Outreach activities
The MCIC staff engages the local community in biological sciences by offering tours and demonstrations of the facility and equipment. In the past year alone, we had over 400 visitors from the local community. Students from high, middle-high and elementary schools visited the center and had the opportunity to learn about biological research. Similarly, groups of local farmers, floriculturists and other groups toured the MCIC. This gives us the opportunity to promote science, education and research. These outreach activities do not include the extension efforts of individual users who regularly interact with grower/producers and processors who benefit from our research.
 Wooster Township Elementary. Students learning
about the genetic code and "building" proteins during the Science of Agriculture
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Every spring, we offer tours and hands on demonstration on the equipment for K-12, middle and high schools students and teachers. For this purpose we developed two instructional modules Breaking the code and Larger than life, which can be adapted for the students and teachers of various grades.
In Breaking the code, students learn about the DNA and how the gene sequence determines the color of their eyes and the size of their feet. Students learn about our ABI377XL DNA sequencer and other genomic research tools available in the laboratory, while gaining a greater understanding of the marvels of their own genetic make up. In the Larger than Life session, students gain hands on experience with our light and electron microscopes. Both of these sessions were very popular last year and received very high marks from the visitors, and we had more requests for tours than we could accommodate.
If you would like to have a tour of the MCIC, please contact Jane Houin.
Training on the instrumentation
If you would like to use any of our instruments please contact the MCIC staff, by phone or via e-mail. For the use of the electron microscope and the confocal microscope, we usually schedule a two to four hours training. After this initial training you will be using the microscope under out supervision until you will be certified as independent user. Similarly for the LightCycler and the QPix colony picker, you need to schedule a training session before you start your project. After this initial session, the MCIC staff will assist you with the use of the equipment till you become completely independent.
Workshops
Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language) is a programming language especially designed for processing text. Because it is easy to build, it has become one of the most popular scripting languages for biologists and it is widely used in bioinformatics. Perl classes are taught once a year. If you would like more information, please contact Ian Holford. Download elvaluation form for Perl class.
A microscopy workshop is being planned for this coming spring. It will include an introduction to the principles and techniques in light and electron microscopy. Participants will have the opportunity to prepare their samples using various techniques and observe them using confocal microscopy and scanning and electron transmission microscopy. If you are interested in the workshop, please contact Tea Meulia.