PITT HOSTS HIGH SCHOOL BIORESEARCH SUMMER CAMP

July 13, 2001

PITTSBURGH--Students from 14 area high schools will attend the second annual Howard Hughes Biology Research Camp, July 16-20, at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Biological Sciences.

The camp, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, gives high school students hands-on experience in biological research in the University of Pittsburgh biology labs, as well as field trips to pathology and pediatrics laboratories at Pitt and to the Bone Tissue Engineering Center.

"Introducing students to the state-of-the-art researchers and facilities at Pitt and other research venues in the Pittsburgh area will give these young scientists a broad view of the opportunities available for those with an interest in biology," said Douglas Chew, director of the camp and an instructor of biological sciences at Pitt.

The students will learn molecular biology techniques, including transformation, adding a fluorescent protein gene to E. coli bacteria by mixing DNA with the bacteria cells. The strain of E. coli bacteria the students will be using is non-pathogenic. Students will also perform antibody staining of cells, polymerase chain reaction (DNA fingerprinting with their own DNA), and protein purification.

The students will visit the laboratories of pediatric researcher Seth Corey, scientific director of the program in Stem Cell Biology and Therapeutics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Charles R. Rinaldo, Jr., professor of pathology, assistant director of clinical microbiology, and a principal investigator in one of the nation's largest studies of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The students will also enjoy a lunchtime ecology lecture by biology associate professor Walt Carson, an expert on biodiversity among mammals and insects in tropical rain forests.

Students from the following schools are participating in this year's camp: Aquinas Academy, The Ellis School, Faith Christian School, North Hills Junior High School, and Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Schenley, Peabody, Quaker Valley, Sewickley, Shaler, Upper St. Clair, Valley, and Keystone Oaks high schools.

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