers in biomedical research (p. 2). in the physical sciences and mathematics. A well-
educated biology major should understand the prin-
As I read through the committee’s report, I became ciples of population and evolutionary biology, ecol-
increasingly dismayed. It is not that I disagreed with ogy, cognitive neurobiology, and plant biology” (p.
what was said. Indeed, I wholeheartedly concur that 24). What happened to physiology? Shouldn’t under-
our undergraduate biology students need a better graduate students learn about the control systems and
foundation in chemistry, mathematics, and physics integrated functions of intact animals? Isn’t physiol-
and more exposure to and practice with quantitative ogy the underpinning of most biomedical research?
thinking. It is true that we need to engage our stu-
dents actively in the process of science, both in the It is not that the fundamental principles of physiology
laboratory and in the lecture hall, and that our stu- were missing from the committee’s report. In the
dents must learn how to become independent learn- chapter “A New Biology Curriculum,” the list “Con-
ers. We should be emphasizing conceptual under- cepts of Biology” includes the bullet points
standing instead of memorizing facts. We should be
teaching biology as an interdisciplinary subject that ● Biological systems maintain homeostasis by the
draws from engineering and computer science as well action of complex regulatory systems. These are

1043 - 4046 / 03 – $5.00 – COPYRIGHT © 2003 THE AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

91
 A P E R S O N A L V I E W

often networks of interconnecting partially redun- physiology. Students could explore the following
dant systems to make them stable to internal or questions by carrying out interactive computer sim-
external changes. ulations: How does the cooperative binding of oxy-
gen to hemoglobin increase the efficiency of oxygen
● Communication networks within and between transport? How much oxygen is released from he-
cells, and between organisms, enable multicellu- moglobin when the pH is lowered? How is oxygen
lar organisms to coordinate development and transport affected by high altitude?
function. (p. 33)
Would any of us who teach respiratory physiology
Isn’t this what we teach in a physiology course? consider our instruction to be complete if we did not
cover these questions?
The recommendations for Physics include the state-
ment: The committee apparently was not aware of the quan-
titative nature of physiological processes and the fact
. . .the whole notion of emergent behavior, pattern that these are regularly taught in systems physiology
formation, and dynamical networks is so central to courses. Indeed, they went so far as to suggest that it
understanding biology. . . (p. 37) might be necessary to solicit help from colleagues in
mathematics and physical sciences to develop course
This also sounds like physiology, both cellular and content that includes quantitative skills.
systemic.
Initial teaching of, for example, a module on the
One of the few explicit mentions of physiology in the fluid dynamics of blood flow in a physiology course
entire report comes under the recommendations for could be done by a colleague in physics or math. For
inclusion of engineering principles: the biology faculty, incorporating such a module
would be an opportunity to learn the underlying
Basic courses in physics and engineering should be physical science and mathematics and potentially
developed specifically for life sciences students . . . learn the skills necessary to teach the module inde-
This could be complemented exceptionally well by pendently (p. 103).
biology lecture or laboratory courses that assist stu-
dents in their understanding of principles of physics Are other physiologists reading this passage as upset
and engineering (e.g., a unit on biomechanics by that statement as I was? We already teach the
taught in a physiology or anatomy course) (p. 39). physics and mathematics of fluid dynamics! Have
physiologists lost their identity to the extent that
Many undergraduate physiology courses already in- other biologists are not aware of what we do? Why
clude lectures and laboratory exercises on biome- would a biology department need colleagues from
chanics! Overall, physiology courses already do an mathematics and physics to teach what physiologists
excellent job of incorporating basic principles of teach every day?
physics and engineering.
It appears that physiology is invisible on many under-
In the chapter “Instructional Materials and Ap- graduate campuses. In the chapter “Interdisciplinary
proaches for Interdisciplinary Teaching,” the commit- and Project-Based Laboratories,” the committee pro-
tee promotes the development of modules that “focus poses modifications to existing laboratories. One sug-
on important principles of mathematics and the phys- gestion “incorporates ideas from engineering” and
ical and information sciences to demonstrate their proposes “clinical biomedical studies such as”
relevance to biology.” They go on to give the follow-
ing suggestion: . . .cell, nerve, and muscle potentials; electrocardio-
grams (ECG), electromyograms (EMG), body tem-
For example, a module on allosteric interactions in perature, control of body temperature, heat loss
hemoglobin could enrich the teaching of respiratory from the body, blood pressure measurement, blood

