STAN-X: SIXTH ANNUAL STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE @ THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL

April 2024
Over thirty students and their instructors attended the sixth annual student-led Stan-X Research Conference on April 27, 2024. This 'east coast' version of the student/teacher conference was again held on the gorgeous campus of the Lawrenceville School. Another was held on the same day for several 'west coast' Stan-X schools on the Stanford campus.

The day began with a video greeting from Dr. Seung Kim (who was traveling at the time) to the attendees from participating schools: The Lawrenceville School (NJ), The Chapin School (NYC, NY), the Hotchkiss School (CT) and The Haileybury School (Hertford, United Kingdom).

Students provided oral and poster presentations about their work on generating fruit fly lines, and conferenced in breakout sessions organized by Ms. Lantz and Dr. Fox. Begun successfully in 2023, students from different schools worked in these sessions to discuss and solve challenging problems together. In attendance were officers from Experimental Science Now (ESN), including the executive director Dr. Amy Vollmer. ESN was developed to help schools start Stan-X curricula.

The engagement and energy of the students was palpable throughout the day and afterwards, and the sessions helped foster mastery of concepts and data interpretation! We are grateful to Ms. Nicole Lantz and Dr. Elizabeth Fox of Lawrenceville, who guided and organized the day. Other teachers involved were Ms. Turner and Mr. Lewis from Haileybury, and Ms. Pan from Chapin.

Visit by Seung and Lutz to Phillips Exeter Academy

May 2024
Stan-X leadership and instructors visit partnering schools regularly to provide additional enrichment. In May, Seung and Lutz travelled to Exeter to engage in benchside teaching and in-class discussions of a primary journal article. This included technical tips from Lutz to the students, and coverage by Seung with students of experimental strategy and logic in the Park et al 2014 PLoS Genetics study from his lab.

Seung was hosted by Townley Chisholm and Anne Rankin, which included family gatherings, meals, and even a fly fishing outing on the Lamprey River. Seung also visited with seniors Jenna and Valentina, who had been Stan-X scholars at Stanford the prior summer.

Stan-X Teacher Academy roars along!

July 2024

At this year's teacher academy on the Lawrenceville School campus, we hosted seven teachers new to the Stan-X partnership, including instructors from the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT, the Rivers School in Weston, MA, the Detroit Country Day School in Michigan, and the Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The teachers were introduced to Stan-X curriculum and trained in person by Stan-X instructors, including Nicole Lantz and Elizabeth Fox. In addition to intensive hands-on training, the instructors had many breaks for networking, meals, and local outings. The training experience of the Stan-X teacher academy has emerged as a crucial element for continued adoption of the Stan-X concept and curricula by schools across the world.

Summer scholars work at Stanford

April 2024
Over thirty students and their instructors attended the sixth annual student-led Stan-X Research Conference on April 27, 2024. This 'east coast' version of the student/teacher conference was again held on the gorgeous campus of the Lawrenceville School. Another was held on the same day for several 'west coast' Stan-X schools on the Stanford campus.

The day began with a video greeting from Dr. Seung Kim (who was traveling at the time) to the attendees from participating schools: The Lawrenceville School (NJ), The Chapin School (NYC, NY), the Hotchkiss School (CT) and The Haileybury School (Hertford, United Kingdom).

Students provided oral and poster presentations about their work on generating fruit fly lines, and conferenced in breakout sessions organized by Ms. Lantz and Dr. Fox. Begun successfully in 2023, students from different schools worked in these sessions to discuss and solve challenging problems together. In attendance were officers from Experimental Science Now (ESN), including the executive director Dr. Amy Vollmer. ESN was developed to help schools start Stan-X curricula.

The engagement and energy of the students was palpable throughout the day and afterwards, and the sessions helped foster mastery of concepts and data interpretation! We are grateful to Ms. Nicole Lantz and Dr. Elizabeth Fox of Lawrenceville, who guided and organized the day. Other teachers involved were Ms. Turner and Mr. Lewis from Haileybury, and Ms. Pan from Chapin.

