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From Gene Therapy to Genetic Fingerprinting: What Some Kids Will Do on Their Summer Vacation!, (Dominionization)

From Gene Therapy to Genetic Fingerprinting: What Some Kids Will Do on Their Summer Vacation!

Washington High-School Students Spend a Week Doing Lab Work at Fred Hutchinson

SEATTLE, July 22 /PRNewswire/ --

-- "In HutchLab you can do things you're never given the chance to do at

school."

-- "You get to learn a lot about what lab researchers really do."

-- "It was mentally challenging and placed me in a setting with other

students who have similar interests -- I really enjoyed this week!"

-- "I would jump at the chance to do it again."

That's what former students have said about HutchLab, an intensive, summer-science workshop offered by Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Now in its fifth year, HutchLab will be offered in two one-week sessions: July 27-Aug. 1 (Session 1) and Aug. 3-8 (Session 2). Each session, to be held at Fred Hutchinson's campus on South Lake Union, will accommodate 20 students from across Washington. The students were selected by lottery from a pool of 170 eligible applicants.

The students will learn a variety of biomedical research approaches used to explore and understand genetic diseases, from gene therapy to genetic fingerprinting. The theme of this summer's program is genetic diseases of the blood. On the final day of the program, students will share what they have learned using posters or computer-based presentations.

The aim of HutchLab is to build strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills through various scientific exercises designed to tackle challenging, real-world problems based on themes relevant to everyday life.

"Whether or not students become scientists, being scientifically literate will help them to make decisions about their health and their environment," said Wendy Law, HutchLab post-doctoral fellow and instructor.

The workshop was created to address the many requests from science students who hope to visit and work on research projects at Fred Hutchinson.

HutchLab participants benefit from a student-teacher ratio of four to one. They work individually and in teams under the supervision of HutchLab staff scientists and an expert team of instructors, including Sherry Stuber of Sammamish High School (Bellevue), Penny Pagels of Ballard High School (Seattle), Colleen Fox of Hazen High School (Renton) and Larry Bencivengo of Mercer Island High School (Mercer Island). Students also interact with many Fred Hutchinson scientists and staff.

HutchLab development and programming during the past five years has been supported by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health. The program currently seeks funding to continue its work in improving scientific literacy and introducing students to biomedical research at a world-renowned cancer-research center.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home of two Nobel Prize laureates, is an independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical research to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal diseases. Fred Hutchinson receives more funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other independent U.S. research center. Recognized internationally for its pioneering work in bone-marrow transplantation, the center's four scientific divisions collaborate to form a unique environment for conducting basic and applied science. Fred Hutchinson, in collaboration with its clinical and research partners, the University of Washington and Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the Pacific Northwest and is one of 39 nationwide. For more information, visit the center's Web site at www.fhcrc.org.

Thu Aug 7