North Valley Biotechnology Center
Jeffery O’Neal, ID
Heather Brown, PC
Phone: (916) 484-8660
Phone: (916)-484-8898
E-mail: onealj@arc.losrios.edu
E-mail: brownh@arc.losrios.edu
Website: http://www.arc.losrios.edu/biotech
Update May 2011
New Workforce Innovations Partnership Grant Activities Begin: The North Valley Biotechnology Center recently
received a WIP grant from the Community College Chancellor’s Office. The overall goal of the project is to provide
engaging biotechnology science-based activities to students in the Sacramento and Central Valley regions, thereby
stimulating student interest in science and exposing them to new career opportunities. The major components of the grant
are:
1. Develop classroom ready learning modules for high school teachers and students which are directly related to
modern techniques used in industry and University labs.
2. Conduct 3-day summer workshops and a series of Saturday workshops during the school year to familiarize
teachers with our program curriculum, and make them eligible to use the laboratory loan kits.
3. Provide summer and after school field trips for teachers and students to local labs doing leading edge research at
Universities and industry.
4. Provide laboratory loan kits to allow teachers to conduct these exciting hands-on lab exercises in their classrooms.
5. Help build a connected scientific community among teachers using modern social networking tools such as
Facebook, Twitter and Google.
A one-day workshop for high school teachers, conducted in Sacramento on April 9, was the kick-off event for this
program. The workshop included hands-on laboratory exercise in an accessible format for high school classrooms,
lectures covering a variety of techniques and advances in molecular biology, and roundtable discussions on best practices.
Twelve teachers from four counties attended.
WIP Advisory Committee Meeting was held in West Sacramento. The first meeting of the WIP advisory committee
included participants from industry, high schools, UC Davis, CSUS, and local non-profit and economic development
agencies. Innovative curriculum and partnering opportunities for key activities were discussed.
Upcoming Workshops for Teachers:
Four –Day Forensics Workshop for Teachers, June 27-30th: ARC Campus Sacramento. Engaging, hands-on Forensic
Science lab exercises! Featuring Kathy Mirakovits, an honored teacher and author who has been presenting Forensics
workshops for over 10 years! Topics include: background information and practice in Fingerprinting, Bloodstain Pattern
Analysis, Glass Fracture Analysis, Shoeprints, DNA, Hair & Fiber Analysis and Forensic Anthropology. Guest speakers
from law enforcement are also scheduled.
July 11th-13th: Bio-Molecular Techniques for the Classroom; Learn molecular biology techniques in use in
modern life-science workplaces. Attendance includes access to our equipment loan program! Workshop
location: American River College main campus.
August 1st-4th (approximate dates): Bioinformatics. Learn to use computers to analyze complex molecular
biological and genetic data. Workshop location: UC Davis.
Contact Heather Brown for Information on these and other upcoming workshops.