Premium
Finding LUCA, Buffalo High School students trace the origin of the genetic code
Author(s) -
Duax William L,
Huether Robert,
Dziak David
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.576.1
Subject(s) - privilege (computing) , ancestor , library science , presentation (obstetrics) , apprenticeship , history , political science , computer science , medicine , archaeology , law , radiology
City Honors High School of Buffalo has a program for students who are interested in Biomedical research. Freshmen apply for the privilege of spending every Friday in a research laboratory. Six students work in the lab of W.L. Duax tracing the evolution of the amino acid and DNA sequences of 52 ribosomal proteins from 2000 bacteria to identify the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all species, the cyanobacteria that evolved into the first chloroplast, and the Gram + bacteria that evolved into the first Gram ‐. Rather than questioning the existence of evolution, the students trace three billion years of divergence of sequence, structure and function. They give presentations on their work to audiences of children, classmates, research scientists, college teachers and laymen. They have made presentations at local science fairs, and national scientific meetings. These presentations attracted 30 students from other area High Schools to apprenticeships and an annual summer school. Seven students of the 2010 summer school are working in the lab after school preparing manuscript describing their research for submission to journals on evolution, genomics and structural proteomics. Supported by East Hill Foundation, Mr. Roy Carver, BNMC Renaissance Fellow, Joy Family Foundation, Caerus Forum Fund, Time Warner and the Stafford Graduate Fellowship. The program is considered unworthy of funding by NSF study sections.