Six students from Harborfields High School are participating in this year’s newly redesigned Science Journal Club hosted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Library and Archives. This year’s course is being led by Library and Archives Executive Director Mila Pollock, MLS and Research Engagement & Data Curator Jacqueline Gunther, PhD. With students ranging from 10th-11th grade, they have been meeting twice a month to learn about cutting-edge scientific research with their science teacher, Michael Pinto.
Since starting the course, the students have visited two research facilities and been able to engage with chemistry and neurobiology researchers.
Joshua Homer a Postdoctoral Fellow from Dr. John Moses’ Laboratory gave a tour and demonstration in CSHL’s new state of the art chemistry lab. Students were able to learn about the value of click chemistry in new drug development, as well as the importance of collaboration across scientific disciplines.
Assistant Professor Arkarup Banerjee gave a tour of the neurobiology labs in the Marks Building. The student enjoyed seeing the equipment for all the experiments and getting to visit the singing mice colony. They learned about the ongoing projects and got to see the electrical signals of a live mouse during an experiment.
Students together with their science teacher and instructors have had exciting Science Journal Club meetings in which students learned how to use special databases for the retrieval of scientific literature, and independently prepared and presented scientific journal articles. This Journal Club empowers students to engage with the scientific process, ask questions and build confidence in presenting scientific literature.