Later in August, teacher Christina from the Lick-Wilmerding School in San Francisco visited and joined us for dinner at our favorite local Korean restaurant. She learned about Stan-X offerings and I'm glad to say as of this writing, Lick-Wilmerding has decided to train teachers in the summer of 2025 and start a Stan-X course! They will join our other local partner schools, Lowell HS in San Francisco, and Marin Academy, as a formidable trio!

STAN-X TEACHER MENTORING AND OUTREACH IN 2023

January-December, 2023

 A hallmark of STAN-X programs is the training and mentoring of instructors from our partner schools, to foster autonomy and career development. This year we continued this through our weekly network meetings (organized by Lutz Kockel), instructor visits to the Kim lab, instruction of established partnering instructors in new experimental methods and approaches, and visits to potential new partner schools to orient instructors and school leaders in STAN-X philosophy, curricula and opportunities. Many of these visits have been described in prior newsletter postings (see listings for other dates in 2023 below). Additional visits are summarized below.

January 2023

Visit by Lowell High Schoolers to learn molecular biology

Ms. Anjana Amirapu brought her students to the Kim lab for one day of intensive instruction led by Lutz Kockel and Arjun Rajan. Students were instructed in molecular biology methods relevant to their ongoing work to generate and map new fly strain insertions derived from their transposon-based 'enhancer trap' screening. This was a lively day for all, and developed important skills and concepts for the students.

February 2023

Training instructors from the Lowell High School (San Francisco) and the Latin School (Chicago)

Lutz Kockel welcomed Melissa and Geraldine from the Latin School of Chicago and Anajana Amirapu from the Lowell High School. They are instructors in established programs at these schools who sought additional training. They enjoyed an intensive series of didactic and practical training in microscopy methods and orientation to the new CRISPR-based modules being developed for STAN-X classes.

October 2023

Introducing STAN-X to the Ethel Walker School and the Rivers School

After visits in the spring and summer to established STAN-X partners including Hotchkiss, Harvard-Westlake, Loyola Marymount University, Exeter, Haileybury, Oxford, Harvard and Lawrenceville, Seung Kim dropped in during October on the teachers and leadership at the Ethel Walker School (Simsbury, CT) and Rivers School (Weston, MA). At Ethel Walker he met with head of school Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Academic Dean Megan Mulhern, and members of the Science Department, including head Dr. Emma Mitchell. He toured the beautiful campus, and science laboratory spaces during class time and also had a working lunch with science department instructors. We are hoping to establish a new STAN-X program at the Walker School in the near future.

Seung also visited leadership and teachers at the Rivers School. He met with head of school Ryan Dahlem, Dean of Studies Chris Dalton, and other leaders, and with chair of the science department Betty Bloch. He then toured the impressive new science building, admired its architectural distinctions, and viewed potential lab space that could house STAN-X classes.

December 2023

On-site instruction of collaborating instructors from the Pritzker College Prep School (Chicago)

We welcomed Anna and Hannah, teachers at Pritzker who are taking over the course from outgoing teacher Alex Gannett. They spent several days with Dr. Kockel training in fruit fly methods, and theory. We especially value their diligence, effort and energy: Pritzker serves students under-represented in science in the lively urban setting of west Chicago.

STAN-X at HARVARD SUMMER SCHOOL

June-August, 2023

For the second summer, members of the Stan-X team ran BIOS-S15 at Harvard. This year we had a dozen students including two post-baccalaureates, who completed a course designed around CRISPR-based genome editing in fruit flies. The course was led by four instructors, Nicole Lantz, Arjun Rajan, Lutz Kockel, Seung Kim, and two teaching assistants, Ms. Maddie Laws and Ms. Clara Gulick. Arjun, Maddie and Clara are alumni of their high school's Stan-X course, so this was a deep dive for them to explore science teaching! The lab was held daily in the famed Biolabs at Harvard, whose notable features include the famous doors adorned with animals from multiple families.

This year, students built new fly lines using CRISPR "Hacky" protocols built by our Stan-X team member Dr. Sangbin Park. These approaches permitted students to use CRISPR/Cas9 strategies in vivo to replace genes with alternative 'LexA' coding regions. Then, as in prior years, students intercrossed their new fly strains to assess region and temporal gene regulation using reporter transgenes. This involved tissue dissection and fluorescence microscopy.

