Information for Teachers & Students RE Project SMART-2022
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) Project SMART Summer Institute is an excellent opportunity to learn the interdisciplinary nature of the recent scientific advances and the applications and implications (economic, social, environmental, legal, ethical and moral) of the tools of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering of animals, plants and microbes. In addition to learning the science of biotechnology, gaining a greater appreciation for careers associated
with this interdisciplinary science, participants establish friendships with their peers, and mentoring relationships with the UNH faculty. Over the past three decades of the program, the students have come from across the US (as far away as Alaska and Puerto Rico), and from abroad, e.g. Greece, India, Turkey, Spain, Jordan and Kazakhstan.
Here are some initial details of the program for 2022 – the 3rd year of COVID-19 Pandemic – The fact that we cannot have a live gathering at UNH, and would still like to make the program largely concurrent for everyone who participates; the program this year will be limited to students from the East Coast and the Central Time Zones of the US and those from Europe and beyond. It will be offered online (concurrently) at times which are more suitable to students from these limited time zones.
There are obvious shortcomings in this year’s program vs. the ones in the years before (the most obvious being the lack of lab experience), but there are some advantages as well (to be positive about the whole situation with COVID-19) for it being online, it is available to students from distant places with no cost of travel to them, thus a much lower program fee.
The program as planned will cover all topics of lectures and discussions (that we generally cover in the Biotechnology module) during the 3 weeks; and provide a unique experience to students about the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering, including the applications and social, legal, ethical, and moral implications of these technologies. In addition, we will devote a full day to the topic of Corona Virus(es) and its current status to bring the participants up to date with the science of COVID-19 Pandemic. We will definitely talk about the lab techniques to illustrate these topics but sadly no hands-on experience. For those of you, who are interested, we hope to do a special week-long program in the winter break on campus, assuming that we are all open.
The program fee is $500; partial or full scholarships will be available to those who cannot afford the cost. We expect a diverse group of students from the US as well as abroad. Last two years of this online program, we had students from Eastern part of the US, Greece, Turkey and India. The tentative schedule is to meet three days a week for 3 hours/day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays simultaneously online via ZOOM. The suggested times are from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern US time zone. All lectures will be recorded and available to students for later viewing.
We look forward to hearing from you soon about your intent to join. Best regards to you all.
Subhash Minocha – Director, Project SMART-2022
For more details see www.smart.unh.edu
UNH Project SMART Summer Institute – 2022
July 11 – July 29, 2022
Biotechnology and Society Module
Major topics to be covered – The program will be live via Zoom
Genes and Genetics – From there to here
Genes and Genetics – What Makes Genetic Engineering Possible?
DNA, RNA and Proteins
Working with DNA – Cutting and splicing, and additional technologies Genetic Engineering of
Bacteria
Plant Cloning and Genetic Engineering
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
ART-Assisted Reproductive Technologies – Spheroids and Organoids and Genes on chips
Stem Cells, Chimeras, and Designer Babies
Biotechnology and Aging
Biotechnology applications & implications (societal, environmental, legal, ethical & moral)
Biosensors, bioremediations & the Environment
Planning for the final day activities
Things we can’t see but they matter – the microbiome
Nanotechnology and its biological/biomedical applications
Discussions – Intellectual property and Patenting of Genes
A perspective on viruses
COVID-19 – What, how, from where and to where, and What else?
Guest Speaker*, Student Presentations – and Good-Byes!!!
• We always have an eminent scientist to meet with the students on the final day, to share
his/her thoughts with us on topics related to the program. Two years ago, it was a two time International Space Station Astronaut)
Application form link here: https://stem-link.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/PROJECT-SMART-2022-Application41112-2.docx