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Media representatives are invited to experience hands-on science aboard a DESTINY traveling science laboratory during school visits next week. Through DESTINY, local students conduct laboratory experiments led by outreach educators from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. Forsyth County
UNC School of the Arts
1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem
Thursday (March 29)
8:30–10 a.m.
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
2–3:30 p.m.
Linda Moore’s biology students will conduct “Brand Name Genes.” Students play the role of employees in a global biotech company to understand connections between BRCA genes and breast cancer. They prepare a simulated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and perform gel electrophoresis to determine the presence of a simulated BRCA2 mutation. Granville County
J.F. Webb High School
3200 Webb School Road, Oxford
Monday (March 26)
12:39–2:04 p.m.
Tuesday (March 27)
8:30–10:01 a.m.
10:37 a.m.–12:04 p.m.
Renee Gorby’s biomedical technology students will conduct “Brand Name Genes,” described above. Johnston County
West Johnston High School
5935 Raleigh Road, Benson
Wednesday (March 28)
12:57–2:25 p.m.
Thursday (March 29)
7:15–8:36 a.m.
8:51–10:19 a.m.
Tara Blalock’s students will conduct “The Crucial Concentration.” Students 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, they learn how to use a spectrophotometer, measure absorbance, collect quantitative data and produce a standard curve to find the protein content in each sample. Wilkes County
Wilkes Central High School
1179 Moravian Falls Road, Wilkesboro
Wednesday (March 28)
11:50 a.m.–1:35 p.m.
1:45–3:25 p.m.
Marian Marley’s honors chemistry students will conduct “Get a Clue / Case of the Crown Jewels.” Students 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. Yadkin County
Forbush High School
1525 Falcon Road, East Bend
Tuesday (March 27)
9:40–11:10 a.m.
11:15 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
1:25–2:50 p.m.
Gayle Norman’s biology students will conduct “Mystery of the Crooked Cell.” Students 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. The DESTINY Traveling Science Learning Program serves pre-college teachers and students across North Carolina. DESTINY (Delivering Edge-cutting Science Technology and Internet across North Carolina for Years to come) develops and delivers standards-based, hands-on science curricula 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 17 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 website: www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/destiny
DESTINY media contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952,
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News Services contact: Susan Hudson, (919) 962-8415,
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