Nichole_A_Kellerman@mcpsmd.org
G-206
Summary:
The Waksman Student Scholars Program (WSSP) provides opportunities for high school students and their teachers to conduct an authentic research project in molecular biology and bioinformatics and publish their findings. This is a year-long program that begins each year with summer Institutes for teachers and one or two of their students. It continues back at each high school during the academic year, when more students can become involved in the research project in either a class or club setting. In the course of these studies, students, teachers, and research scientists work together on a genuine research problem. By actually doing science, students gain an understanding of how science operates and are encouraged to continue their education and careers in a science discipline. A video of an overview of the WSSP can be found here.
Motto: learning science by doing science
Mission:
Each year-long WSSP research project explores basic concepts and relevant themes in molecular biology, bioinformatics, and computational biology using the resources found on the Internet. Students use molecular biology laboratory protocols (DNA purification, PCR, restriction digests, and agarose gel electrophoresis) to isolate and analyze DNA samples. These DNA samples are sequenced and students determine if the sequences are similar to genes from other organisms using bioinformatic programs and accessing databases that are used daily by practicing research scientists. Since the DNA sequences from these genes have never before been determined, students' analyses are of interest to other scientists. Novel findings are published on GenBank, the international repository of all known DNA sequences. Each published sequence bears the student's name and his/her teacher's name. An example of a published sequence report can be found here.