NOVEL SUMMER SCHOOL LAB COURSE FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED YOUNGSTERS:
“EXPERIMENTS WITH GFP: THE ART AND THE SCIENCE”

This summer, Professor Bill Ward will be teaching, for the first time in Rutgers history, under the course heading, Special Topics in Biochemistry, (11-115-433), a multidisciplinary, 3-credit lab course for profoundly gifted and talented youngsters. This course, “Experiments with GFP: The Art and the Science,” will be limited to 20 qualifying students* (grade school through early college admits). The course runs in two sections, Section D1 from June 25 to July 16, 2012 and Section G1 from July 16 to August 3 2012, Mon-Fri from 9 am to noon.  Both classes, together, will take the all-day field trip to Stone Harbor on July 16.

Dr. Ward is the President of Brighter Ideas, a GFP-based biotechnology assay-design company located in North Brunswick, NJ. But, he is also a long-time biochemistry professor at Rutgers University. Dr. Ward is a world expert in the biochemistry of green-fluorescent protein (GFP) and its numerous commercial and educational applications. He, and three experienced Rutgers graduates (each with backgrounds in biochemistry and the arts), will supervise teams of 4-5 students, showing them how to purify, from a coastal jellyfish, a novel green-fluorescent protein. Work will be conducted in a suite of rooms on the Cook Campus of Rutgers, New Brunswick (a fully equipped college biochemistry teaching lab with adjoining lecture room and nearby student-accessible computer room). When not purifying GFP with three-phase partitioning, column chromatograpy, electrophoresis, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), students will observe, first hand, the brilliant bioluminescence, the life cycle, and the microscopic anatomy of NJ shore comb jellies (ctenophores). As the title indicates, this course combines art with science in a variety of ways. The student teams will design and build an aquarium system for maintaining these incredibly fragile animals and they will construct an efficient system to hatch and harvest brine shrimp. Hints on how to photograph ctenophores, to show off the brilliant iridescence of their fused cilia, will be provided—on that day, everyone should have his/her camera. Harvested brine shrimp larvae will provide the necessary, 24-hour-a-day, plankton substitutes needed to feed the ctenophores housed in the aquarium system the students will have designed. At other times the students will turn real jelly fish or comb jellies into works of art, suitable as wall hangings www.marineimpressions.net.

On July 16, both the class sections will be transported to South Jersey for full-day, professionally narrated field trip cruise through sheltered bays near Stone Harbor. If space permits, some parents may also attend, the $100 field trip fee also will apply to the parents. Among other cruise activities, we will be searching for jellyfish that contain the novel GFP we wish to purify in the lab. If the class is successful in purifying this novel GFP, the entire group may be able to submit their results for publication in a scholastic magazine, each student acknowledged as a co-author.

Outstanding applicants will be selected on the basis of three essays (from a list of 9) that they will write and send directly to Professor Ward at crebb@rci.rutgers.edu. NOTE: On the essay document, please mention your email address and the section (D1 or G1) you wish to register and how you heard about this program ( if via email to your school, name of the person who contacted your school or the Facebook name). Successful applicants will be given a special permission number, specific to the section, enabling them to register for the course. University registration requirements for this course also include a minimum 3.0 GPA and, for those under 16 years of age, an SAT or PSAT score and an interview with a parent. Closing date for the registration is May 25, 2012. Please use the below link for dates-deadlines, fees and tuition.

http://summer.rutgers.edu/highschool/dates-deadlines

Further information about the course can be accessed via the web sites listed below.

Interested students and parents may begin by accessing the Rutgers Summer Session web site at http://summer.rutgers.edu/highschool and the departmental site at http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~dbm/11115433SpecialTopicsBiochem.html. The instructor’s personal requirement for admission is for students to answer three of nine questions posed on the departmental site. Those essays must be sent directly to Professor Ward at crebb@rci.rutgers.edu. Students should write their own essay answers, paying close attention to what Professor Ward considers most important—imagination, creativity, zeal to learn, curiosity, etc. While RIGHT vs WRONG is not stressed, each question should be studied carefully so that the answers follow logically from the question being asked. Essays will be reviewed promptly and 6-digit special permission numbers will be issued to those who qualify. NOTE: On the essay document, please mention your email address and the section (D1 or G1) you wish to register for and how you heard about this program ( if via email to your school, name of the person who contacted your school or the Facebook name). Successful applicants will be given a special permission number, specific to the section, enabling them to register for the course. Please retain 5 extra copies of your essays. On June 25 and July 16, working groups of 4-5 students (each with a professional mentor) will be formed. The group and the mentor will remain together throughout the course. On the first class day, members of the working groups will exchange essays and then critique the essays they are handed. Once the special permission number is granted, students can complete the registration. It is suggested that essays be submitted by mid-May. Submitting the essays and receiving the special permission number do not obligate the student to register.

                                                                     Student Testimonials

 Last summer I took the course “Special Topics in Biochemistry” taught by Dr. Ward. It was my first time taking a Rutgers Summer Course and I could not have been happier with my experience. The course takes students through the complete purification of GFP- from the extraction of the protein to the last steps of purification. Students, working in small groups with one instructor, go through every step of the purification. Dr. Ward and other assistant teachers explain the reasoning behind each process and why it works. Students of all ages are able to understand complicated processes, even methods that are unique as TPP. Students are allowed to use equipment and perform experiments that we could never dream of doing in school! The course is truly a hands- on course, perfect for students who learn by doing. At the end of the course, students are allowed to make ‘jellyfish art’; one of the most beautiful ways to create truly natural artwork! I highly recommend taking "Special Topics in Biochemistry"; it is an unique and interesting course that students of all ages can really enjoy.

Shreya Gupta, Grade 10, East Brunswick High School
Summer, 2011 course registrant.

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*Should the course attract 32 or more registrants, we will open an afternoon session (2 pm to 5 pm) during the same three week period (June 25- July 16). For parents and young students from outside the central New Jersey area, Rutgers has reserved a block of one-bedroom suites at a local hotel (Embassy Suites, Piscataway/Somerset). The cost is $99 per one-bedroom suite, including cooked breakfasts and afternoon reception. Parents will contact the hotel directly to make lodging arrangements.

Sincerely,

Dr. William Ward
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Center for Research & Education in Bioluminescence & Biotechnology (CREBB)
Cook College, Rutgers, The State University
Dept of Biochemistry & Microbiology
76 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-932-9562 x216 / Fax: 732-932-3633
crebb@rci.rutgers.edu