Holy Cross to Host 60 Students From Burncoat High School for Science Presentations

WORCESTER, Mass. – The biology department at the College of the Holy Cross will host approximately 60 students from Burncoat High School on April 13 for a series of science presentations featuring a recently acquired confocal microscope.

The Leica spectral confocal microscope is widely used in modern scientific research for imaging of biological specimens. Its resolving power, combined with software that permits compilation of multiple optical sections over time or through vertical distance, allow for applications in biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, neuroscience, and many other areas.

The purchase of the microscope was made possible by the $206,000 award from the National Science Foundation to biology professors Mary Lee Ledbetter, Robert Bellin, Cara Constance, Karen Ober, and Kornath Madhavan in August 2005, for their proposal titled “MRI: Acquisition of a Spectral Confocal Microscope for Research and Training in Biology.”

Since its acquisition by the biology department, it has been used extensively in the teaching and research efforts of Bellin and Ledbetter; and research by William Sobczak, assistant professor of biology, and Katherine Aubrecht, assistant professor of chemistry.

An important component of the proposal is the establishment of an outreach program to local high school students in order to introduce them to cutting-edge technology, and to stimulate their interest in the sciences. The presentation, conceived and organized by Constance, is titled “Imaging Life” and will demonstrate imaging used in ongoing research in the biology department at the population level, organismal level, and cellular level.

Richard Lent, lecturer and coordinator of educational technology, and geologist Sara Mitchell, assistant professor of biology, will present techniques for global imaging. Constance and biology major Elizabeth Mills ’07 will demonstrate the use of imaging to record animal behavior. Bellin and biology major Matthew Frigault ’07 will highlight use of the confocal microscope with their presentation titled “Unlocking the Secrets of the Cell: Confocal Microscopy as a Powerful Key.”

The high school students will also take a tour of campus, and will end their visit with a “college style” lunch at Kimball Dining Hall. Funding for this program is also provided by the Office of Grants and Corporate and Foundation Giving at Holy Cross.