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STEM Pathways Events

STEM Pathways hosts a multitude of events for a wide range of audiences in order to spread awareness of the field of Synthetic Biology. 

Introduction to Synthetic Biology Course

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STEM Pathways runs a three part "Introduction to Synthetic Biology" course for high school students. This is a set of remote classes where students can attend lecture style seminars to learn more about the basics of what Synthetic Biology is and it's applications in the real world. Following lectures, the students can engage in discussions with course faculty graduate students to explain what they've learned and ask questions about the material. The course is taught by an expert Synthetic Biology Professor here at Boston University and is offered once per academic semester. 

NETWORK
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STEM Pathways Hackathon

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The STEM Pathways Hackathon aims to help high school students understand and interpret Biological Data and Biological Datasets. Students from any form of computational background are encouraged to participate, including none! They will get to learn some basic programming concepts in Python applied to certain Biological phenomena. Our latest hackathon focused on the computational process of translating DNA to RNA, gene editing software tools, and using the RNA to decipher certain Codons.

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Bioethics Discussions

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STEM Pathways often discusses with new audiences the importance of Bioethics and the implications of our work beyond the lab bench. We aim to impress upon students the importance of the intention behind the work and to always be mindful of the work in which they conduct. We hold respectful discussion about the implications of certain research and how it can have  further impact beyond the study. This example includes a hypothetical scenario for the colonization of Mars and the potential solutions and drawbacks.

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BioBuilder Weekend Workshops

The BioBuilder Educational Foundation (see https://biobuilder.org/) offers the only comprehensive curriculum in the emerging field of synthetic biology, providing curricular materials, work-readiness programs for high school students, and teacher professional development for advanced life sciences and bioengineering. Established as a nonprofit organization in 2011, BioBuilder draws on cutting-edge science from MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering and co-develops its curriculum with secondary school teachers. The curriculum provides an openly accessible online textbook and hands-on experiments for teaching labs. STEM Pathways facilities 3 consecutive weekends of hands-on laboratory workshops for high school students at no cost, hosted within BU’s state of the art research laboratory facilities.

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iGEM Symposium

STEM Pathways hosts and annual Boston University iGEM symposium where the current members of the University's iGEM team can present on the team's project and provide audience members with a live demonstration of their seasonal accomplishments.

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Seminar Speakers

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STEM Pathways holds seminars for current members of the cohort to learn about some of the advanced research in the field of Synthetic Biology. Graduate students, professionals in industry, as well as educators lecture about their work and its impact on the growing field. Below you can see a list of some previous speakers as well as their areas of study.

  • Hailey Lenn Gordon, M.S.: Director STEM Pathways | [Description]

    • Accessing Long Term Biocompatibility in the CMU Microelectrode array

  • Alexander Green, PhD.: Assistant Professor Biomedical Engineering at Boston University | [Description]

    • Responding to Outbreaks Using Synthetic Biology-Enabled Diagnostics

  • Zeba Wunderlich, PhD.: Assistant Professor of Biology at Boston University | [Description]

    • Understanding the Influence of Gene Regulatory Network's Tasks

  • Daniel Hart, PhD. Candidate: Khalil Laboratory at Boston University | [Description]

    • Starving for air: Microbes, Engineering and Evolution in Tough Places​

  • Mai Ngo, PhD.: Post Doctoral Fellow, Chen Lab at Boston University | [Description]

    • From Polymer Foams to Engineered Blood Vessels

  • Michael Silverstein, PhD. Candidate: Segre Lab/Bhatnager Lab at Boston University | [Description]

    • Investigating the Relationship between the Soil Microbiome and Climate Change

  • Gabrielle Grifno, PhD. Candidate: Nia Laboratory at Boston University | [Description]

    • Lung Ex Vivo: Imaging Real-Time Pulmonary Dynamics in Health and Disease

  • Cristian Coriano-Ortiz, PhD. Candidate: Dunlop Laboratory at Boston University | [Description]

    • Characterizing and Modeling Bacterial Optogenetic Systems

  • Caroline Blassik, PhD. Candidate: Dunlop Laboratory at Boston University | [Description]

    • Exploring Dynamic Gene Expression in "Escherichia Coli"

  • Emily Hager, PhD.: Post Doctoral Fellow, Sgro Lab at Boston University | [Description]

    • Multicellular Coordination on Heterogeneous Natural Substances

  • Ezira Yimer Wolle, PhD. Candidate: Khalil Laboratory at Boston University | [Description]

    • Development of High Throughput Platform to Continuously Evolve Designer GPCRs

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