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There
are many advantages to living near a world-class
research university like Cornell. For high school
students, one such advantage is having a
world-class researcher visit their science
classroom. Susan McCouch, Department of Plant
Breeding and Genetics, has worked with local high
schools since 2002 to create an exciting hands-on
laboratory experience that also meets New Yorkís
educational standards for the Living Environment
curriculum. Once again this year, students in
Groton, Homer, and Cortland welcomed McCouch into
their classrooms.
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Students learn about
molecular genetics technologies in the regular
course content in Living Environment, but working
with McCouch allowed them to experience firsthand
what it means to extract DNA from living cells,
and to examine how DNA confers unique
characteristics on all biological
organisms.
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Students were given whole
grains of rice and directions for growing rice in
their gardens this summer. In Homer, McCouch and
several of her graduate students and research
assistants also shared their personal travel and
research experiences through discussion and
slides.
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The highlight of all the classes
was the hands-on lab experience involving
grinding plant tissue on liquid nitrogen,
extracting DNA, and doing gel electrophoresis ó
activities that are commonly performed by
biologists working in any aspect of genetics
today.
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The programs also included a
discussion about the importance of rice in the
human diet. Rice is the staple food for almost
half of the worldís population, and genetic
research on rice can inform studies of many other
cereal crops, including maize (corn), wheat,
barley, rye, and oats.
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This exercise was
created through a grant from the National Science
Foundation to McCouch and Jones. This grant funds
the equipment and resources for outreach to
Homer, Groton, and Cortland high schools each
year.
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