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HS-Girls-Biotech-Day-22Jan2022.

High School Girls Biotech Day

  POSTED ON: Saturday, January 22, 2022 12:00 AM by Sarah Durkin

High School Girls Biotech Day was held at the U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday January 22, 2022, to engage students in biotechnology topics and explore how scientists and engineers use biotechnology for discovery and innovation. 75 students from the local Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC region attended this event organized by Dr. Sarah Durkin, Associate Director for the USNA STEM Center for Education and Outreach. The event was sponsored through a grant from DoD STEM for Biotechnology Literacy.

The day-long program was designed and executed by McCauley Brown and Brooke Bailey, undergraduate students in the University of Maryland Terrapin Teachers program, during a USNA summer internship sponsored by the DoD STEM Biotechnology Literacy grant. Instructors Brooke Bailey, McCauley Brown, and LT Chelsea Snyder (USNA Chemistry professor), led students through the laboratory sessions, with support from 20 midshipmen volunteers from the USNA Medicine Club and the STEM Outreach group. Additional volunteers included 15 mentors from the USNA Chemistry Department, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and DARPA, including professors, DoD medical students, graduate students, MD/PhD students, physician scientists, and scientists. Yetanda Massey from the USNA Office of Admissions moderated a midshipmen and mentor career panel, so students could learn more about education and careers in biotechnology. 

The in-depth program was designed to show students how biotechnology combines science and engineering disciplines to adapt living systems for innovative applications and solutions. Students engaged in a series of experiments connected by a scenario in which biotechnology is applied to solve a challenge. They also developed their knowledge of biotechnology concepts and skills including micropipetting, spectrophotometry, bioinformatics, PCR, and gel electrophoresis.

Students began the day with a laboratory session in which they built a bioreactor, using yeast for fermentation, to produce ethanol as a biofuel for alternative energy use. After measuring reaction rates using different feedstocks, the rest of the program focused on how biotechnology could be used to genetically engineer yeast to produce biofuels from cellulose in switchgrass, rather than a food crop. Students explored the central dogma of molecular biology by using cell-free transcription and translation machinery along with a fluorescent biosensor to visualize how DNA is transcribed into RNA and then translated into a functional protein product. In the scenario, bioprospecting was used to identify cellulose-degrading fungus on switchgrass. Students used a colorimetric assay to examine the properties of a cellulolytic enzyme to breakdown cellulose and produce glucose, taking measurements with a spectrophotometer. Students next explored how to use bioinformatics databases to identify a candidate gene from fungus for cellolose degradation, then designed PCR primers to amplify a specific functional region of the candidate gene. In the last session, students used PCR to amplify a region of the candidate gene, and used DNA gel electrophoresis to visualize the PCR product and discuss next steps in the genetic engineering process.

Event Photos


Category: General Interest

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