Katie Kelly (Endicott College '12) determines the quality of her DNA as part of a DNA fixative study she conducted at OGL during her semester-long internship.

   

Interns at OGL: The internship initiative at OGL has grown to include programs with Gordon College, Endicott College, and Ipswich High School. Through these collaborations, OGL hosts new students every year,  training them in basic lab skills and in methods of molecular biology.   

Meet OGL Intern Katie Kelly! One of our talented interns from Endicott College, Katie recently completed a semester-long program at OGL.  During her stay, Katie assisted with the daily tasks of the Ocean Genome Resource, our tissue and DNA biorepository. This offered her a chance to hone her molecular biology skills and gain experience with sample and data analysis in a real-world professional setting.  Katie also conducted her own research, helping to design and carry out experiments to test new fixative formulations for OGL.  As a result of her hard work and dedication, Katie will be featured in the Endicott College Magazine, Soundings.  The full article will be appearing later this summer. 

Students from Triton High School extract DNA from snow peas  during their visit to OGL in March.

In addition to hosting interns, OGL invites school groups to visit our facilities.  Most recently, 80 students from the Triton Regional High School spent a morning at OGL touring our facility and getting a hands-on demonstration of what it takes to run a biorepository. They even got the chance to purify DNA for themselves! The students extracted DNA from snow peas and learned what DNA looks like and how to measure its quantity and quality. Finally, the visit was capped off with a guided tour through the New England Biolabs waste water treatment facility. This may sound gross, but students learned how NEB uses a lush greenhouse full of plants, including bananas, grasses, flowers, and trees, along with bacteria and fungi, to safely clean water without the use of harsh chemicals.

Bruce Strong gives Triton High School students a tour of New England Biolabs' beautiful greenhouse, and explains how these plants are used to treat waste water.

OGL Director Dan Distel demonstrates molecular biology laboratory techniques to students in the Sea Education Association's SEA Semester program .

Not only do school groups come to OGL, but OGL also goes to schools to conduct lectures and labs.  Last month, OGR collections manager Timery Deboer and director Dan Distel headed to Woods Hole, MA to lead a 2-day workshop on  Molecular Methods in Biodiversity Research  as part of the Sea Education Association's SEA Semester Program on Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. This workshop provided students with theoretical and practical instruction in DNA extraction, preservation, amplification and analysis as they prepare to use DNA sequences to study species identity and species boundaries in the sea. 

The Road to Protection 

As the world's natural resources dwindle and more demands are made on them by industry and development, the protection of wildlife habitats has become a highly technical and politically sensitive process.  Join us next month as we show you how marine conservation areas, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries are established and what YOU can do to help make it happen!        

DONATE TO OGL 

Want to help OGL document and preserve the spectacular genetic diversity of our world's oceans?  Visit  http://www.oglf.org/Support.htm