BioEYES NewsletterApril, 2013

With another tax season come andgone, consider easing your taxburden for next year by making adeductible donation to BioEYES. Todo so, please visit our website byclicking the “donate” button.BioEYES is entirely funded by grantsand gifts. We thank you sincerely foryour contribution!

What's New?

Baltimore(Valerie Butler, Chandra Harvey, andRob Vary)This summer, BioEYES Baltimorewill be joined by our brand-newintern: Aiyana Riddihough, currentlyin her junior year at Sidwell FriendsHigh School in Washington DC.Sidwell Friends is unusual for a highschool in that they have an onsitezebrafish facility from which studentsdo their own zebrafish outreachprogram with younger grades.Aiyanna has been a zebrafishcaretaker in their facility for threeyears and thus has much moreexperience already than moststudents her age! She will be with usfrom June 24–August 9, and will bementored by Jessica Otis, apost-doctorate fellow with SteveFarber's lab, and our own BioEYESprogram manager Valerie Butler.Welcome aboard, Aiyanna!

Philadelphia

Hello BioEYES Supporter,

With spring finally here despite the unseasonably cold (and then hot!) days, we here atBioEYES find that there's plenty going on to lift our spirits from the cold gray days ofwinter.

First, we'd like to welcome a new member to the BioEYES team! Our friends at theAustralian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University in Melbourne,Australia have recently hired Anmei Vuong as their newest BioEYES outreach educator.We'll let Anmei introduce herself:

"As a child I was always fascinated with how things work. This led me to bevery passionate and keen to take on board biology in high school, and thenan undergraduate course in Biomedical Science (Hons) and Science,majoring in genetics and developmental biology. Throughout my studies Ideveloped a keen interest in how knowledge of biology can be applied inways that improve the well-being of people. During my time at university, Ialso tutored students and this made me realise that a career that hasinteraction with peoples is a must! After completing a year of my PhD in malereproductive biology, I decided to change direction to be able to work in anarea of science that has more direct contact with the wider community. I amexcited to join BioEYES, and I hope to be able to pass on some of mypassion to younger students so they can see the beauty in biology."

Welcome to the team, Anmei!

Going from new to prior teammates, former BioEYES educator Danielle Sixsmith reportsthat her daughter Anna, an eighth grade student at the St. Thomas More school inAllentown, PA, used zebrafish for her participation in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy ofSciences Region 3 science competition. Her project involved examining the effects of red40, a red food dye made from petroleum that can be found in a wide variety of foods suchas red Gatorade, on the embryonic development of zebrafish. Her presentation earned herthe highest marks possible, receiving a perfect score and two separate monetary awardsfor her efforts. She is off to participate in the state-wide competition being held at PennState University in May. Good luck Anna!

(Jamie Shuda and Tracy Nelson)We welcomed two high schoolinterns for the spring semester:Vennia Cruz and Isaiah Thomas,both sophomores at Mastery CharterSchool in Philadelphia. They will bewith us every Wednesday afternoonand have been helping to breed thezebrafish for our stock, working withplanaria, and visiting the scientists inour building to learn about theirresearch studies.

New BioEYES Philadelphia intern Isaiahfills a gel with DNA.

On Saturday, April 20th, we arepleased to participate in the ScienceCarnival which is part of thePhiladelphia Science Festivalorganized by the Franklin Institute.We will man a tent on the BenFranklin Parkway displayingzebrafish in various stages ofdevelopment. Adults and kids canview the embryos and larvae througha microscope and do a Punnettsquare activity to learn aboutzebrafish genetics, development,and how they help scientists learnmore about humans!

Melbourne, Australia(Michael Spiegel and Anmei Vuong)The second school term has juststarted in Melbourne and BioEYESwill be bringing some fresh-realscience to students again. In the lastweek, we have finalized apromotional video of the programfeaturing students and teacherscommenting on their BioEYESexperience. We have also securedfunding from Schools Connect,formerly known as Business Workingwith Education Foundation, and fromthe National Enabling Technologies

Anna Sixsmith found science fair success by using zebrafish embryos in her experiment.

Meanwhile, the BioEYES programs have been going strong at all of our sister institutions,with several of us finding ourselves fully booked with a waiting list! As usual, we've beenquite the hit with the students. In Philadelphia, where they are just finishing up their highschool visits, BioEYES educator Tracy Nelson reports that one of their high schoolstudents wrote, "I learned more about genetics through this experiment. I somewhatunderstood before, but the visual reference was very helpful." Another high schoolerwrote, "As I watched the fish embryos, it was amazing. I feel that other people shouldrealize life is wonderful and important, no matter in what form." With high school visitsdone for the year, BioEYES Philadelphia now looks forward to working with elementaryschools this spring.

BioEYES Baltimore, on the other hand, is firmly in the midst of our middle and high schoolprograms. We still have the occasional elementary school class, though. Just last week, atthe very end of his program at Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle School, Baltimoreeducator Rob Vary's fifth-grade students surprised him with a stack of handmade thankyou notes.

Strategy (NETS) Program, a schemefrom the Dept. of Innovation,Industry, Science and Research.Finally, we would also like tointroduce Anmei Vuong who hasrecently joined us as an outreacheducator.

Did You Know?

BioEYES is GuideStar approved! Tosee our listing, go to our GuideStarprofile and look under the “Programsand Help” tab.

Handmade thank you cards from Maree G. Farring EMS fifth-graders, including a surprisingly true-to-lifedrawing of Baltimore BioEYES educator Rob Vary in the upper right.

Since our program only lasts for a week at a time, it's rare for us to see the real effects weare having on our students. It's times like this, though, when we see students respond sopositively and with so much excitement to our program, even to the point of creating theirown successful experiments, that we are all reminded what makes our line of work soworthwhile.

Thank you for your support of BioEYES! Sincerely,

Dr. Steven FarberBioEYES co-founder and staff scientistCarnegie Institution for Science

Dr. Jamie ShudaBioEYES co-founder andDirector of Life Science OutreachUniversity of Pennsylvania

BioEYES currently operates out of the Carnegie Institution for Science and the JohnsHopkins School of Education in Baltimore, MD; the University of Pennsylvania inPhiladelphia, PA; Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN; and Monash University inMelbourne, Australia. We have been able to deliver our programs to tens of thousands ofchildren at no cost to their schools because of the generosity of individuals, foundationsand corporations. For more information or to make a donation, please visitwww.bioeyes.org. We thank you for your support!

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