New Rutgers Health summer school seeks to inspire the next generation of medical researchers through practical, hands-on learning
For Regina Bruce, a science teacher at Newark’s Technology High School and a Rutgers master’s student in biomedical sciences, the summer was about more than beach time and barbecues.
It also was an opportunity to hone her skills at the bench – a Rutgers New Jersey Medical School lab bench, to be precise. Bruce was a unpaid educator in Rutgers’ inaugural Pathway to Scientist program, an initiative from the Rutgers University Office of Community Engagement linking researchers at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) with Newark-area high school teachers and students. “My lab colleagues helped me figure out ways to incorporate biomedical research practices into a high school science curriculum,” Bruce said.
Working with J. Patrick O’Connor, an associate professor of orthopedics and a member of the Center for Immunity and Inflammation at NJMS, Bruce said she studied “DNA extraction, DNA genotyping and other really cool techniques that I can teach my students.” To read the full story.