Last Fall, students at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School (GNBVT) learned how to complete PCR laboratory experiments.  The teaching team (Scott Atkinson, Pam Baptiste, and Aimee O’Neill) has been enabling junior and senior classes at GNBVT to build robust molecular biology skills.  They learned about miniPCR machines through MassBioEd’s BioTeach program that seeks to engage more students and teachers in cutting-edge laboratory experiments.

On October 29th, our team visited the school and worked directly with more than 60 biotechnology students and the GNBVT teachers, allowing them to directly use miniPCR thermal cyclers and experiment end-to-end with DNA amplification, beyond the theory already assimilated through classroom work.

Erin Wallace, the Science Department Head at GNBVT, enabled the experience through her MassBioEd liaison.

We want to thank Scott, Pam, Erin, and the GNBVT and MassBioEd teams for an all-around unforgettable day. Especially the moment at the end of the class, when several students came to us to shake our hands and thanked us for the experience.

A home-made video documenting aspects of this amazing experience can be found here. Also find more details on this event at the MassBioEd site.