Local High School Students Genotype Wheat at DNA Summer Camp

The DNA Biology summer camp was a collaborative effort of the Gramene project, and Plant Ontology project, with Oregon State University STEM Academy. The 9th-12th graders were from various local high schools including Crescent Valley High School, Corvallis High School, Philomath High School, and Lebanon High School. Other participants included one home-school student from Halsey, OR and one international student visitor. Dr. Pankaj Jaiswal, Associate Professor at Oregon State University, led the instruction, planning and coordination of this course. Dr. Cathy Law, Director of the STEM Academy at OSU, coordinated student enrollment and logistics. Funds for this course were provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded projects; The Plant Ontology (IOS:0822201) and Gramene: A Comparative Genomics Database (IOS: 1127112).

The activities in the camp included short introductory lectures and follow up exercises using models and laboratory experiments. The learning in a collaborative environment was encouraged to further enrich their camp experience.

Instructors included Dr. Sam Fox of Linfield College (formerly of the Jaiswal lab), Dr. Laurel Cooper (Research Associate), Sushma Naithani (Research Faculty), Justin Preece (Faculty Research Assistant) and Matthew Geniza (Graduate Student).

see Jasiwal lab blog

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