High School Students study Biotech at VGCC Workshop


From left: VGCC Bioprocess Technology program head/instructor Dr. Tara Hamilton and VGCC student Melissa Messner of Wilton with participating students Justice Shuta of South Granville High School, Sarah Meixner of Granville Early College High School, Victoria Richardson of Warren County High School and Alicia Davis of J.F. Webb High School. (VGCC photo)

From left: VGCC Bioprocess Technology program head/instructor Dr. Tara Hamilton and VGCC student Melissa Messner of Wilton with participating students Justice Shuta of South Granville High School, Sarah Meixner of Granville Early College High School, Victoria Richardson of Warren County High School and Alicia Davis of J.F. Webb High School. (VGCC photo)

Four local high school students participated in the third annual Vance-Granville Community College Biotech Workshop, held over the course of two Saturdays in May. VGCC Bioprocess Technology program head Dr. Tara Hamilton conducted the workshop with assistance from one of her students, Melissa Messner of Wilton.

The participating students hailed from South Granville High School, Granville Early College High School, Warren County High School and J.F. Webb High School.

Students had the chance to work in the state-of-the-art biotech laboratory in Building 8 on the college’s Main Campus in Vance County. Through hands-on experience, they developed lab skills that they may use in college and in STEM-related careers in research, high-tech manufacturing or medicine.

From left, students Justice Shuta of South Granville High School, Sarah Meixner of Granville Early College High School, Victoria Richardson of Warren County High School practice their micropipetting technique during the VGCC Biotech Workshop. (VGCC photo)

From left, students Justice Shuta of South Granville High School, Sarah Meixner of Granville Early College High School, Victoria Richardson of Warren County High School practice their micropipetting technique during the VGCC Biotech Workshop. (VGCC photo)

Students were introduced to the basics of biotechnology through a variety of procedures designed to culture bacteria, harvest bacteria and purify Green Fluorescent Protein, a protein normally found in Aequorea victoria, a species of jellyfish. They also learned valuable techniques such as micropipetting, preparation of microscopy slides, and column chromatography, and learned how to operate the spectrophotometer, centrifuge and microscopes.

This annual program for high school students is part of a series of camps and workshops being held this year by the VGCC Arts and Sciences division. Others include a Creative Writing workshop for adults held earlier in the year, Science Camps for middle school students this summer, and the Teenworks Theater Camp in July, which targets rising seventh graders through high school seniors.

For more information on Bioprocess Technology, contact Dr. Hamilton at (252) 738-3285 or hamiltont@vgcc.edu.