DATE: March 12, 2007
CONTACT:
Bob Ballard, (864) 656-3579
ballard@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Debbie Dalhouse, (864) 656-6737
ddalhou@clemson.edu
EXPERT:
DNA Learning Center dedicated
CLEMSON — Secondary school students and teachers from across the state are learning how to conduct genetic analyses in the S.C. DNA Learning Center at Clemson University. Nearly 1,500 students, from more than 24 public and private schools, have visited the center since it opened in March 2006.
Students get hands-on experience extracting their own DNA and performing DNA fingerprinting in the center’s laboratories. More than 52 middle and high school teachers have completed graduate courses in new teaching methods for DNA science, forensics and biotechnology. The center also offers programs for community groups by reservation.
An official dedication of Clemson’s DNA Learning Center, located on the ground floor of Jordan Hall on campus, will be held at 10:30 a.m. March 14.
Fifty Advanced Placement biology students from Dutch Fork High School in Columbia will be working in the laboratories during the dedication.
“There is a great demand for knowledge in the life sciences today,” said Bob Ballard, Clemson biological sciences professor and center director. “The 21st century is the ‘gene age.’ Students and teachers are coming to Clemson’s DNA Learning Center from as far away as Charleston, Aiken, Richland and Florence counties.”
The S.C. DNA Learning Center includes two laboratories, each with 32 work stations, a computer classroom and lunchroom. The center is sponsored by Clemson’s biological sciences and genetics/biochemistry departments, the National Science Foundation, the Dolan DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute SC LIFE project.
Invited guests at the dedication include statewide school superintendents and science teachers. Vicky Earle, a biology teacher from McBee High School, will speak about what the DNA Learning Center can mean for South Carolina students. David A. Micklos will address the need for genetics education. He is director of the Dolan DNA Learning Center in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., which served as a model for Clemson’s center.
Clemson students who are the first in their families to attend college serve as laboratory assistants and student mentors for the middle and high school students visiting the DNA Learning Center. The Clemson student mentors are in the university’s FIRST program, supported by the National Science Foundation to help first-generation college students succeed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Selected Programs offered by the SC DNA Learning Center:
Grades 6-8
- Bacteria and Antibiotics – investigate role of antibiotics in treating disease
- DNA Fingerprinting – analyze DNA-restricted fingerprints
- DNA to Go – extract DNA from your own cells
Grades 9-12
- Restriction Analysis of Lambda DNA – learn the basics of recombinant DNA
- Your DNA Fingerprint – create a DNA fingerprint of yourself
- mtDNA – sequence a portion of your mitochondrial DNA
Middle and High School Teachers
- Graduate credit professional development courses in teaching methods, including bioinformatics and gene discovery lessons and laboratory exercises
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