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Abstract To help foster interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), it is important to develop opportunities that excite and teach young minds about STEM-related fields. Over the past several years, our university-based research group has sought to help grow excitement around the biomechanics and biomedical engineering fields. The purposes of this technical brief are to (1) discuss the development of a partnership built between a St. Louis area high school and biomechanics research lab and (2) provide practical guidance for other researchers looking to implement a long-term outreach program. The partnership uses three different outreach opportunities. The first opportunity consisted of 12th-grade students visiting university research labs for an up-close perspective of ongoing biomedical research. The second opportunity was a biomedical research showcase where research-active graduate students traveled to the high school to perform demonstrations. The third opportunity consisted of a collaborative capstone project where a high school student was able to carry out research directly in a university lab. To date, we have expanded our reach from 19 students to interacting with over 100 students, which has yielded increased interest in STEM related research. Our postprogram survey showed that outreach programs such as the one described herein can increase interest in STEM within all ages of high school students. Building partnerships between high schools and university researchers increases the interest in STEM amongst high school students, and gives graduate students an outlet to present work to an eager-to-learn audience.
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An idea to explore: Engaging high school students in structure‐function studies of bacterial sortase enzymes and inhibitors ‐ A comprehensive computational experimental pipeline
Abstract High school science fairs provide an exceptional opportunity for students to gain experience with scientific research, and participation has positive outcomes with respect to chosen careers in the sciences. However, it can be challenging to engage high school students in university‐level research outside of formal internship programs. Here, we describe an experimental pipeline for a computational structural biology project that engages high school students. Students are involved at every step of the investigation and utilize freely available software to dock inhibitors onto protein homologues, and then analyze the resulting complexes. Bacterial sortases are transpeptidases on the cell surface of Gram‐positive bacteria and are a potential target for the development of antibiotics. Students modeled inhibitors bound to sortases from several organisms, asking questions about affinity and selectivity. Their project was ranked in the top 10% at both regional and state science fairs. This project design is easily adaptable to countless other protein systems and provides a pipeline for collaborative high school student/university professor inquiry.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2044958
- PAR ID:
- 10442269
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1470-8175
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 606-615
- Size(s):
- p. 606-615
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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