Media Advisory

Ayden, Farmville, Greenville and Bethel students
to experience UNC's Destiny science learning program

Media representatives are invited to climb aboard Destiny and Discovery, the traveling science laboratories in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Destiny science learning program, when they visit high schools in Ayden, Farmville, Greenville and Bethel next week.

Tuesday (Dec. 5)
8:25 a.m. to 9:57 a.m.
Ayden Grifton High School
7653 NC 11 South, Ayden
Students from one of Catherine Skinner's chemistry classes will perform a lab exercise called The Crucial Concentration. Students will assume the role of laboratory investigators for a court case to determine the amount of protein found in three sports drinks. Using the general concept of the Lowry assay and microanalysis skills, students will learn how to use a spectrophotometer, measure absorbencies, collect quantitative data and produce a standard curve to find the protein content in each sample.

Tuesday (Dec. 5)
12:10 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Ayden Grifton High School
7653 NC 11 South, Ayden
Students from Linda Leich's anatomy and physiology classes will perform a lab exercise called BioBusiness. Students will discover how businesses use recombinant DNA technology to tailor products to meet customers' needs. Using genetic engineering techniques, students will explore the mechanisms of gene expression and gene selection.

Tuesday (Dec. 5)
10:02 a.m. to 11:34 a.m.
1:50 p.m. to 3:34 p.m.
Farmville Central High School
3308 East Wilson Street, Farmville
Students from two of Fanette Entzminger's biology classes will perform a lab exercise called Mystery of the Crooked Cell. Students will discover the molecular basis of sickle cell disease by using gel electrophoresis as a diagnostic tool to differentiate normal hemoglobin from hemoglobin found in individuals with sickle cell disease.

Wednesday (Dec. 6)
8:25 a.m. to 9:57 a.m.
11:39 a.m. to 1:11 p.m.
Junius H. Rose High School
600 W. Arlington Blvd., Greenville
Students from Obi Chukwu's and Katherine St. Clair-Borne's biology classes will perform a lab exercise called Case of the Crown Jewels. Students will assume the role of forensic scientists and perform DNA restriction analysis (popularly known as DNA fingerprinting) to analyze drops of blood and other kinds of evidence found at crime scenes as they determine which suspects are guilty or innocent.

Wednesday (Dec. 6)
8:25 a.m. to 9:57 a.m.
12:13 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
D. H. Conley High School
2006 Worthington Road, Greenville
Students from Sue Purser's biology and health science biology classes will perform a lab exercise called Mystery of the Crooked Cell. Students will discover the molecular basis of sickle cell disease by using gel electrophoresis as a diagnostic tool to differentiate normal hemoglobin from hemoglobin found in individuals with sickle cell disease.

Thursday (Dec. 7)
8:25 a.m. to 9:57 a.m.
1:50 p.m. to 3:22 p.m.
North Pitt High School
5659 NC 11 North, Bethel
Students from two of Ann Simo's biology classes will perform a lab exercise called Biological Bodyguards. Students will examine the vital role that the body's immune system takes to fight illness and prevent disease. Assuming the role of medical lab technicians, students will use a simulated viral extract and perform an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay screen hypothetical patients for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The Destiny traveling science learning program is the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center's formal science education initiative serving pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. Destiny develops and delivers a standards-based, hands-on curriculum and teacher professional development with a team of educators and a fleet of vehicles that travel throughout the state.

Destiny and Discovery, two custom-built, 40-foot, 33,000-pound buses, bring the latest science and technology equipment to students who otherwise would not see a high-tech laboratory or what a career in science can offer. The modules described above are among 13 offered as part of Destiny's curriculum. All of Destiny's modules are aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The science buses are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education. Destiny first hit the road in 2000.

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

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Destiny contact: Claire Bury, (919) 843-5915 or bury@unc.edu
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596 or becky_oskin@unc.edu