Dylan and Tito from the SILSA environmental science class complete a lab at the BioNetork Natural Products laboratory under the leadership of Sarah Schober, Natural Products Laboratory manager.
Sarah Schober, Natural Products Laboratory manager, has been working with students in the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville (SILSA) to create a partnership between A-B Tech, BioNetwork and SILSA and to promote biotechnology and other sciences.
The Environmental Science class from SILSA visited the BioNetwork Natural Products laboratory and Schober has gone to SILSA, located within Asheville High School, to complete labs in bioremediation and making biodiesel.
"I work with the standard course of study and we've done a bit more green things," Schober said. "We created mini oil spills and used bacteria to clean them through bioremediation. We discussed the different regulations in the way to clean the spills."
The students also made biodiesel in the Natural Products Lab, and hosted 45 fifth-graders from Vance Elementary for a lab on strawberry DNA extraction at SILSA. The older students worked with the elementary students, who were able to leave with necklaces with strawberry DNA inside.
"It gives them a leadership role. I train them and they turn around and teach the younger students in eighth grade and the elementary school," Schober said.
Biotechnology Program BioNetwork Natural Products Laboratory
Tech Talk is published by the Communications Office for employees and friends of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
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