Download Cell Biology Day at Anschutz 2017

Cell Biology Day at Anschutz 2017
“Can you see synaptic connections on a microscope?” asked an
inquisitive 7th grade student at the second annual ‘Cell Biology Day at
Anschutz’ outreach event on May 5th. “What’s the clinical relevance of
cell biology?” inquired her classmate. And “how do you remove the
whole skeleton from a mouse?” These are just a few of the amazing
questions the very enthusiastic middle school students from Slavens
School asked graduate students during this exciting outreach day made
possible by generous support from ASCB.
On May 5, 2017 the Cell Biology, Stem Cell, and Development (CSD) Graduate Program
welcomed 20 middle school students to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to
experience real scientists at work. During this day of cell biology exploration, grad student
Anthony Junker introduced the students to the major cell
organelles and showed them real micrographs and fluorescent
images of cellular organelles that they had previously learned
about in textbooks. After the cell biology introduction, the middle
schoolers immediately got hands on with cell biology, making
model cells with candies and Jell-O. The students had to guess
which candies represented which organelles. When asked,
“What do you guys think the large, blue gumballs represent?”
The students collectively shouted, “Nucleus!” And what
about the smooth and sour gummy worms? “Smooth
and rough ER!”. The students got to decide how much of
each organelle their particular cell needed, and many
decided that theirs were multinucleated cancer cells with
multiple blue gumball nuclei.
After the Jell-O cell activity, current graduate students Kayt Hawley,
Taylor Wallace, Anthony Junker, Georgia Buscaglia, and Jayne
Aiken gave an overview of their research projects, explaining how
they use cells and microscopy to answer important biological
questions. The students were then split into small groups to
accompany the grad students into their research labs and see
real-life science first hand. In the labs, the middle schoolers got to
look at cells in all
types of model
organisms including
mouse brain sections,
zebra fish, tetrahymena, cancer cells, and live
neurons. After the lab tours, the student groups
came back together to enjoy a pizza lunch with
graduate students who answered questions
about their current research and what it is like to
work in the biology field. After the conclusion of
the outreach event, all students, both middle
schoolers and graduate, ended up invigorated
about cell biology and ready to share their
experiences!
— by Jayne Aiken