SAN DIEGO — Researchers with a UC San Diego outreach program are teaching students at the High Tech High Media Arts campus about gene editing, but it's more than just a chemistry lesson, it's lighting the way for their futures in science.
From the naked eye, a petri dish looks like it's filled with little bubbles but with a closer look under a UV light, it expresses a green fluorescent protein.
High Tech High Media Arts students used this experiment to learn about base editing, where they were tasked to "cure" the bacteria.
This is a concept that paves the way for genome editing research such as climate-resilient crops or treating human disease at the genetic level.
“Even though it's not medicinal base or therapeutic base, it's still the same concepts that we apply to future health-related issues,” said Carlos Vasquez, UCSD Ph.D. student.
He is graduating this year with his Ph.D. in genome editing with an interest in cancer research.
“I love the concept where we could help all kinds of people, every single person down the road,” said Vasques.
Vasquez is also helping to lead the Genome Editing Technologies Program that does outreach with local high schools.
This education partnership also exposes students to diversity in STEM.
“It's like really cool to see the people who are doing it,” said Mateu Espinos, HTHMA junior.
Vasquez says having a mentor helped carve his path to becoming a scientist and he wants to be that for the younger generation.
“It’s really important to get out to into our community and start talking to high school students about genome editing, because they're the future. This is an important field, there's a lot of ethical questions and concerns moving forward,” said Vasquez.
This not only makes basic editing accessible to high schools but students like Espinos say this has expanded his critical thinking skills.
“For me, it's about how we can edit before, like the babies are even born. And then also like enhancing certain genes, also how they're like working on creating new gene editors,” said Espinos. “And then learn also about a lot of the ethical factors of that.”
This experiment has sparked a conversation that may help them see a future in being a part of medical, therapeutic, or agricultural breakthroughs.
“What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to expand, like my range of opportunities and my range of interests. So, this has definitely helped me with that,” said Espinos.
To learn more about the UCSD Genome Editing Technologies Program click here.
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