News Release

DESTINY curriculum gains national exposure
through partnership with Bio-Rad Laboratories

CHAPEL HILL - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's DESTINY Traveling Science Learning Program is now making its learning curriculum more widely available at the national level through a partnership with Bio-Rad Laboratories.

Since hitting the road in 2000, the DESTINY program has provided hands-on learning experiences for students and innovative professional development opportunities for teachers throughout North Carolina. Now, educators nationwide and beyond may visit the Bio-Rad Web site, www.explorer.bio-rad.com, and download full versions of two of DESTINY's curriculum modules: "Weigh to Go!" and "BioBusiness."

"Weigh to Go!" provides a way for students to understand the scientific factors that influence weight gain or loss. The module engages students through the story of John, a young man who aspires to play high school football, but first must pass a physical. At his medical exam, he encounters several obstacles. Acting as lab technicians, students analyze John's medical history and review his test results, which reveal possible health problems stemming from his weight.

Students learn the scientific process of hydrophobic interactive chromatography (HIC), critical to biotechnology research. Using this process, students produce and purify a genetically engineered designer protein that simulates leptin, a protein related to obesity research, to determine if John is eligible for the team.

"BioBusiness" teaches students about the science and business of genetic engineering. Students explore how bacteria are used in the biotech industry to make products such as insulin and growth hormone. In the laboratory, students alter the genetics of bacteria to produce new kinds of proteins. In the classroom, students investigate the real world of bioscience companies, including product research and marketing.

Additional curriculum units are to be made available on the site in the future. Access to all curriculum content is free.

For more than four years, Bio-Rad has provided equipment and supplies for DESTINY's two traveling science laboratories.

Bio-Rad's objective is to help support and revitalize life science education by providing educators with the resources they want and need to keep up in the science learning race, said Ron Mardigian, division marketing manager for Bio-Rad. "In order to inspire the next generation of scientists, it's important that students see the connection between science and their lives," Mardigian said.

"DESTINY's curriculum units provide teachers and students with current information that illuminates applications of biotechnology in their lives, while Bio-Rad kits and equipment provide hands-on experience with the same tools and techniques that real researchers use."

Betty Brown, DESTINY's associate director for curriculum development, said the DESTINY program regularly receives requests from other states for traveling science lab visits or use of the curriculum. The partnership with Bio-Rad will make those lab experiences and curriculum materials available nationwide, she said.

"Our curriculum modules encourage the use of Bio-Rad kits by showing teachers how those kits fit with curriculum and meet state and national standards," Brown said. "Meanwhile, our curriculum encourages teachers to use a more active approach to teaching science."

Since 2000, DESTINY's custom-built mobile laboratories and its team of science and interdisciplinary educators have visited 97 counties, 104 school systems and 341 schools in North Carolina, in addition to training more than 1,000 teachers and providing wet-lab experiences for more than 16,000 students on board the bus or in the classroom.

For more information, go to http://www.destiny.unc.edu.

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UNC contact: Lea Hart, (919) 824-1559 or hart@unc.edu