Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project empowers biology educators to bring real-world scientific research into the classroom with inquiry, discovery, biotechnology, and a culture of excellence. Teachers and students will engage in hands-on research and contribute to the collection of scientific data within the Wolbachia research community. Through this immersive lab series, students will discover arthropod species in their local fauna; obtain DNA sequences of potentially new genetic strains of Wolbachia; and determine the evolutionary relatedness of these Wolbachia strains to other sequences published by scientists in the NCBI national genetic database.
The four core goals of this initiative are:
- Engage students in nature and real-world research
- Encourage international participation in the collection of new scientific data on bacterial endosymbionts (Wolbachia)
- Enhance student interest in science through an integrative lab series spanning biodiversity to molecular biology
- Give students an idea of what it’s like to be a scientist.
Sponsors
Discover the Microbes Within! would like to thank our sponsors past and present for helping to facilitate real-world research in the classroom.
Penn State Microbiome Center
MiniOne
VWR/Avantor
NSF
HHMI
Water Boatman