The Mississippi Wolbachia Rodeo hosted by LoydStar

Nov. 30, 2012 - The  Wolbachia Rodeo, a biotech competition for high school students, was hosted by LoydStar Attendance Center.  Twenty-one students from six different schools (Bogue Chitto, Enterprise, Loyd Star, West Lincoln, St.Andrew's and Cathedral) joined forces in search of a parasitic bacteria found in over 20% of insects.in Mississippi. With the help of equipment from the PRINCETON satellite, students used Primers from the MBL at Woods Hole, MA, to flank their target sequences in insects and bacteria.

 

To identify infected insects, students extracted and purified insect DNA. Using a thermal cycler, the target sequence was amplified. PCR products were loaded on 2% SYBR safe Egels for electrophoresis. Egels and PCR tubes were provided by UMMC's Base Pair program.The three steps of PCR: Denature, Anneal and Extension.   Guest speakers were DrTylerHodges from William Carey University, DrLisaKemp from the Mississippi Polymer Institute, and DrJeffreyBrown, State Medical Entomologist. Students tested fleas, bedbugs, mosquitoes and other insects. Wolbachia was detected in bedbugs, fleas and one mosquito.

Student teams and gels are below:

 

 

Loyd Star 

 

Enterprise / West Lincoln

 

 

Gel 1

Loyd Star & Enterprise/West Lincoln

 

                                    

Natchez Cathedral

 





Gel 2

Natchez Cathedral

 



St. Andrew's Episcopal School

 

 

Bogue Chitto

 

Gel 3

St. Andrew's & Bogue Chitto

Biomedical Students Tour William Carey's College of Osteopathic Medicine

      DID YOU KNOW MISSISSIPPI HAS TWO MEDICAL SCHOOLS?  Most people know about UMMC in Jackson but few know about the medical school in Hattiesburg. William Carey University's College of Osteopathic Medicine began classes in August 2010 and was created to address the shortage of physicians in Mississippi and surrounding states and to positively impact the healthcare of rural MS and surrounding states.

       MD or DO will follow the name of a doctor.  UMMC --> MD and William Carey University --> DO.  Both are licensed to prescribe medicine and perform surgery. Two thirds of doctors from a DO program become primary physicians compared to only 10% of doctors with a MD.

      Two ways the DO philosophy differs is that it:  1) Takes the whole patient approach; such as how a disorder affects other organs, factors from the workplace and genetics;  2) Focuses on preventative medicine.

      The DO philosophy started about 160 years ago with Dr. Andrew Still.

 

 

Nov. 6, 2012 - Biomed students started their tour in Green Science Hall with Dr. Tyler Hodges.

 

The College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is a short walk from Green Science Hall, consists of 3 buildings. The first class started in August of 2010. Each year 100 students are accepted from over 2,000 applicants.

 

 

Dr. Jim C. Weir

 

 

 

 

Jackson Cole, Ashley Boyd, Dakota White, Emily Campbell, Heather Mason and Dr. Hodges

 

A & P labs in Green Science Hall.

 

Dakota studies the art work of A & P students that recreated a skull using Play-Doh.

 

Dr. Tyler Hodges discussed bacterial cultures with Emily and Heather in his microbiology lab.

The 12th Princeton Satellite Workshop: Sept. 22 & Oct. 6, 2012

 

 

The Second Meeting:  Saturday (Oct. 6, 2012)

 

                                   

 

 

 

 

Results from PTC - Alpha Biolabs.

Suggestion: Increase vortex time after obtaining cell pellet.

A marker was loaded in Lane 1.The controls are in Lanes 4-6. Kevin's Lane (9) was the only one to get any bands.

Biomedical Pictures for Lab Reports 2012

Extracting Banana DNA  (Sept. 2012)

 

 

 

Loading DNA Samples for Familial Hypercholestrolemia Diagnostics  Sept. 2012