At the conclusion of BIOS-S15, students prepared written summaries and oral presentations about their flies and phenotypes. This rigorous exploration of biology through 'unscripted' experiments with a 'team' of student scientists produced 11 new fly strains that are now the focus of a manuscript in preparation. Congratulations to all the students on a successful course, and experiencing how science experiments are planned, executed, interpreted, and communicated!

STAN-X SUMMER AT STANFORD, 2023

This summer, the Kim group hosted students from our Stan-X partners for multi-week internships. As before, the students were selected by their teachers for this opportunity through the Stan-X course or program at their school. In June, we were delighted to host three students from Lawrenceville in the Hutchins Scholars program, Mina, Jane and Arya. They were accompanied by Ms. Nicole Lantz and spent their stay here working on molecular genetics and fruit fly biology.

In August, we hosted Valentina and Jenna, two students from Exeter who had completed the Bio 670 course in the preceding term. They worked for 3.5 weeks with Dr. Lutz Kockel on characterizing new fly strains produced by their fellow Exonians and did a deep dive into fly genomics. One evening at the end of their stay, we had an outing  with the students and other members of the Kim group or Stan-X instructors, and Jenna's mother (seen here to Seung's left), for a delicious celebratory dinner, and a movie (the Hitchcock classic, "Rear Window") at the Stanford Theater in downtown Palo Alto. It was a splendid way to end the summer.

DISCOVER NOW 2023 TEACHER ACADEMY at LAWRENCEVILLE

Six instructors hailing from US and UK schools convened this past July on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School to train in fruit fly genetics and biology. This included teachers from new partner schools at Marin Academy (San Rafael, CA), and teachers from established Stan-X partners, Haileybury College (Hertford, UK) and the Hotchkiss School (Lakeview, CT).

The teachers read materials related to a new Stan-X curriculum involving CRISPR-based fruit fly targeting, then were trained in person by Stan-X instructors, including Nicole Lantz, Elizabeth Fox, Dr. Sangbin Park and Ms. Anne Rankin. The intensity of hands-on training for five straight days was leavened by interludes for meals, including multiple tasty dinners, and local outings, but especially from the networking and team building that has come to characterize the special training in Discover Now.

VISITING our TEACHING PARTNERS in the UNITED KINGDOM

We visited with our two U.K. partners this summer to teach and plan.

First, Seung visited Haileybury College in Hertford where he was hosted by Vicky Turner and Gareth Lewis, and head of school Martin Collier. Seung visited the Stan-X class and shared meals and discussed a paper with the students. He also attended Chapel and was treated to some splendid meals with the students and faculty colleagues. He briefly toured the nearly-completed SciTech building, which was scheduled to open early in the new 2023-2024 school year. SciTech looked pretty spectacular! He also participated in a faculty round table to discuss curricular planning around experience-based science, that included Gareth, Liam Duffy, the deputy head of STEM research and partnerships, and Arthur Kattavenos, Haileybury’s Head of Science.

Afterwards, Seung visited the University of Oxford and the Stanford Bing Overseas Program (BOSP) to lecture and visit with students in the course he co-taught with his teaching partner, Prof. Alberto Baena-Lopez in the Dunn School of Pathology. Seung was pleased to meet his students Jessica and Marianne, two juniors from Stanford who were taking the Animal Transgenesis course as an enrichment experience. The Oxford-Stanford course involved lectures and tutorial style discussions of writing assignments. Seung was housed at Lincoln College, and met with Alberto to plan future courses. The week visit culminated in an intensive writing and coaching session, followed by a fine meal in the heart of London. That evening, there was a farewell banquet at the Savile Club in London, hosted by the director of BOSP at Oxford, Dr. Stephanie Solywoda. 

ESN BOARD MEETING @ THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL, NJ

Experimental Science Now is a public charity founded in 2022 to support the development of Stan-X curricula at schools serving youth underrepresented in science. On May 11th, the board, advisors and staff of ESN met for their first annual board meeting. The meeting was hosted on the beautiful campus of Lawrenceville. In addition to discussing exciting progress, plans, and goals for ESN, the board members and advisors met with Lawrenceville students and instructors in their lab space, and learned about their ongoing research on fruit flies. It was an extraordinary, energizing day! Goals for the next year include hiring an ESN executive director.

