Outreach Activities.
This year the Genomic Analysis Lab was involved in many different outreach
activities. In 2012 we hosted Frank Gutierrez as a summer intern from the Harvey
Mudd College Upward Bound Program (picture 1). This program helps low income,
often first-generation college-bound students. The program is designed to “generate
the skills and motivation necessary for success in college.” During his internship
Frank learned how to genotype and isolate homozygous lines from the Salk T-DNA
seed collection. This involved how to select, sterilize and germinate seed lines in
culture plates with media, transfer the seedlings to pots with soil, collect plant tissue
to extract and purify DNA from it, using PCR and gel electrophoresis to identify
specific T-DNA inserts, and finally collect the seeds from plants identified as T-DNA
homozygous. In his internship Frank learned the importance of Arabidopsis thaliana
in science and how a plant biologist can perform reverse genetic studies using TDNA lines in order to elucidate the function of genes in plants. At the end of his
internship, Frank gave a presentation at the Salk Fellows room.
Picture 1. HMCUBP Intern Frank Gutierrez, setting up a PCR and giving his final presentation.
That summer we also received Sophia Wang as a volunteer (Picture 2). Sophia was
recommended to our lab by her sister, Lucia, who was previously in our lab as a
volunteer and then as an intern from the HSSI program. Sophia’s internship allowed
her to get experience in a real lab. She was paired with Frank to learn basic plant
biology and basic lab techniques, including seed sterilization, seed planting in media
plates and their transfer to soil, general plant caring, and seed collection of
confirmed T-DNA homozygous specimens. She also learned how to prepare media
solutions, collect tissue for DNA extraction, as well as basic PCR and gel
electrophoresis setups.
Picture 2. High School Volunteer Sophia Wang.
GAL-E also gave a tour to the Aaron Price Fellows (Picture 3). This program’s main
goal is to teach fellows about government, cultural, and business institutions in an
effort to illustrate the significance and relevance of these institutions in our lives as
well as to provide exposure to exciting career opportunities and encourage the
creation of friendships between individuals from different ethnic, religious, and
economic backgrounds. The students are recruited for the three-year program
during their freshman year from Lincoln, Hoover, Pt. Loma and University City high
schools. This year the event was held in January. The students got a quick tour of
the lab, as well as a discussion about next-generation sequencing and how
important it is in the future of science. They asked a lot of questions about careers
in science and what kinds of opportunities there are. They then got a chance to
practice pipetting by spotting seeds onto plates of growth media. After a few days
we sent pictures of the grown plates to each student because they wanted to see
how quickly the plants grew. It was such a success that some of them used the
pictures in school reports.
Picture 3. Aaron Price Fellows touring GAL-E.
In early March we received around 24 students for the March of Dimes High School
Science Day at SALK (Picture 4). This is a well-attended annual event that brings
students and teachers from diverse high school campuses throughout San Diego to
the Salk Institute for a day. The event begins with a short introduction from one of
Salk’s faculty members explaining how they initially got involved in science and the
impact that their research has on the community. The students are then divided into
small groups and rotated through two or three unique laboratory experiments that
have been designed by various groups of Salk’s graduate students, post-docs, and
technicians. The Genomic Analysis Lab was visited by four groups of approximately
six students each. Each group was given a quick tour of the laboratory as well as 45
minutes of guided hands-on experience with molecular biology techniques such as
DNA extraction, gel electrophoresis, and a general overview of our high-throughput
PCR set up pipeline, and next-generation sequencing analysis
Picture 4. High School students visiting the Salk institute Genomic Analysis Lab.
Early this year we received Joaquin Reyna (Picture 4) from UCSD’s Initiative for
Maximizing Student Development (IMSD). The goal of the IMSD program is to
motivate, mentor, and facilitate the transition of students from disadvantaged
economic and social backgrounds and students with disabilities from college
education to Ph.D. programs in the sciences. Joaquin is being mentored by some of
GAL-E’s informaticists in the field of programming and data analysis.
Picture 4. Joaquin Reyna from UCSD’s IMSD.
The Genomic Analysis Laboratory also employs four undergraduate students that
work part time in our lab while attending classes at UCSD. This experience helps
these students not just to have an income, but also to develop skills beyond
laboratory classes (Picture 5).
Picture 5. UCSD students at GAL.