Parkinson's Research Sends Burlington, NC, Student to China. After spending last summer researching a protein that's significant in Parkinson's disease, writing a research paper about it and presenting it to educators, a Burlington teen is heading to China to share what she's learned. Melanie Wiley, 18, who currently attends the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, is one four students from the state representing the American delegation in Beijing, China this week at the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition. Wiley and the others in the delegation won't actually compete while in China, but they will present their research. On March 14, Wiley won third place for the research in the biotechnology section at the N.C. Student Academy of Science competition. On Monday, she attended the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium hosted by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she won second place for a poster presentation of the same research. (Burlington Times News, 3/21/08.)
Distance Learning About Biotech. A cake isn't just a tasty treat. It's also a science experiment full of chemical reactions and molecular structures. Through the ACCESS Distance Learning program, teachers across Alabama recently got to watch a lesson on the science of cooking, including a group at Bob Jones High School. From Montgomery, Dr. Daniel Adamek and Judy Brown prepared 14 cakes, with variations in each cake's ingredients, to show how teachers can talk about science in what can seem like just an everyday activity. Brown, a state education specialist and a former culinary arts teacher at Bob Jones, said she had been working on the Savory Science& lesson since September. It is the first in what she hopes will be a series of distance learning programs. Adamek, who is with AZ Technologies in Huntsville, worked with Brown to develop their cake experiments, write the script for the ACCESS broadcast and to write a lesson plan teachers can use in their classes. About 80 teachers took part in the first lesson, heading to Bob Jones and eight other ACCESS sites after school. Huntsville's HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology did the filming for Savory Science free of charge. (Huntsville Times, 3/17/08.)
Invitrogen Launches Philanthropic Foundation. Invitrogen Corporation, a provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, today announced the launch of the Invitrogen Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization aimed at increasing participation in and understanding of the life sciences among students, teachers, scientific professionals and the public. Invitrogen has granted an initial $1 million to the Foundation and plans to provide additional funding in the future. (Business Wire, 2/22/08.)
DC-Area Schools Heed Science Industry's Warning. Universities in the Washington region are in the forefront of a movement to train more people to enter science and technology professions and meet what industry leaders call an urgent need to expand the workforce to keep the U.S. economy competitive. At least eight schools in the District and Maryland are offering or drawing up plans for a two-year professional science master's degree. The PSM program is designed to provide more advanced training in science or mathematics -- with a dose of business skills -- and entice more students who receive bachelor of science degrees to stay in the field without having to pursue a doctorate. The PSM degree, sometimes described as a science version of the MBA degree, is being hailed as one of the most promising innovations in graduate education in years. Last year, Congress provided funding for schools to establish or improve PSM programs through the America Competes Act. About 1,300 students are enrolled in PSM programs at more than 50 schools nationwide, officials say. (Washington Post, 1/28/08.)
Gwinnett, GA, Students Try to Answer Organic Questions. The lesson called on students to detect GM (genetically modified) foods by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Basically, students run an experiment to see if any food had its DNA altered. The activity is one of several high-level lessons students work on in the biotechnology program. The course lets Gwinnett high-schoolers perform experiments most students don't work on until junior year of college. Think of the course as a classroom version of the television show "CSI." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/28/08.)
Maryland and Swedish Students Compare Marine Biotechnology Projects. The Maryland Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics program is meant to challenge students and prepare them for college. Students from Carroll County high schools sank disks into waterways around their homes and schools in recent months, pulling them out to photograph and identify the organisms living in different environments, and to compare their results with what students in Sweden discovered. (The DC Examiner, 1/16/08.)
New Jersey State Education Program Supports Biotechnology. Monmouth University was awarded a portion of a $5.1 million grant to be used to ignite a biotechnology education program in the state. The Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor was awarded to the Central New Jersey BIO-1 regional partnership, which consists of key education and industry members in central New Jersey involved in supporting bioscience education and training programs necessary to support the pharmaceutical workforce. (Atlanticville News, 12/13/07.)
Amgen Scholars Program Accepting Applications. The Amgen Scholars Program, a partnership of the Amgen Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and premier universities around the country, is now accepting applications for the summer of 2008. The annual Amgen Scholars Program provides undergraduates the opportunity for hands-on research at 10 of the nation's leading universities to explore an area of research under a faculty mentor beyond what they may be able to do as part of their regular undergraduate education. (Business Wire, 12/4/07.)
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