VISITING OUR STAN-X PARTNER AT THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL

Seung Kim visited Hotchkiss students, instructors and leadership. There he instructed in a Stan-X class, videotaped some material for celebrating the Stan-X partnership with Hotchkiss, met with students and faculty over lunch, then concluded his day with Head of School Craig Bradley. Mike Boone, who heads the design lab at Hotchkiss, has been collaborating with Stan-X on developing 3D printing programs to generate fruit fly models for instruction. Prototypes have been generated from efforts by Maddie and Leo, shown on the right in the group photo, with Seung, Mike, and Paul Oberto (who leads Stan-X instruction with Jennifer Rinehart). Multicolor models depicting mutant phenotypes are in development! We are thrilled to see this progress.

STAN-X WEST COAST STUDENT CONFERENCE

Earlier this spring, forty students and instructors from three schools in the western U.S. convened for the Stan-X research conference on the Stanford University campus.

After an introductory group activity among the participants, the morning and afternoon were filled poster sessions and oral presentations. The participating students of Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles), Albuquerque Academy (NM) and Lowell High School (San Francisco) presented their work on the fly strains they generated during the past school year. This included presentation of intercrosses, molecular studies and gene expression mapping in tissues.

Meeting participants took a lunch hour on the sunny terrace of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. This refreshed caloric and fluid needs, and provided opportunities for students and instructors to meet with members of the Seung Kim lab, and discuss science and careers in science. Afterwards, students were led on guided tours through lab space in the Beckman Center.

In concluding remarks, Stan-X co-director Dr. Lutz Kockel promoted all participants to the status of honorary masters of genetics, “because," as he put it, "they are”.

The in-person Stan-X conference at Stanford started in 2022, and this year's meeting was another resounding success. Together with the parallel east-coast Stan-X conference at the Lawrenceville School in NJ, a total of over 100 students and teachers presented data generated through the Stan-X curricula, and met with their peers. These activities emulate those of practicing scientists. The teachers and organizers look forward to the next meeting in 2024.

FIFTH ANNUAL STAN-X CONFERENCE AT LAWRENCEVILLE

Over fifty students and their instructors attended the fifth annual student-led Stan-X Research Conference on April 29, 2023. Held in person on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School, the day began with a video greeting from Dr. Seung Kim (who was traveling in Rome the time) to the attendees from five schools: The Lawrenceville School (NJ), Commack School (NY, The Chapin School (NYC, NY), the Hotchkiss School (CT) and The Haileybury School (Hertford, United Kingdom).

Students provided oral and poster presentations about their work on generating novel fruit fly lines. This involved intercrosses, mapping, and dissecting and imaging tissues. One highlight of the presentations was a description by Maddie (Hotchkiss School '23) of her collaboration with Leo (Hotchkiss '24) and her instructors in the Design Lab at Hotchkiss to develop 3D fly models and virtual images. These are being developed into video games and teaching materials for future classes.

Students from the participating schools also tried a new element of the conference: they worked in mixed brainstorming sessions to discuss and solve challenging problems together. The excitement and deep engagement of the students, and evident mastery of concepts and experimental outcomes was energizing for all! We are grateful to Ms. Nicole Lantz and Dr. Elizabeth Fox of Lawrenceville, who guided and organized the day.

VISITING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STAN-X PARTNER SCHOOLS

Harvard Westlake

Seung & Melody selfie

Seung visited the Harvard Westlake School, hosted by Ms. Melody Lee, instructor and head of the science department. H-W is in the first year of their Stan-X curriculum and there was energy and excitement during Seung's visit. He instructed students in reading original science papers, including the Park et al, 2014 study in PLoS Genetics.

He then separately met with school leadership to discuss the trajectory of implementation and planned classroom renovations for the course.  Later, he and Ms. Lee discussed next steps including collaborations with Cory Evans and students across town at Loyola.

