News

Groton Students Get Hands-On Experience in TC3 Lab

April, 2008

What: Groton high school students taking concurrent enrollment biology through TC3’s CollegeNow program came to the campus to do college-level lab work in one of TC3’s biotechnology labs. The students, one junior and 13 high school seniors, take the equivalent of TC3’s BIO 104 class September through January, and then move up to the equivalent of the College’s BIO 105 class from January to June. On this day, students performed PCR (polymerase chain reaction) on DNA extracted from cheek cells collected from themselves and family members. This was done to investigate and show paternity (genetic relatedness) at the DNA level between mother, father, and offspring.

Why: TC3 concurrent enrollment classes are taught primarily by high school teachers in area districts, but those teachers have the added benefit of interacting with a faculty liaison at the College. The TC3 faculty liaison for the biology class, taught at Groton by Fred Ott, is TC3’s biotechnology chair, Dr. James R. Jacob. He guided the students through the day’s exercises in one of TC3’s biotech labs, using equipment the students are not exposed to at the high school level. "It’s wonderful for the students because they’re using equipment I simply cannot afford in my budget, and conducting processes they wouldn’t be exposed to until college," said Ott.

The Equipment: Students used equipment ranging from micropipettes used to process samples one millionth of a liter in volume, to a microcentrifuge, used to collect DNA. DNA samples were amplified in the thermocycler (cycles between temperature extremes of 95, 58, and 72 degrees centigrade within a 30-second interval). Results were analyzed by electrophoresis, separating the DNA "fragments" (small pieces of DNA). These DNA fragments were visualized using digital-photodocumentation software that "sees" the chemical stain, called SYBR Green, in the amplified DNA.

The Benefits: "Being able to come to the campus is wonderful for the students because they’re using equipment I simply cannot afford in my budget, and conducting processes they wouldn’t be exposed to until college." – Fred Ott, biology teacher, Groton.

"Serving as faculty liaison for biology has provided me the opportunity to interact, on a personal level, and help our concurrent enrollment instructors learn and bring high technology to the high school students. These ’hands-on,’ real-time activities allow students to experience what really occurs in the laboratory, and that it's not all ‘brain work’ that goes on behind the scene in science." – Dr. James Jacob, TC3.

Please feel free to contact the CollegeNow office at 607.844.8222, Ext. 4311 with any questions.