High school science teachers who have attended a past MIT summer workshop are invited to bring their Honors and AP Biology classes to the Biology Department for a day of lectures and hands-on activities. The one-day field trip always takes place in March during MIT's spring break.

Students attend a morning lecture given by an MIT faculty, then break up into small groups for various hands-on activities. After a lunch with scientists (pizza and drinks provided) the students regroup for more hands-on activities or a laboratory visit.

An archive of previous years' lab protocols is available.

Hands-on Activities

Anatomy and development of Zebrafish, Planaria and C. elegans Introductory lecture by Dr. Mandana Sassanfar
Wild type and mutant zebrafish embryos were provided by Nelly Cruz from the Lees/Hopkins Laboratory; wild type and mutant C.elegans were provided by Svetlana Rojevsky, Ekaterina Zagriadskaia, and Alice Rushforth from the Biology teaching labs at MIT. Planaria were purchased from Carolina Biologicals.

Instructors: Nelly Cruz, Tyler Dewitt, Glenna Wink Foight, Jessica Hurt, Jennifer Kaplan, Diana Lu, Leslie Mebane, Emily Rosowski, Vidya Subramanian, Lauren Surface, Pavan Vaidyanathan, Julie valastyan, Matt Youngman, and Mandana Sassanfar

Cow eye dissection
Dr. Monica Linden, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

DNA extraction from Strawberries
Leah Okumura, Department of Biology and Whitehead Institute

StarGenetics lab
Sera Thornton and Charles Lin, Department of Biology

                          

"Toxoplasma" with Lindsay Julian and Renee McKell