Go to BLAST: Biotechnology Laboratory for Arizona Students and Teachers for information on the molecular biology lab at Tucson High Magnet School
COURSE HISTORY:
Genes, Biotechnology & the Environment (Summer 2006, 2007, 2008)
In recent years, the study of biology has been transformed by the development of new laboratory techniques in biotechnology: controlled reactions using enzymes and processes that occur in living cells. By using these techniques to reveal the information encoded in DNA, researchers have gained amazing insights into disease processes, human history, and never-before-seen microbial diversity in soils, water, and even our own bodies. These same techniques are now also being applied to criminal forensic investigations and the development of many new medical, agricultural, and industrial products.
During summers 2006 and 2007, a total of 45 high school students from Southeastern Arizona schools participated in intensive hands-on workshops and were introduced to the areas of genetics and gene function, molecular biology, evolutionary genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology. The courses were led by an instructional team including Margaret Wilch, M.S., of Tucson Magnet High School, an award-winning high school teacher experienced in research-based teaching, Nancy Moran, Ph.D., UA Regents' Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Al Agellon, Biotechnology Research and Training Coordinator for the UA Arizona Research Laboratories. They were assisted by doctoral students Gaelen Burke and Kevin Vogel.
High school students worked in small groups using state-of-the-art equipment and methods to learn and apply basic molecular biology skills, in the context of research questions developed within the class. Students collected their own materials (insects and bacteria), extracted DNA, and performed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a particular gene region of choice. Every student kept a detailed lab notebook on their activities. Samples were submitted to the University of Arizona sequencing facility (under the Arizona Research Laboratories) for sequencing. The students analyzed the sequences and used bioinformatics software available on the web in order to compare their sequences to related sequences in public databases.
Students investigated the bacterial symbionts living in aphids (2006) and in honey bees (2007). In both years, the students obtained DNA sequences of bacterial genes, using facilities in the BLAST laboratory for molecular biology at Tucson High, set up as part of the joint activity of Moran and Wilch. In 2007, the students discovered several bacterial types living in honey bees, and they contributed 16 DNA sequences to GenBank, the central database for genetic information operated by the National Center for BIotechnology Information. (View one of their sequences.) Results were presented each year in end-of-workshop symposia. The courses also included field trips to see UA facilities, including, in 2007, the new BIO5 facilities in the recently completed Keating building.
Students came from a total of 15 high schools, including urban rural and small town public school, charter schools, and private schools. Several high school teachers also participated, to learn the latest techniques, approaches and concepts for improving their own classes.
During summer 2008, 18 students participating in the BLAST program at Tucson High Magnet School worked on species of Hymenoptera, including paper wasps and bumble bees. Students went to Florida Canyon and caught specimens for study. Back in the lab, students extracted and amplified the DNA of the Hymenoptera as well as the DNA for ribosomal RNA of the bacteria located within the guts of the insects. After sequencing the DNA, students compared their sequences with those in GenBank and created phylogenetic trees of both the Hymenoptera and their bacteria. Students obtained 37 new sequences, 4 mitochondrial DNA sequences from Hymenoptera and 33 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from associated microbes.
This course and the BLAST lab was supported by the National Science Foundation. BIO5 is supporting the continued use of the BLAST lab in high school research projects conducted at Tucson High Magnet School under Wilch's leadership. In addition, a training grant awarded to the US by NSF (BIOME) to foster graduate fellows involvement in K-12 teaching supports a UA graduate fellow who works with WIlch to incorporate molecular biology methods into student research experiences.