Fulton genetics class sees science in action during trip to capital

Fulton High School student Brian McCarty, 16, practices testing for sickle cell disease using red food coloring while (back) Carlene Campbell, newborn screening supervisor, explains how laboratory scientists go through the real process. Photo by Mandi Steele.

By Mandi Steele

Friday, November 4, 2011

JEFFERSON CITY — Donning lab coats and medical gloves, seven Fulton High School students took turns testing newborn “blood” for sickle-cell disease.

Photo by Mandi Steele

Blake Latty, 16, and Lauren Hunter, 16, use M&Ms to calculate allele frequencies in DNA during a school trip to the state health lab.

The “blood” was only red food coloring, but the experience showed the 11th grade genetics class how the scientists at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory test babies’ blood. The high-schoolers took a field trip Thursday to the lab and then to the Missouri State Highway Patrol headquarters to learn firsthand how the field of genetics impacts today’s world.

Last year’s FHS genetics class was the first group of students in the state to tour the newborn screening facility at the MSPH lab. Carol Robertson, FHS genetics and biology instructor, decided to take her class again this year to show students the opportunities available in the genetics field.

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