For the past three summers, high school students have been elbow to elbow generating bacterial mutants, figuring out how the mutants were different from each other, cloning out the mutations, and learning how to interpret DNA sequence information, all for the sake of advancing scientific knowledge and having fun. Hiram College has hosted 2-3 sessions of the Hiram Genomics Academy each summer, allowing a total of 129 high school students from high schools all over Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and Virginia, the opportunity to work with Hiram College faculty and undergraduates on a bacterial genome project.
The students are participating in what is called functional genomics where they start to test hypotheses about gene function based on the complete DNA sequence of the organism. The two target organisms of interest, Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae, are plant pathogens. Functional genomics efforts connect genes to organismal functions and this will allow researchers to better understand how each pathogen interacts with plants causing disease under certain circumstances and not under others.
Hiram College faculty conduct the academy sessions with the assistance of several undergraduate research students who acted as veteran mentors for the high school students. The academy sessions provide not only a first-class research experience but also a chance to live on a college campus for a few days, and are supported by a science education grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as by Hiram College.
The research output of the high school students has been impressive so far. Over 10,000 mutants of Agrobacterium were generated and screened during the 2006-2007 academy sessions, and the mutations were cloned out and sequenced for 140 of these mutants. During 2008, students generated and screened over 2,000 mutants of Acidovorax, resulting in over 40 mutants of interest.
Parent feedback after the academy sessions indicate the unique value of these research opportunities.
Several of the high school students have come back to Hiram College during their senior year to continue their summer research or to take on another research project.
The Hiram Genomics Academy is one of several outreach efforts run by the Center for Deciphering Life’s Languages at Hiram College, established in 2006 as one of six centers of excellence. The Center follows up and greatly expands on the earlier success achieved by the Hiram Genomics Initiative. Since January of 2002, undergraduate and high school students have been involved in novel genomics and microbiology research projects as part of the classroom in order to (1) teach basic scientific principles involved in genetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics, genomics, biochemistry, and microbiology, (2) excite students about getting the most out of their biology education, and (3) encourage students to seek out further research experiences beyond the classroom. Approximately one-sixth of the Hiram College student body has participated in HGI activities during that time as have over 300 high school students from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The Center expands these efforts by adding metabolomics, developmental biology, neuroscience, molecular imaging, organic and polymer chemistry, and computational science to its preexisting leadership in genomics and bioinformatics education.
For more information about the Center for Deciphering Life’s Languages and other efforts at Hiram College funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, please contact Brad Goodner (330-569-5260, goodnerbw@hiram.edu), Shawn Brown (330-569-5286, brownsm@hiram.edu), or Michelle Robertson (330-569-5284, robertsonml@hiram.edu).
