Download Cell Biology Day at Anschutz “Do all cells have the same organelles

Cell Biology Day at Anschutz
“Do all cells have the same organelles?” asked an inquisitive 7th
grade student at the first ever ‘Cell Biology Day at Anschutz’
outreach event on April 15. “How do organelles move around
the cell?” inquired her classmate. “And how does DAPI stain
specifically make the nucleus blue and not the rest of the cell?”
These are just a few of the amazing questions the very
enthusiastic middle school students from Slavens School asked
graduate students during this exciting, inaugural outreach day
made possible by generous support from ASCB.
On April 15, 2016 the Cell, Stem Cell, and Development (CSD)
Graduate Program welcomed 22 middle school students to the University of
Colorado Anschutz Medical
Campus to experience real
scientists at work. During this day
of cell biology exploration, I initially
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. I was
amazed at the numerous, excellent
questions that the students asked
about each topic I introduced!
After the introduction presentation, the students split up into groups of five to interact directly
with a current PhD student. CSD graduate students Colby Fees, Tanya Brown, Veronica
Fregoso, Anthony
Junker, Jason Dinella,
and Jayne Aiken
brought small groups
of the middle school
students into their labs
to show them biology
lab techniques and
large equipment such
as centrifuges and confocal microscopes. We then lead them
through interactive activities, including having the students
image live cells to view cellular organelles. 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 lunch, the students made model cells out of Jell-O
and candy. 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 Twizzlers? “Microtubules!” Overall, this was a fun
and exciting event that got the both the middle school students and the
graduate students enthused about biology!
— by Jayne Aiken