Loyola Marymount University

     Seung next visited Dr. Cory Evans at Loyola Marymount on March 24th, and presented a lecture to current and prospective students in the Stan-X course there: "Stan-X: a global network for experiential science instruction". Dr. Evans has been on the faculty at Loyola Marymount for several years, and is one of our partners who runs a course at a university. Cory is highly skilled in the pedagogy related to Drosophila lab-based courses: for many years he helped to run the famous fruit fly genetics course for undergraduates at UCLA, founded by (among others) Dr. Utpal Banerjee.  In addition, Dr. Evans has his own fly lab at LMU. After Seung's lecture, he had a tour of the magnificent campus (it was a windy, sunny day in the greater-LA area) then met with school leadership to discuss mechanisms to enhance this growing collaboration around practice-based science instruction. He hopes to return soon.

VISITING STAN-X PARTNER SCHOOLS IN 2022

A summary of visits by Stan-X instructors to partnering schools in the US and UK

Lawrenceville School (March and December 2022)

Steve Murray

Seung visited the Lawrenceville School in 2022 and met with Nicole Lantz, Elizabeth Fox and Steve Murray. He worked with the students in the Research Molecular Genetics (RMG) course. He presented Nicole, Elizabeth and Steve with 'bobblehead' dolls he and his daughter Ella Kim had fashioned. These were small tokens of well-deserved appreciation from the Stan-X team.

In March 2022 Seung gave a presentation on experimental science to about one hundred 'second formers' (9th graders in Lawrenceville parlance), and taught students from the two sections of the RMG course. He used the Park et al, 2014 study in PLoS Genetics to instruct students on how to read a primary scientific paper.

In December 2022, Seung took a short trip to Lawrenceville to coordinate development of the summer Discover Now program and the Harvard Summer School course with Ms. Lantz.

Phillips Exeter Academy (May and October 2022)

Live demonstration in class

Seung and Lutz visited for several days in May to meet with members of the BIO670 course, and the instructors Anne Rankin and Townley Chisholm. Seung participated in fly genomic DNA preparations one evening and then hosted a pie party, graced by the presence of the principal, William Rawson. Mr. Rawson was presented with his own bobblehead, in thanks for his help and dedication to Stan-X.  In October, Seung visited briefly around family weekend, and had the honor of presenting a 'meditation' in the Phillips Church. Afterwards, he spent time instructing students in reading original science papers, including Park et al, 2014.

Harvard University (May and June-August 2022)

Seung and Lutz visited the Harvard Biolabs in May 2022 to meet with Clark Magnan and his support staff. Clark runs the science support group at Harvard and showed Seung and Lutz the rooms they would occupy during their DCE course that summer. From June to August, Seung, Lutz and Nicole Lantz led SBIO-S15, with TA's Ellie Griffin and Lauren Fidelak. The course instructed 12 students from around the world for 7 weeks. The course evaluations were stellar, and the team will teach the course again in the summer of 2023.

Haileybury School (May and December 2022)  

Haileybury students

Seung and Nicole Lantz (Lawrenceville) met with teachers Vicky Turner (also School Proctor) and Gareth Lewis (also head of science department), staff member Lloyd Stark, and leadership at the Haileybury School over several days in May, and taught in classes there. This teaching included students from Haileybury and from Haileybury-Turnford (a local state school). He used the Park et al 2014 study to instruct students on how to read a paper. He and Nicole met with Martin Collier (head of school) and Stephen Campbell (deputy head, academic) to discuss strategies for developing Stan-X programs at Haileybury, to hear about the new science complex under construction (with space dedicated for Stan-X instruction) and summertime internships for students in his group at Stanford (this past summer, his group hosted one student, Ms. Lotte Beard: see also Instagram posting). Seung gathered with students and faculty for a fine farewell meal at a local pub.

Seung returned briefly in December to meet and instruct students and discuss ESN and Stan-X with Martin Collier. He also met with Stephan Campbell to outline steps to deepen Stan-X ties including development of a Discover Now program for European/U.K. schools, summer 2023 student internships, mosquito DNA sequencing, and retraining Haileybury instructors/staff on using CRISPR-based course designs. They also discussed ways to develop interactions with Haileybury-Turnford, and the possibility of a site visit to Stanford in the spring of 2023.

