UMBI Provides Free Biotech Loaner Lab Kits to High Schools Across The State

Statewide effort geared to help students in all regions of the state
receive hands-on biotech learning opportunities

Baltimore, MD - As students and teachers prepare to go back to school, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) is preparing its’ new program for science teachers, the Maryland Loaner Lab program, or MDLL. The program allows teachers to borrow bio-science lab kits that include all the equipment, reagents, a fully-outlined biotech experiment, and teacher manuals at no cost to the school.

“In an effort to reach every high school science student in Maryland we provide a variety of hands-on learning activities,” said Dr. Jennie Hunter-Cevera, President of UMBI “our education programs range from hands-on science activities in our Baltimore location to high school internships opportunities at all of our centers, to the loaner lab program.”

The MDLL program, sponsored by UMBI and partially supported by a grant from MDBio Inc., offers seven different labs including: basic DNA extraction, a mock forensic investigation, medical biotechnology labs, gel electrophoresis, bacterial transformation lab, an environmental biotechnology lab, and a protein quantitation lab. The lab kits are loaned to high schools across the state. Labs are provided for free for 10 days, and shipped to the school upon a teacher’s request.

To be eligible for the loaner lab program teachers must have gone through an approved biotechnology teacher training program or have previous experience with basic biotech equipment. If a teacher does not have the specific training to use the loaner lab, UMBI staff will provide training to the teacher. Some of the approved training programs are:

• UMBI Teacher Training Program
• Participation in MdBio Lab (mobile lab) Program
• The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) Education Enrichment Program
• Montgomery County Biotechnology Teacher Training Program
• UMBC Summer Teacher Training Program
• Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville Summer Teacher Training Program
• The Governor’s Academy Biotech Program

For more information, please contact the Maryland Loaner Lab at (410) 576-5792 or http://www.umbi.umd.edu/educ

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Celebrating our 20th anniversary year, UMBI is the first and only biotechnology research institute within the University System of Maryland and was established in 1985. The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) consists of five major research and education centers and is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. UMBI’s centers of research include: CARB, the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology located in Rockville; CBR, the Center for Biosystems Research located in College Park; and COMB, the Center of Marine Biotechnology, MBC, the Medical Biotechnology Center, and IHV, the Institute of Human Virology, all located in Baltimore. For more information, visit www.umbi.umd.edu