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

92
 A P E R S O N A L V I E W

flow and volume measurements, noninvasive as a vital, exciting, core discipline that integrates all
blood-gas sensors. . .lung volume, heart sounds. . . levels of biology with concepts from physics, chem-
(p. 81). istry, mathematics, and engineering. Physiology
should be the new molecular biology. As scientists try
Many of these studies are already standard exercises to decipher the role and interactions of proteins
in undergraduate physiology laboratories. coded by the genome, they should have a solid un-
derstanding, both quantitative and qualitative, of the
The one place that the committee proposed physiol- complex organ systems of the intact organism, be it a
ogy as a course was in the section “Interdisciplinary fly, worm, mouse, or human.
Lecture and Seminar Courses.”
Physiology has been experiencing decreasing gradu-
At intermediate levels, a variety of course plans ate enrollments and declining numbers of young fac-
could incorporate material from the physical sci- ulty members. Pharmaceutical companies are com-
ences and the mathematical concepts and skills that peting for scientists with expertise in whole animal
subtend these disciplines, into biological courses. physiology. If this document serves as the basis for
Possible examples are a course in quantitative phys- revising biology curricula across the country, as pro-
iology (blood circulation, gas exchange in the lung, posed in the “Executive Summary,” the situation will
control of cell volume, electrical activity of neurons, only worsen.
renal countercurrent mechanism, muscle mechan-
ics). . . (p. 67). In the chapter “A New Biology Curriculum,” physiol-
ogy is not part of the core biology sequence; it is
These quantitative concepts are already part of any relegated to a list of biology electives proposed for the
standard undergraduate physiology class. Perhaps we senior year. The Committee’s core courses are Molec-
could do a better job of emphasizing the physical ular Biology, Cell and Development Biology, Genetics,
principles behind these physiological processes, but and Evolutionary Biology/Ecology—topics that jump
no physiologist would dream of teaching a course from the cellular and molecular level to populations
without including the examples presented in the of organisms (p. 56). What happened to organisms
paragraph above. The conclusion I draw from reading and the integrated function (i.e., physiology) of cells,
the report is that the biology faculty on the committee tissues, and organ systems within the intact organism?
are not familiar with the content of a traditional un- When in these core courses will students be exposed
dergraduate physiology course, whether human or to the big picture: how cells and molecules commu-
comparative. nicate and coordinate to create the complex entity
we call an animal? Figure 1 shows the topics that will
Why should the absence of physiology as a discipline be missing in a core curriculum that leaves out phys-
in this report be of concern? The answer is that we iology and illustrates how physiology integrates biol-
need to be fighting for the recognition of physiology ogy from molecules to populations of organisms.

FIG. 1.
Physiology is the integrative discipline in biology (reprinted with permission from Silverthorn DU. Human
Physiology: An Integrated Approach, 3rd edition. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings, 2004).

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

93
 A P E R S O N A L V I E W

It appears that physiology was not even considered Some of the blame for the absence of physiology in
for the BIO 2010 core sequence, because it has this report probably lies with us physiologists, as we
already effectively disappeared from the core un- have lost visibility in recent decades. When grant
dergraduate curriculum! The committee surveyed funding became tighter, comparative physiology, the
104 institutions, and physiology was missing from mainstay of undergraduate physiology teaching, suf-
their compiled list of required courses. The “con- fered because basic research on the physiology of
sensus core [of courses currently required] . . . in- crayfish, roaches, fish, lizards, and frogs was not going
clude[s] genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, micro- to cure cancer, heart disease, or AIDS. Even the mam-
biology, evolution/ecology, and a seminar” (p. 48). malian physiologists among us have been so busy
If this course list reflects what students currently trying to retool research programs and learn molecu-
study as undergraduates, it is no wonder that they lar biology that somehow we failed to maintain our
are not applying to graduate programs in physiol- unique identity and promote the integrative nature of
ogy! our discipline.

