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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s two traveling science laboratories when it visits two Guilford County high schools next week.

Tuesday (Jan. 26)
10:50 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.
Grimsley High School
801 Westover Terrace, Greensboro
Ruth Moss’s advanced placement biology students will perform the lab exercise called “Brand Name Genes.” Students play the role of employees in a global biotech company to understand connections between BRCA genes and breast cancer. Students prepare a simulated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and perform gel electrophoresis to determine the presence of a simulated BRCA2 mutation.

Wednesday (Jan. 27)
9:56 a.m. to 11:54 a.m.
12:26 p.m. to 2:38 p.m.
Northwest Guilford High School
5240 Northwest School Road, Greensboro
Janet Wells’ advanced placement chemistry students will perform the 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 (ELISA) to screen hypothetical patients for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The Destiny Traveling Science Learning Program is a science education outreach initiative of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, 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 buses equipped as mobile science laboratories, bring advanced science and technology equipment to students who otherwise might not see high-tech experiments or what a career in science can offer. The mobile science labs are powerful visual images that heighten public awareness of the importance of and funding necessary for quality science education.

To be eligible to request a visit from a Destiny mobile science lab, each participating teacher must attend workshops to learn how to incorporate module activities and experiments into his or her classroom. Destiny offers 15 different science modules, each aligned with the N.C. Standard Course of Study.

The Destiny program was created by UNC-Chapel Hill in 2000. Its principal funders are the State of North Carolina and GlaxoSmithKline, with additional support from Bio-Rad Laboratories and from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Since 2006, Destiny has been part of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Destiny Web site: www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
Destiny media contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it