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Teaching Skillz

By Brian Andrew

It can be difficult to get students excited about the intricacies of developmental biology. But Tom McFadden, an instructor in Stanford’s human biology program, has done for cell differentiation what School House Rock did for the conjunction’s function.

In “Regulatin’ Genes,” McFadden, ’08, raps about the role of gene expression in the process over the beat of Jay-Z’s “Money Ain’t A Thang.” To wit: “How you tell a cell it should be in the spleen? Or your lung? Or your tongue? Yo, you regulate its genes.”

The music video, filmed around Stanford’s main quad by Jake Wachtel, ’09, features MC McFadden, in the blue cap, and DJ Derrick Davis, ’10, as well as cameos from course associate Helen Snodgrass, ’08, and associate professor (teaching) of microbiology and immunology Bob Siegel, ’76, MA ’77, MD ’90.

Now, students can’t seem to get McFadden’s rhymes out of their heads—which is good when it comes time for problem sets or tests. “His raps are great,” says Devin King, ’11. “During the exam, they just keep coming back to me.”

BRIAN ANDREW is Class of ’09.