Outreach
The Department of Biochemistry in collaboration with the University of Vermont Cancer Center and other UVM College of Medicine departments actively participates in education outreach to in Vermont. Below are schools visited.
Colchester High School
Students
visited the Vermont Cancer Center on April 15, 2014. Members of our Educational Outreach team and their colleagues facilitated a cancer research experience that included the Pathology Teaching Lab, Microscopy Imaging Core, Advanced Genome
Technologies Core, and Dr. Karen Lounsbury’s Laboratory. Faculty and staff from several departments worked together in developing and providing the students with this outstanding opportunity. We thank Dr. Kanayo Tsatsumi, Doug
Taatjes, Jan Schwartz, Michele VonTurkovich ,Tim Hunter, Scott Tighe, Jessica Hoffman, Meghann Polermo, Mary Lou Shane, Heather Cyr, Terri Messier, Paula Deming, Koela Ray and Karen Lounsbury for their commitment to student outreach.
Mount Mansfield Union High School
Students
enrolled in Bill Eschholz’s AP Biology class visited the Vermont Cancer Center on Friday May 30, 2014. The students toured the Pathology Museum, the Advanced Genome Technologies Core, the Microscopy Imaging Center, and undergraduate
research students in Dr. Fran Carr laboratory and Dr. Nick Farina in the Stein/Lian laboratory providing them with an overview of the research programs at the Vermont Cancer Center. The VCC outreach team in conjunction with faculty and staff
from several departments worked together in developing and providing the students with this outstanding opportunity. We would like to thank Dr. Lauren Pearson, William Manning, Doug Taatjes, Jan Schwarz, Michele VonTurkovich, Tim Hunter,
Scott Tighe, Jessica Hoffman, Meghann Palermo, Heather Cyr, Sarah Keblin, Kimberly Luebbers, Sandy May, Terri Messier, Paula Deming, and Koela Ray for all of their efforts in making the visit a success.
Fredrick H. Tuttle Middle School
Jessica Hoffman, Tim Hunter, and Terri Messier traveled to on April 9th &10th to work with Mrs. Amelia
Lutz’s 8th grade science classes. They tailored a program to complement the student’s course work on Mendelian genetics providing some hands on genetic analysis to engaging the student’s scientific curiosity. In addition,
they provided an opportunity for the students to practice their pipetting, solution making skills.
Bellows Free Academy St. Albans
Anne
Steger Kennedy, a high school student, interacted with several members of the Stein/Lian Laboratory during the spring semester of 2013 as part of the Vermont Cancer Center Outreach Internship Program. During the fall of 2013 through the
spring of 2014, she initiated a project under the mentorship of Dr. Phillip Tai involving the characterization of a novel enhancer element that drives transcription of the Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1-a (Hif1-a) gene. This ongoing work further explores
how the Hif1-a gene is controlled during cancer and metastasis.
Members of our Educational Outreach team and their colleagues facilitated a cancer research experience that included:
- Hands-on interactions in the Pathology Teaching Lab (Jan Schwarz and Dr. Sharon Mount)
- Hands-on exposure to state-of-the-art microscopy in the Microscopy Core (Doug Taatjes, Jan Schwarz, Nicole Bouffard and MicheleVonTurkovich)
- A tour of the Advanced Genome Technology Core (Scott Tighe and Meghann Palermo)
- A tour of Arti Shukla's research laboratory (Arti Shukla and Stacie Beuschel)
- Completing a hands-on macro-array experiment led by Meghann Palermo, Scott Tighe, Shirwin Pockwinse, and Terri Messier
There was an expressed appreciation from the students of the opportunity for the hands-on experience and interaction with science at the forefront within the Vermont Cancer Center. High school Students gain experience working with scientists
in several Vermont Cancer Center research labs.