In three of the four model curricula proposed by the Physiology is on the upswing again, with research
Committee, the first opportunity a student would turning to proteomics and functional studies, but
have to take physiology would be as a biology elective there has been a subtle shift in others’ perception of
in the senior year. In the fourth model, physiology us. It appears that, to the members of the NRC panel,
could be taken in the junior year. If physiology is physiology is a discipline that is taught primarily in
relegated to the position of a seminar late in an un- medical schools or in departments of biomedical en-
gineering, or that it is a “service course” taught for
dergraduate’s career (p. 67), we have lost the window
premedical and health professions students. We must
of opportunity to have students become excited
do everything in our power to correct this miscon-
about physiology and involved in undergraduate phys-
ception.
iological research before they solidify their career
decision.
One opportunity that physiologists missed by lack of
representation on this committee was the chance to
I believe that the absence of physiology in this report
showcase the exemplary activities of the American
was simply an inadvertent consequence of the Com-
Physiological Society in the realm of education. Nat-
mittee’s makeup. There were no animal physiologists urally, the Committee brought their particular exper-
among the eleven members. Four of the eleven men- tise and their professional society affiliations to the
tion neurobiology in their biographies, but one is a table. However, without a physiologist on the com-
biochemist, two are molecular biologists, and the mittee, not only were we skipped as a key discipline
fourth studies the mathematics of self-organizing sys- in the undergraduate biology curriculum but the
tems. The remaining members have research interests American Physiological Society also did not receive
in organic chemistry (one), cellular or molecular bi- the recognition that it deserves as one of the innova-
ology (four), microbiology/immunology (one), and tors in integrating education and research.
evolutionary biology and ecology (one). The unan-
swered question is why no physiologist was invited to For example, a major premise of the report is devel-
participate on the committee or in any of the associ- opment of teaching modules that could be introduced
ated panels. Of the 25 faculty on the Chemistry, Phys- into otherwise traditional lecture classes. In this con-
ics-Engineering, and Mathematics-Computer Science text, the committee describes both BioSciEd Net
panels, there was a cellular neurobiologist, two sys- (BEN), the biology portion of the National Science
tems neurobiologists, and a biomedical engineer Digital Library project, and “independent groups
whose research focuses on biomechanics (none are [that] have published modules or resources that could
members of the American Physiological Society). The be used to enhance the teaching of undergraduate
16 members of the Workshop on Innovative Under- biology students.” In neither discussion was there
graduate Biology Education did not include any phys- mention of the rapidly growing APS Archive of Teach-
iologists. ing Resources and its link to BEN, despite the fact that

