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Summer Scholars

Biotechnology & Public Health (Rising 9th-12th)

Students smiling around a lab table

Course Description

In this one-week course, students will explore the concepts of biotechnology. The camp will allow students the opportunity to look at how biotechnology couples Biomolecular and cellular processes to develop products and technologies that help improve the health of our planet and, ultimately, our lives.

In this course, students will:

  • Use DNA evidence to solve a crime
  • Map plasmids
  • Investigate a genetic disease – sickle cell
  • Gain an understanding of immunity, vaccine production, antibody tests, and antibiotic resistance
  • Separate and analyze dyes using chromatography and spectrophotometry
  • Complete a weeklong project that includes bacterial transformation, isolating bacterial colonies for growth, and column chromatography to purify a specific protein from transformed bacterial cells
  • Investigate whether DNA damage from cellular stress can be prevented with dietary antioxidants

 

Requirements

  • Wear long pants (or skirts), closed-toe shoes, and garments that lack full/flowing sleeves or fringe in class. NO SHORTS or baseball caps allowed in labs.

Course Leader: CULSOC Instructors

Course Schedule*

*Tentative

Tentative weekly course schedule*
Monday
  • Achieve proficiency using micropipettes
  • Solve a crime using DNA fingerprinting
  • Gain experience using aseptic technique
  • Implement aseptic technique to perform bacterial transformation
Tuesday
  • Inoculate liquid media using aseptic techniques to choose and transfer a transformed bacterial colony
  • Make an electrophoresis gel
  • Discuss genetic disease, homozygous and heterozygous alleles
  • Set up a PCR reaction using forward and reverse primers and master mix
  • Digest PCR product using restriction enzymes
  • Analyze electrophoresis gels
  • Discuss CRISPR technology
  • Isolate strawberry DNA and investigate effects of dietary antioxidants on the DNA 
  • Investigate whether DNA damage from cellular stress can be prevented with dietary antioxidants
  •  

 
Wednesday
  • Examine opioid addiction and possible genetic relationship
  • Discuss immunity and vaccine development
  • Analyze simulated vaccines using electrophoresis
  • Conduct an ELISA simulation
  • Separate dyes using column chromatography
  • Analyze dyes using spectrophotometer
  • Discuss CRISPR technology
Thursday
  • Discuss antibiotic resistance
  • Prepare bacterial plates with antibiotics
  • Set up restriction digests
  • Predict digested fragments based on plasmid map
  • Analyze digested fragments using gel electrophoresis
Friday
  • Design the best time release pill packet
  • Use column chromatography to isolate the bioluminescent protein from transformed bacteria

*Course is subject to change