Page 15 - The BellTower - Spring 2016

Real-World Lab Experiences
Living and learning in the far northern portions of Maine has many benefits for the college students who choose the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Those benefits include unparalleled opportunities to explore some of the most beautiful outdoor vistas in the world, share in unique cultural experiences in Canada and the Acadia of the lands and Forests, and participate in outdoor activi- ties such as dog sledding, hunting, moun- tain biking and the world renowned sport of biathlon that are simply unavailable to students in more urban schools. These benefits of a rural college experience have a flip side for professors and mentors
that search across the state for ways to have their students practice some of the skills and knowledge they have gained at UMFK. One way to accomplish this is to partner with another rural university and take advantage of opportunities for stu- dents to gain some hands-on experience. In January, a pair of UMFK students joined their peers from the University of Maine at Presque Isle to work with professional researchers at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratories in Bar Harbor, Maine.
According to Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Christin Kastl, two students studying biology at UMFK, Zack Beal and Corey Henderson, accompanied seven UMPI students to the MDI Biological
Labs to work with model organisms, C. elegans, to support research on the aging process in humans. “Every year we take a few students, and they offer us a class on research methods using the little worms.”
Dr. Kastl said the scientists helped
the students learn how to work with the worms, that are invisible to the naked eye, in a working lab environment. “The lab is scientists doing science to figure out the aging process in humans. They work with worms, because they are a good model organism,” said Kastl.
“They actually get hands-on with the worms, learning how to handle organisms you can only see under the microscope. The students get to alter their DNA.” she said.
Jake Theriault, lab manager at UMFK, accompanied the group.
Dr. Kastl said the experience is more than a field trip. “It’s the best thing for them. It’s free housing, free food, and free lab experience. It’s good on their resume.”
Along with the experiential learning, which is a hallmark of UMFK practices
to prepare students for jobs in the real world, the MDI Biological Labs sent the students home with several wiggly gifts. “Dr. Dustin Updike, scientist at MDIBL and teacher of this workshop, gave us worms to take up here so I can use them with my students in my classes,” said Kastl.
IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research
Excellence (INBRE) provided the funds
to pay for the trip. INBRE further spon- sors internships for UMFK students at local companies in order to have students engage in research related to Fort Kent, such as work in toxicology, food industry, fishery, and others. Students learn how to do real life research, said Dr. Kastl. They also sponsor students to come down for the 43rd Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium in April and offer summer research internships at their labs.
TOP: Zachery Beal, UMFK senior biology student, looking and transferring C. elegans worms from one plate to another.
RIGHT: The worms Zachery Beal is studying.
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