Cambridge, U.K. (November-December 2022)

Seung met with Cambridge University faculty to discuss inception of Stan-X programs. This included meeting with Dr. Tim Weil, Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge University, and Deputy head of the Dept. of Zoology (Undergraduate), and with Prof. Matthias Landgrad, Deputy Head of the Dept. of Zoology postgraduate studies programs, and Wellcome Trust Investigator. There were productive discussions and a farewell high table dinner, punctuated by Christmas carols in the Pembroke College Chapel.

 Seung has planned travel to teach and lecture at Stan-X partners in southern California, Harvard-Westlake School and Loyola Marymount University, in March 2023.

STAN-X at HARVARD SUMMER SCHOOL

We ran a summer course at Harvard (BIOS-S15) based on our STAN-X curriculum. This course ran over an exciting 7 weeks with 12 high school-aged students from all parts of the globe, including students from Turkey, Switzerland, Singapore, and the US. Students performed fly intercrosses, molecular biology to map novel transposon enhancer trap lines, dissected larvae to isolate organs for immunostaining, and performed fluorescence microscopy. Afterwards they presented their findings in oral presentations to their fellow students and the course directors.

These activities were led by instructors Kockel, Lantz and Kim, ably assisted by teaching assistants Lauren Fidelak and Ellie Griffin. Professors Scott Edwards and Terrence Capellini from Harvard University, and Professor Cathy Wu from Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute led discussions for students in the "Career Pathways" segment of our class (where practicing scientists talk about their own professional and personal development).

The course reviews were outstanding and we have been invited to teach this class again in the summer of 2023!

DISCOVER NOW: TRAINING NEW STAN-X PARTNERS

The fourth annual DISCOVER NOW teaching academy ran in 2022 from June 27-July 1 and July 11-15. As in recent years, instruction in the first week was conducted online, and in the second - thanks to the Head of School, Steve Murray, and the Lawrenceville Science Department - was 'in person' on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Instructors for this course included Lutz Kockel, Anne Rankin (Exeter), and Elizabeth Fox and Nicole Lantz (Lawrenceville). The first week covered curricular elements, and content for the participants to develop and teach the 'core' Stan-X course involving transposon mutagenesis and 'enhancer trap' genetic modification to generate novel fruit fly stains. During the week, Discover Now participants networked and learned about teaching practices at other Stan-X partner schools.

In the second week, practical elements of running a Stan-X course were taught in lab space at Lawrenceville. This second week was punctuated by outings to local sites, including the working farm on the Lawrenceville campus, and nearby eating establishments. Participants included instructors from several schools, including Westtown (Malvern, PA), Mercy School (Rochester, NY), Chapin School (NY, NY), Commack High School (Long Island, NY) Harvard-Westlake (Los Angeles, CA) and The Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, CT).

STAN-X SUMMER SCHOLARS at STANFORD

As in prior summers, the Kim lab at Stanford was graced by visits from students who performed fruit fly research in the prior year, and were selected to continue their work in the summer. This includes Stella from the Dalton School in NY, Peter from Gund High School in Palo Alto, Eva, Clara and Ella from Phillips Exeter Academy, and Lotte from the Haileybury School in Hertford, UK. They were joined by Stanford undergraduate Emily and our Stan-X communications coordinator Iris-Mae (who studies at Oxford, UK).

The portrait in profile shows the ferocious experimental focus of summer-time scholars Eva and Clara. Along with a third scholar, Ella, they completed the Stan-X course (Bio670) at Exeter led by Ms. Rankin and Mr. Chisholm last spring. This summer they worked with Dr. Kockel to characterize new enhancer trap fly lines. These studies are in a manuscript now wending its way through the publication workflow.

STAN-X and CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

This summer, six Hutchins Scholars from Lawrenceville School in NJ spent time in the Kim lab working on CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing in flies.  They spent time relaxing too, at the beach near Half Moon Bay, CA and enjoying meals around the fire pit at their rental. Work hard, play hard.