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

94
 A P E R S O N A L V I E W

APS is one of the largest contributors of teaching addition, these new MDs perceived physiology to be
modules to BEN. the undergraduate course most important in prepar-
ing them for medical school, with a ranking of 3.5 out
In the discussion of how professional societies pro- of 5, ahead of genetics (3.0) and biochemistry (3.2).
mote undergraduate research and education, only the (Cell biology and molecular biology were not in-
American Society for Microbiology received mention, cluded in the survey.) Ideally, physiology would be
despite the fact that APS, like ASM, employs full-time placed early in the undergraduate course sequence so
staff devoted to education. The APS Education Office, that students complete it prior to taking the MCAT in
under the expert guidance of Dr. Marsha Matyas, has the spring of their junior year. From the graduate
a remarkable track record for obtaining extramural school recruitment point of view, an undergraduate
funding for APS initiatives, and APS spends $1.3 mil- physiology class would expose premedical students
lion in internal funds and grant money annually to to what physiological scientists do in the laboratory
improve physiology education and excite students and could encourage more students to consider sum-
about physiological research. mer research programs in physiology and careers in
biomedical research.
What can physiologists do to restore physiology to
the undergraduate curriculum? How can we inter- I believe, however, that we have a lot of resistance to
vene? If this book is indicative of the national under- overcome if we propose this additional entry require-
graduate biology faculty’s perspective, it may be dif- ment for medical school. Committee recommenda-
ficult to act directly. At many smaller schools, the tion no. 7, listed under the header “Harmonizing the
biology faculty includes only one physiologist. Even at Undergraduate Science Education of Future Graduate
some larger institutions, physiology is not a recogniz- Students and Medical Students” says, “Medical school
able research unit unless a medical school is part of admission requirements and the Medical College Ad-
the same campus. missions Test (MCAT) are hindering change in the
undergraduate biology curriculum and should be re-
Perhaps one clue to what physiologists might do can examined in light of the recommendations in this
be found in the following committee statement: “An- report” (p. 111). I suspect that many of us would
other major impact on today’s curriculum are [sic] disagree with this statement.
requirements for admission to medical school” (p.
48). We may be able to leverage our influence at the The broad requirements for most American medical
medical school level to restore physiology to the un- schools are one year of biology (in other words, an
dergraduate core curriculum. Perhaps medical introductory course in biology), chemistry through
schools should add an entry requirement for an un- organic, and a year of physics. This requirement
dergraduate animal physiology course. The biochem- matches that for most undergraduate Bachelor of Sci-
ists have done this at a number of schools. ence degrees and should not hinder change in higher-
level courses in the biology curriculum. Furthermore,
Adding a physiology entry requirement would ensure the most recent version of the MCAT minimizes mem-
physiology’s place in the undergraduate curriculum, orization of facts and places a premium on the ability
given the large number of students interested in the to think conceptually and to interpret data about a
health professions. It would also allow the medical topic the student has never studied. These are two
school physiology faculty to assume a basic level of skills that the BIO 2010 committee would like to see
physiological understanding in each cohort, and they promoted in the biology curriculum, and they are
could concentrate on teaching advanced topics rather easily incorporated into a physiology course.
than trying to start from scratch with naive students.
Such a requirement would not add significantly to the If a physiology entry requirement for medical
hours taken by premedical students, as the Associa- school is to be viewed in a positive light by under-
tion of American Medical Colleges’ 2002 survey of graduate biology faculty, we physiologists must
graduating medical students (1) indicated that 75% show that a well-designed animal physiology course
had taken an undergraduate physiology course. In can achieve all the objectives put forth in BIO 2010

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

95
 A P E R S O N A L V I E W

and that physiology deserves a slot in the core flourish as a discipline in the 21st century, we must
curriculum. At the local level, we must work within educate everyone about what physiology is and what
our own institutions to ensure that physiology is physiologists do.
adequately and identifiably represented in introduc-
tory biology courses and in courses offered for To post a comment or response to this article, please go to the APS
Archive of Teaching Resources (at www.apsarchive.org), select
nonbiology majors. At the national level, those of us Undergraduate Education, and search for articles by this author.
who teach at undergraduate institutions must make Select the article, and on the Object Fact Sheet you will find a hot
a concerted effort to become involved in the Na- link to Post a Comment. An asterisk next to the View Comments
tional Academy of Sciences’ proposed Summer In- link means that a comment has been posted.
stitute for Undergraduate Biology Education to en- Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: D. U.
sure that physiology is represented in discussions Silverthorn, Integrative Biology, One University Station C0930, Aus-
tin, TX 78712 (E-mail: silverthorn@mail.utexas.edu).
of curriculum revisions.
Submitted 27 May 2003; accepted in final form 5 June 2003
Biomedical research is shifting back to whole animal
studies. Proteomics and functional genomics are sim- References
ply sexy buzz words for physiology. However, unless 1. Association of American Medical Colleges. 2002 Medical
we physiologists take a more active role in the under- School Graduation Questionnaire [pdf online] AAMC. http://
graduate curriculum and highlight how contemporary www.aamc.org/data/gq/allschoolsreports/2002 [6 June 2003].
2. Committee on Undergraduate Biology Education to Pre-
physiology uses modern research techniques devel- pare Research Scientists for the 21st Century. BIO 2010:
oped by molecular and cellular biologists, no one will Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research
make the connection. If physiology is to survive and Biologists. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 2003.

VOLUME 27 : NUMBER 3 – ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION – SEPTEMBER 2003

96