Standing with his finished product - DNA samples on a blue gel - Dedham High School freshman Anthony Hage expertly explained the fingerprinting experiment he conducted yesterday.
He was seeking to solve a fictional crime scenario. He used small tubes, a centrifuge, pipets and an agarose gel - eventually allowing him to compare crime scene DNA with that of two "suspects." Hage determined that suspect 2's DNA matched the crime DNA, as both had the same amount of base pairs.
Hage and other honors biology students conducted their experiments yesterday in part aboard the MobileLab, a high-tech truck visiting Dedham High through the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation's BioTeach program, which was established by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
They also did part of their experiments in their own classroom using equipment purchased with a BioTeach grant given to the school.
"It was pretty interesting because it was the first time we actually did a real lab with biotechnology," said Hage, 15.
Hage, who is part of the school's new Bioscience Careers Club, is already into biotech. The goal yesterday was to get more students interested.
"We wanted to use (the MobileLab) as an attention draw for our youngest kids, our freshmen," said biology and chemistry teacher Linda Kobierski, who oversaw two classes' participation in the DNA experiment Wednesday and Thursday. "We're trying to use this grant to reach students as early as possible and get them interested in these types of careers."
The BioTeach program trains Massachusetts high school teachers on "cutting-edge biotechnology labs," and gives grants so those teachers have the necessary equipment and lab supplies for experiments such as the DNA fingerprinting exercise.
Kobierski was one of three Dedham teachers who received BioTeach training over the summer. Dedham is one of 49 schools to receive a BioTeach grant this academic year; MassBioEd Executive Director Lance Hartford said each school is given up to $8,000 in equipment.
The MobileLab - a collaboration between MassBioEd and the Boston University School of Medicine's CityLab - will visit all 49 schools over the course of this year. But it is not intended to be a "one-shot deal," Hartford said.
"The goal is really to establish this kind of lab in the schools we are working with," he said.
A number of local leaders turned out for the MobileLab's visit to Dedham yesterday, including state Rep. Paul McMurtry, School Committee members Tracy Driscoll, Margaret Connolly and Joanne Flatley, and Bob Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
Freshman Erin Pike, 15, said she and her fellow students "learned a lot of new stuff about DNA," including how it can be applied to real life.
For many, including freshman Kate Rocha, 14, it was the first time doing a DNA experiment.
"I don't think I'm going to be joining any forensic squads anytime soon," she quipped.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