They were accompanied by Ms. Lantz, who worked on developing curricular materials during the visit with Sangbin Park and Lutz Kockel. These activities were supported by the Lawrenceville School and the Hutchins Scholars program.

New transgenic fruit flies described at the Stan-X Interscholastic Conferences

The Stan-X program hosted two interscholastic science conferences in April and May that celebrated completed coursework and research for students and teachers. The first symposium was an ‘in-person’ conference held on the Stanford University campus April 30th that convened 47 students and teachers from four Stan-X partner schools, including the Lowell High School (San Francisco, California), Albuquerque Academy (New Mexico), Harvard Westlake (Los Angeles, California) and Stanford University School of Medicine. The second was a virtual international symposium held on May 23rd that gathered 37 students and teachers from Haileybury (U.K.),  Lawrenceville (New Jersey), Commack High School (New York), the Chapin School (New York), Mercy (Rochester, New York) and Stanford. The meeting was hosted by Drs. Lutz Kockel and Seung Kim.

Group photograph from the in-person April meeting.

During the all-day April meeting, which was the first ‘live’ Stan-X student conference ever held, students from Albuquerque Academy and Lowell High School presented research findings from their Stan-X course. This included a morning poster session, followed by oral presentations, in the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine on the campus of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Students presented data and conclusions from their experiments characterizing fruit fly strains generated over the past year. These included presentations about genomic insertion location of the SX-4 enhancer trap element, neighboring gene characterization, and unique patterns of LexA-dependent gene expression in multiple new fruit fly strains. Student speakers shared data from productive collaborations between schools, including molecular studies of the genomic location of enhancer trap elements. For most students this was an index experience in public presentation of science data. The energy and verve during the poster sessions and oral presentations was exciting.

Teachers from Albuquerque Academy at the April meeting.

After an al fresco lunch in the warm California sun, students gathered in ‘breakout sessions’ with Stanford-based researchers. These lively, candid discussions allowed visiting students to meet staff, doctoral and undergraduate students working in the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford, and to discuss a variety of topics including scholastic and career development in science. After lab tours in the Beckman Center, participating students presented their findings and data in the afternoon poster and oral presentation sessions. The symposium was closed with remarks from Dr. Kim on new curricular offerings from Stan-X and updates on progress in the development and growth of the Stan-X network of schools.

Anjana Amirapu, the Stan-X teacher at Lowell High School, stated: “Attending the Stan-X Conference was the highlight of my students' learning this year. They really appreciated getting to meet other students from another state and bond over their shared experiences going through the Stan-X course along with their love for science. They especially appreciated being able to tour the lab spaces and get feedback from Dr. Kim and Dr. Kockel on their research. Many students told me after the conference that they felt less intimidated to consider science research as a career and they felt more confident in their abilities to do science. It was an incredible experience that my students will never forget.”

A subset of the May symposium participants

To accommodate school schedules and the growth of the Stan-X network, an additional Stan-X science conference was held on May 23rd, 2022. Research work was presented by twenty-five student speakers at Lawrenceville, Chapin, Commack and Haileybury, and showcased beautiful molecular, cellular and genetic findings. In many cases these were collaborative studies produced by partnering students and schools. In addition, students, teachers and leadership from recently-added Stan-X partner schools in Rochester (Mercy) and New York City (Dalton School) attended. The afternoon ended with lively discussions of further studies to be performed in summertime internships and collaborations, and planning for in-person meetings next year at Lawrenceville.

Lawrenceville student Layla Shaffer said, “The Stan-X International Conference this May was an incredible experience that allowed us, as high school students, to share our work with fellow students and researchers from around the world. In just nine months, I not only learned the intricacies of Drosophila genetics and transposon biology, but also experienced an entire research process–from creating unique fly lines to DNA sequencing to dissecting and imaging. The conference allowed us to showcase all of our work and, most importantly, provided a platform for students to see the collaborative process and meaningful results of the research done with Stan-X.  I feel so fortunate to have been a part of something this innovative and unique.”

For information about Stan-X and the 2023 Stan-X Interscholastic Science Conferences, please contact Dr. Lutz Kockel, lkockel@stanford.edu