The 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education

March 26, 2007

The Museum and CityLab wish to thank all of the workshop presenters and attending teachers who made the 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education a huge success. Listed below is the schedule for the March 26, 2007 Symposium as well as teacher handouts for some of the workshops.

Symposium Schedule:

8:30 -9:00, Registration (includes coffee and tea)

9:00 -9:15, Welcoming remarks in Museum Cafe

9:30 -11:00, Workshop #1

11:10 - 11:45, Lunch 1 in Museum Cafe

11:45 - 12:20, Lunch 2 in Museum Cafe

12:30 -1:45, What Our Genomes Tell Us About Being Human, with Dr. Rob DeSalle, American Museum of Natural History, Cahners Theater

2:00 - 3:30, Workshop #2

Workshop #1, 9:30 - 11:00

"Behind The Screen": Forensic Fact Finding

Dawn Martell and Richard Fardy, Wilmington High School

Introduce your students to forensic science using an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery video with "hands-on" explorations, do-it-yourself or commercial electrophoresis apparatus. A student-designed Power Point presentation will be shown together with an introduction to various extensions, including models, fingerprinting, shoe-casting techniques and "virtual gels" activities.

Stem Cells in Class

Shahira Badran, Bunker Hill Community College

Share with your students the latest advances in stem cell research, its promises, and controversies. Use this "hot" topic of research and debate for critical thinking activities and the application of fundamental biological concepts that you already teach. This workshop will provide you with strategies and guidelines for effective assignment design and assessment that have been proven to significantly improve students' writing and critical thinking skills. Workshop materials will include a "ready to use" PowerPoint presentation enhanced with visuals, relevant resources that will help your students explore arguments for and against stem cell research, guidelines for effective assignment design and assessment as well as sample assignments and rubrics.

Analysis of Human Karyotype

Mariluci Bladon, Middlesex Community College

We will analyze human chromosomes as far as number and structure. Slides of human chromosomes will be made, stained and analyzed. Discussion on pre-natal diagnosis of inherited disorders will be addressed

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Inquiring Minds Want to Know�

Patricia Richards and Judith Price, Walter Johnson High School

Join us as we explore two inquiry labs that are easy to set up and use easily obtainable materials. The labs will allow students to use their knowledge of cell structure, DNA and protein structure to readily design and conduct scientific investigations including manipulating independent and dependent variables. These labs will address Massachusetts High School Biology Content Standards (1.2, 3.1 and 3.2) as well as all of the Scientific Inquiry Skills Standards.

UV and U: Three Explorations of the Effects of UV Light

Cynthia Jensen, Gateway Regional High School

Using various experimental designs, workshop participants will explore the effects of UV light on various items advertised as sun-safe. Serratia marcescens will serve as a model organism to investigate the role light plays on DNA repair. Participants will have an opportunity to perform this lab in shortened form as well as an Edvotek lab, which demonstrates plasmid DNA damage after UV exposure.

Kinesthetic Modeling of Cellular Processes with LEGO DNA and LEGO Protein Synthesis Sets

Kathy Vandiver, Amy Fitzgerald, MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences

The LEGO DNA Set was designed to help students understand molecular processes in the cell. For example, the DNA molecule is correctly assembled by the addition of nucleotides, not by separate bases, phosphates, and sugars. Also students can easily unzip and rezip the DNA molecule during replication and transcription because the LEGO nucleotides have magnets, which mimic the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs. The same LEGO DNA set can be used in middle schools as well as AP biology classrooms because for the advanced levels you can reconfigure the LEGO components to indicate the 3' and 5' ends of the nucleotides. Lesson plans for both basic and advanced levels are found in the Teacher's Guide. Join us for this lab and experience transcription for yourself! We will also use the new LEGO Protein Synthesis Set, which includes LEGO tRNA and amino acids. We will start with a LEGO gene, produce a LEGO channel protein on a ribosome, and fold the LEGO protein into the cell membrane.

Basic Science of Stem Cell Research

Laurie Jackson-Grusby, PhD, assistant professor, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, principal faculty, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Understanding the facts of stem cell science is the foundation of understanding the ethical and social implications associated with it. This session will outline the basic science of stem cell biology. This will provide you with enough knowledge and resources to be able to incorporate some aspect of stem cell biology into your curriculum. This can be done either as a standalone subject, or, more importantly, as a platform with which to illustrate and explain particular biological functions, ethical issues, or political agendas.

