Three Phlebotomy and Laboratory Science students from the Monroe 2 BOCES Career and Technical Education Center had the opportunity to research the genome of Bifidobacterium longum bacteria (found in many yogurts and probiotics) through the Western New York Genetics in Research and Health Care Partnership. The University at Buffalo worked with students from WEMOCO as they participated in the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) virtual capstone event, supported by the National Institutes of Health. The program was created during a collaboration between the University at Buffalo and the New York State Area Health Education Center (
NYS AHEC) System.
Over
100 high school students from 13 area schools presented projects on bioinformatics and genomics during the virtual event. Among those students were WEMOCO seniors Elizabeth Davlin (Greece) and Crystal Lee (Greece) and junior Sara Abdel (Greece). The students were randomly selected for the event after showing interest in working on the research study.
The students used online bioinformatics tools to confirm the identity of genes predicted by a sequencing program. The tools compare the genes to sequences of other bacteria. According to Phlebotomy and Laboratory Science teacher Jim Payne, these tools are not easy to use, as they are the same programs that PhD researchers use. He says his students displayed professionalism throughout the study and were successful at learning how to use the tools.
The group created a professional scientific poster and recorded their presentation via Zoom. They have already presented to 6 scientists in preparation during the days leading up to their scheduled recording. The scientists were incredibly impressed by the students and the quality of their scientific work. The video and their poster have been posted on the virtual capstone website below. They will then receive written questions from UB professors for the students to answer.
Davlin, who is going to Nazareth College for clinical lab science and plans to minor in bioethics, says the opportunity to work on this presentation offered her a way to see what goes into the research before her college courses begin. She was able to discover that she is interested in pursuing this type of research, moving forward.
Abdel says the opportunity was fun and she was excited to be able to learn about micro/genetics before she enters her senior year of high school. She enjoyed being able to research a topic that wasn’t well-known.
Lee will be attending RIT in the fall, majoring in biotechnology and molecular bioscience. Following this research study, she now plans to also minor in bioinformatics.
The project is intended to serve as a pipeline for teacher and student recruitment and training and mentorship in bioscience, with a focus on basic bioinformatics research.
The virtual capstone event took place on Tuesday, June 16. You can view a recording of the event,
here. Posters from the participating high schools can be viewed online,
here.