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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories when it visits two Guilford County schools next week.

Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories when it visits two Guilford County schools next week.

Wednesday (Jan. 28)
8 a.m. to 9:50 a.m.
10 a.m. to 11:54 a.m.
Northwest Guilford High School
5240 Northwest School Road, Greensboro

Janet Wells’ advanced placement chemistry students will perform a lab exercise called “Biological Bodyguards.” Students will examine the vital role that the body’s immune system takes to fight illness and prevent disease. Assuming the role of medical lab technicians, students will use a simulated viral extract and perform an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to screen hypothetical patients for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Thursday (Jan. 29)
2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Andrews High School
1920 McGuinn Drive, High Point

Dr. Ken Gracz’s advanced placement biology students will perform a lab exercise called “From Finches to Fishes.” Students will learn the fundamental principles of evolution and natural selection. Protein gel electrophoresis will be used to acquire molecular data with which students will construct an evolutionary tree for five fish species. Students will examine proteomics as the new frontier of molecular biology and its importance to understanding the structure and function of the human genome and the genomes of other organisms.

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 the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Since 2006, Destiny has been part of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Destiny Web site: http://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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