WHAT:
See the wonder of science on high school students’ faces as they meet a living legend, a Nobel Prize winner whose contributions have changed studies of disease!
WHEN:
A dedicated time for media to cover the student-scientist interaction is 1 to 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 16 (tomorrow). Later in the afternoon, at 3:30, Dr. Chalfie will discuss his science and career in a lecture open to students, parents, teachers and other members of the public.
WHERE:
The Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, a research institute of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The Barshop Institute is located at 15355 Lambda Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78245-3207, in the Texas Research Park.
WHO:
Several high school students who participate in the Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy at the UT Health Science Center will have face time with Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie, Ph.D., of Columbia University.
BACKGROUND:
Dr. Chalfie shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, which was first observed in a type of jellyfish. Biologists now routinely use green fluorescent proteins to track the growth and fate of specific cells, such as nerve cells damaged by Alzheimer’s disease.
Voelcker Scholars are outstanding area students who participate in three summers of programming at the Health Science Center. The Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy, made possible by the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund, places these young scholars in mentors’ laboratories, where they learn how to conduct research and present their own novel findings. It will be a thrill for these students to meet Dr. Chalfie, who is generously giving of his time to perpetuate the science education pipeline.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the country’s leading health sciences universities. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $801.8 million operating budget supports six campuses in San Antonio and Laredo. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.