Hands-on Plant Tissue Culture Workshop for High School and Community College Teachers to be held June 11, 2016 at the 2016 World Congress on In Vitro Biology, San Diego, California

Society For In Vitro Biology, Glen Burnie MD

Investigators

Abstract

A hands-on workshop in plant tissue culture will be held at the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) 2016 World Congress in San Diego (CA) on June 11, 2016. This one-day workshop will provide thirty teachers from community colleges and high schools in California with the basics of plant cell/tissue culture without extensive lab equipment. A laboratory guide and resources will be provided to enable participants to set up appropriate laboratory course work in plant tissue culture at their home institutions. In addition, participants will be provided with a one-day pass to attend sessions on biotechnology and genome editing at the SIVB Congress on Sunday June 12. It is the hope that participants will be able to enlighten and ignite students' interest in the exciting scientific career opportunities of plant cell/tissue culture, and give them a greater understanding of plant biotechnology. Discussions between community college and high school biotechnology instructors with industry representatives have focused on the benefits of including plant cell/tissue culture into the science curriculum. This workshop is the result of those discussions and will provide hands-on training and information on how to incorporate plant tissue culture into the classroom. Participants will construct "sterile hoods" and gain experience in sterile tissue culture techniques. They will also receive instruction on how to provide lessons and ideas for their curriculum. All workshop materials will be made available online to ensure the broadest dissemination. Availability of "sterile hood" kits for check-out to classrooms may be set-up via the Miramar Amgen Teacher Support Center portal.