BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute offers biotechnology basics course

Biotechnology: The Basics is a weeklong summer graduate education course offered by the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute (www.btci.org) in Fitchburg, Wis.

The course is designed to introduce middle school and high school teachers to the fundamentals of biotechnology, and to make connections between NASA and biotechnology.

Topics include DNA isolation, micropipetting, gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digestion, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), bacterial transformation, stem cells, bioethics, biofuels, how NASA projects use biotechnology, as well as careers and training in biotechnology. Emphasis is placed on resources available to help teachers implement these techniques and topics in the classroom. Graduate education credits from Viterbo University and Edgewood College are also available. 

Thanks in part to scholarship funding from WSGC, teachers from Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest have had the opportunity to participate in this course. The BTC Institute plans to continue this course, as well as another course, Biotechnology: Beyond the Basics in future years.