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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science with students aboard Discovery, one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories, when it visits Jordan-Matthews High School next week.

Thursday (Sept. 25)
9:50 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Jordan-Matthews High School
910 E. Cardinal St., Siler City

During the morning, Ruth Ann Peterson’s senior students in Allied Health Science III will perform a lab exercise called “Weigh to Go.” They will explore the connections between obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  Using hydrophobic interactive chromatography, a key process in biotechnology research, students will purify a genetically engineered designer protein (simulated modified leptin) from transformed bacterial cells.

During the afternoon, Donna Johnson’s sophomore students in Biomedical Technology will perform a lab exercise called “BioBusiness.”  They will discover how businesses use recombinant DNA technology to tailor products to meet customers’ needs.  Using genetic engineering techniques, they will explore the mechanisms of gene expression and gene selection.

The Destiny Traveling Science Learning Program is a science education outreach initiative of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, serving pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. Destiny develops and delivers a standards-based, hands-on curriculum and teacher professional development with a team of educators and a fleet of vehicles that travel throughout the state.

Destiny and Discovery, two custom-built, 40-foot buses equipped as mobile science laboratories, bring advanced science and technology equipment to students who otherwise might not see high-tech experiments or what a career in science can offer. The mobile science labs are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education.

To be eligible to request a visit from a Destiny mobile science lab, each participating teacher must attend workshops to learn how to incorporate module activities and experiments into his or her classroom.  Destiny offers 15 different science modules, each aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The Destiny program was created by UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000.  Its principal funders are the State of North Carolina and GlaxoSmithKline, with additional support from Bio-Rad Laboratories and from Medtronic Inc.  Since 2006, Destiny has been administered by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Destiny Web site:  www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
Destiny media contact:  Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952, kck@unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

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