The CEB and Dr. Tatiana Vishnivetskaya hosted the PiPES (Possibilities in Postsecondary Education and Science) Lab Experiences for high school students from June 13-17, 2022. Three high school students participated in this year’s program (Summer Rose and Hailey Jones from Sequoyah High School, and Emily Lugo from Tellico Plains High School). The students were given tours through the UT Genomics Core High-Throughput Sequencing Facility and the CEB labs on their first day on campus. They met and toured the research laboratory for the Dr. Frank Löffler, Microbiology Governor’s Chair and Director of CEB; with Dr. Larry Millet, CEB Research Scientist, and his research laboratory; and with Magen Poindexter who works in the UT Genomics Core High-Throughput Sequencing Facility where they learned about ongoing multidisciplinary research projects. Throughout the rest of their week, the high school students had hands-on experience in the lab where they learned molecular biology methods for isolation of DNA from soil, amplification of 16S rRNA gene, electrophoresis, and theory of Illumina sequencing and follow-up bioinformatic approaches. Wyatt Cyr, UT student assistant with CEB, and the Microbiology doctoral student Fumnanya Abuah guided the high school students through laboratory techniques. High school students shared their research experience with other campers during the PiPES Investigators Camp Research Presentations.
