Ms. Marcy Demsky, Sachem North’s genetics and biotechnology teacher, was delighted to welcome Dr. Sam Rhine from Indiana University back to Sachem North recently.
For the 11th year in a row, Sachem North proudly hosted the annual Sam Rhine Genetic Update Conference (GUC), to which attendees from schools across Long Island including Sachem East, East Islip, Hauppauge, Huntington, Wantagh, and Southampton.
A gifted speaker with a passion to teach about the applicability of genetics to daily living, Dr. Rhine’s one-day GUCs were developed so that students and teachers could learn about the latest developments in the field of genetics as well as the complex bioethical issues surrounding them.
After a thorough review of human embryology, Dr. Rhine demonstrated how human skin cells can be deconstructed and reconstructed to form stem cells, which presents tremendous opportunities for tissue engineering (producing human tissues/organs in the laboratory) and regenerative medicine (directing human tissues to renew themselves) in our not too distant future.
However, it was the discussion of CRISPR/Cas9—bacterial DNA that can accurately and rapidly alter, delete, and rearrange, and regulate DNA of all living organisms that had the greatest impact on the GUC participants. That scientists can scan the genome and cut out faulty DNA and replace it with working DNA made a startling impression on Matthew Ross (Class of 2015), who returned to Sachem North from college to attend his second GUC.
Mike Pellegrini (11th grade) was so enthralled by Dr. Rhine’s lecture that he couldn’t believe how quickly the time passed. His favorite part was learning more about CRISPR, which he feels is the application the scientific community has been waiting for to tie all prior genetic discoveries together.
This was the third time Victoria Capobianco (12th grade) attended a GUC during her high school career. Both she and Mikaela Fiscina (11th grade) were amazed and impressed with Dr. Rhine’s ease of speaking and wealth of information.
Judging from the rave reviews from students who attended Dr. Rhine’s lecture, the conference was very successful and we look forward to his return next year!