Biotech Start-Up Companies: A Cooperative Learning/Problem-Solving Activity

Angela Cunnard, Seekonk High School

Workshop participants will take the role of students and go through a simulation of an extensive cooperative learning/problem solving activity. Participants will form Biotech start up companies. Each company will be given a disease to investigate and find a protein to target. Company members will attend online "seminars" to become experts in different biotechnological techniques. Companies will reconvene to develop products. Finally, companies will make presentations to "investors". All participants will receive a folder containing supporting worksheets, websites, rubrics and ideas for modifications.

Molecular Food Fight: Battling Cancer at the Grocery Story

Cheryl L. Wojciechowski, Ph.D, American Association for the Advancement of Science at USAID

Natural chemicals in our food give us the colors, textures, spice, and other features we have enjoyed for centuries. These chemicals can also have a significant impact on the biological chemistry that controls the growth of our cells. Recent research from several institutes in Europe and the United States has figured out exactly how some powerful food chemicals can treat and even prevent some cancers. This session will start with a review of what goes wrong in cancer, and then move on to the specific chemicals in several foods that can interfere with the cancer process. End the session with recipes using the cancer-fighting foods. We will provide the research literature, recipes and give you a chance to try the "experiments" yourself at this session. Consider this a learning experience that your class can truly internalize!

Find That Gene!

Karin King, Fairfield Warde High School

In this workshop, we will explore three activities that are engaging yet challenging for students. The activities build progressively in depth and understanding of material. They can be used consecutively or individually based on the level of the students.

Genome Activity: Students will be making connections between genotype and phenotype. Reading Frames Activity: Students will begin to explore possible locations of genes within the genome by looking for open reading frames (ORFs). Gene Mining Activity: Students will begin to identify characteristics of genes such as promoters, ORFs, slice sites and poly A tail signals then use these characteristics to find a gene. This activity has a bioinformatics extension in which students can confirm their own findings using computers.

Bioengineering, Building a Better You (Bioengineering, B.A.B.Y.!!)

Karen Burg, Cheryl Parzel and Cheryl Gomillion, Clemson University

Have you ever wondered about how cells in the body react to a splinter? Ever wonder why different biomedical devices cause different reactions in the body? This workshop will overview the evolution of biomaterials and the creative process involved in designing biomedical devices, focusing specifically on the unique features of biodegradable biomaterials. Learn about the interaction of cells and tissue with biomaterials as well as tissue engineered devices made with a biological material — cells. Learn about the properties of different materials and how they can be purposefully tuned to cause a specific response in the body. Participants in this workshop will be introduced to interactive demonstrations that may be readily transported to the classroom and will be able to examine an array of biomedical devices. Inquiry, scientific method, and communication will be highlighted as pertaining to biomedical topics such as cell and tissue development and function, structure and properties of biomaterials, and motion and biomechanics.

Workshop #2, 2:00 - 3:30

Stem Cell Research: Implications Outside of the Lab

M. William Lensch, PhD, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School Affiliate, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Stem cell research is an often heated and controversial topic. Considering the ethical and social implications of stem cell research is as important as considering the science. This session will help you create an open dialogue with your students and teach you the proper terminology for discussion on how to address misconceptions and ethical issues that surround this area of research.

CSI Dublin: The Hunt for the Irish Potato Killer

Jean Ristaino, PhD, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

More than 150 years ago, the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans struck the Irish potato crop leading to famine. In its aftermath over 1 million people died and another 2 million emigrated from Ireland. This workshop will offer teachers an opportunity to learn about this fascinating pathogen and use PCR techniques to solve the mystery. Participants will receive a free pathogen detection kit (valued at over $225) and a copy of the CNN Global Challenges film, "A Hunt for the Killer," featuring Jean Ristaino's research on historic specimens from the potato famine.

Plant Biotechnology: Phenotype to Gene and Back Again

Adan Colon-Carmona, Jim Stark, UMass Boston

Interested in bringing "hands-on" plant biotechnology activities into your classroom? In this workshop, we will use Arabidopsis thaliana, the premier plant model system, to explore how mutant and transgenic plants are created and screened for novel traits. We will discuss classroom appropriate activities that include screening mutated seedlings for specified traits, comparing phenotypes of wild type and mutant strains, utilizing bioinformatics tools available on the web, and using the GUS staining method to detect a reporter gene activity in transgenic plants. Participants will take home an Arabidopsis "starter seed kit" for the classroom.

Exploring Biology and Biotechnology at the Molecular Scale

Dan Damelin and Amy Pallant , Concord Consortium

Come and try out free software from the non-profit Concord Consortium. Using our Molecular Workbench, you can explore biology and biotechnology at the molecular scale. Examine three-dimensional molecular models and experience molecular movements, collisions, and attractions. Mutate a gene and see how an RNA in the cell instructs a ribosome to produce proteins with an altered amino acid sequence. Working with a dynamic model, you can explore for yourself how hydrophobic and hydrophilic amino acids affect protein folding. Check out activities that allow students to run molecular-scale models of electrophoresis, chromatography, mass spectroscopy, ELISA, and PCR. Search our database of hundreds of free activities to find the ones best suited to your classroom.

