On May 6th, the middle school students from the Biology Pen Pal Program visited campus to tour some of the labs and meet their graduate student Pen Pals. The lab tours were graciously hosted by the following labs and graduate students:
- Heidi MacLean in the Kingsolver/Buckley lab showed the students the different life stages of Manduca sexta and explained her work on how temperature can affect the evolution of butterflies.
- Lydia Smith in the Dangl lab demonstrated how to extract DNA from Arabidopsis plants and talked to the students about why we study plants and the usefulness of genetically modified organisms.
- Artur Romanchuk from the Jones lab presented an array of microscopic organisms, from bacteria to viruses to Drosophila and talked about his work with genetics and linking DNA to an organism’s phenotype.
- Antonio Serrato from the Pfennig lab showed the students the tadpoles and adults of spadefoot toads and talked about how the tadpoles can morph into carnivores or omnivores. He also discussed different molecular techniques, including gel electrophoresis and how it works.
A big thank you to the tour guides and also to Matt Smola, Stephanie Bellendir, and Greg Zapotoczny for helping chaperone the students throughout their visit.
Following the lab tours, the students were taken on a short (rainy) nature walk through Coker Arboretum, lead by Kyle Palmquist and Lisa Jones. They learned about different tree types, modes of dispersal of seeds, what makes a species invasive or not, and why leaves might be different shapes and sizes.
During a picnic lunch, the students met their graduate student Pen Pals for the first time and were able to chat about life, school, and science.
Thanks to all of the participants who made this program possible!