DNA and Forensics: The Silent Witness

Angela Pilla Boston Police Department

Forensic DNA Typing is the application of genetic profiling to link an individual to another individual or to a crime scene. The use of various molecular biology techniques, most notably the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), has led to the development of additional investigative and prosecutorial tools that are now used by law enforcement. The increase in technology has placed a greater emphasis on hiring highly specialized personnel with knowledge of molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, as well as forensic science. In this workshop, participants will learn the basic theory behind PCR-based DNA testing at the modern crime lab interpretation of results, applications of DNA testing, and examples of actual relevant casework. Workshop is lecture only.

Tails of the Fish: Connecting Meiotic Events with Mendelian Genetics

Amy Fitzgerald, Kathy Vandiver, MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences

Too often students are learning the mechanics of mitotic and meiotic cell division without a clear connection as to how these events relate to the organism as a whole. In this workshop, teachers will use a LEGO Chromosomes Set to first model these two types of cell division, and then build the LEGO fish phenotypes that are represented by the chromosomes. Participants will track how different chromosomes' recessive and dominant traits are expressed throughout an entire school of LEGO fish, and how successive generations of fish may be affected by the introduction of an environmental pollutant that kills genetically susceptible fish. What happens to the fish when this trait is dominant versus recessive? This is an inquiry activity. Additionally, this lesson demonstrates natural selection in a very engaging way.

Where Did AIDS Come From? A Bioinformatics Exercise

David Form, Nashoba Regional High School

Find out why the ability to access and use online bioinformatics tools may become essential for scientists, students and teachers in the life sciences. In this ready-to use-assignment, we will go online, collect viral nucleotide sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree. We utilize the tree to analyze three hypotheses concerning the evolutionary origin of HIV.

Discovery Research to Market: The Process of Biotech Drug Development, and Associated Careers in Biotech

Tracy Callahan, Biogen Idec

How does a new medicine get discovered and eventually reach the patient? An overview of the drug development process will be presented, including career options in each phase. Also, a paper exercise, suitable for the classroom, will be conducted that highlights a key biotechnology technique and the importance of collaboration and communication in research. Bring back to your students the knowledge of what really happens at a biotech company!

Forum for the Classroom: Bioprospecting and Yellowstone National Park?

Museum Staff, Museum of Science

Participate in a forum and learn about an alternative way to engage your students in scientific topics. Through forum, students separate discussion from debate and have more meaningful conversations leading to a deeper understanding of the given subject. This forum will be focused on the current issue of commercial bioprospecting in our national parks. Hear representatives from the corporations, National Park Service, and public interest groups present their side of the story. Then participate in a group discussion and discover your own position. You will receive materials on setting up and running your own forum so what you learn can immediately be implemented in your classroom.

Growing Organs: Science Fiction or Research Reality

Joshua Baughman and Stephanie Courchesne, Science in the News, Harvard Medical School

There are currently 95,000 patients awaiting an organ transplant in the United States. Sadly, due to a low supply of donor organs and an imperfect matching system, many of these patients will never receive a donor organ that could save their lives. But what if it were possible to circumvent the current system and grow a perfectly matched organ in the laboratory? In an interactive lecture format, we will delve into the current successes and future promises of growing organs in the laboratory. We introduce the concept of "organogenesis", the process whereby the body naturally forms organs. We then discuss how scientists can possibly recapitulate organogenesis in the laboratory using stem cell based methods and bioengineering approaches.

Engineering Diseases: How Do Your Bacteria Grow?

Kathy Frame, Biotechnology Institute

Explore the issues of Emerging Diseases with Pseudomonas fluorescens showing antibiotic resistance and how disease spreads. In this workshop, teachers will grow the bacteria on agar plates and discuss ways to incorporate this activity into a lesson plan on genetics and disease. Receive a free copy of Your World magazine on emerging and reemerging diseases.

Techniques and Skills for our Biotech World

Whitney Hagins, Lexington High School

Ever wonder what skills your students might need to get a summer job at a biotech company or what skills could be the basis for a biotechnology course for non-college bound students? Ideas and activities for teaching these skills will be presented and participants will practice a variety of lab techniques. Teacher and student handouts will be provided.

For more information, contact Don Salvatore at 617-589-0347 or email: dsalvatore@mos.org

The 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education

The 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education

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The 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education

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March 26, 2007: 9:00 a.m.

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The 12th Annual Symposium on Biotechnology Education

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