Genome BC’s Geneskool Summer Camp is underway this week. High school students from Kamloops, Delta, Nanoose Bay, Sun Peaks, Langley, Surrey and Calgary are on the TRU campus taking part in an intensive five-day workshop—with ambitions of becoming the next genetics experts.

Through an interactive series of lectures and experiments, students are using science to solve a staged crime scene. Campers learn about genetics, biotechnology, inheritance, virology, genetic diseases, forensics and microbiology. The program is designed to facilitate students working in teams, learning about science in a cooperative manner and exploring applications of genomics beyond the lab by considering the science from social and ethical perspectives.

The students are taking advantage of TRU’s state-of-the-art lab facilities while they participate in over a dozen labs including pipetting, gram staining, bacterial classification, DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction.

One of the camp’s speakers is Dr. Jonathan Van Hamme, associate professor in Biological Sciences. Van Hamme is showcasing two different genome sequencing machines, engaging with the students in a discussion about his work in DNA sequencing and answering their questions on biological data collection.

“The students are asking great questions. They want to know how the chemistry works, where the genetic data goes after it’s collected and what is being done with it,” said Van Hamme.

“Students have asked about the ethics behind genetic sequencing and collection and are interested in learning more about the future of bioinformatics.”

The Genome BC Geneskool program has been involved in communities throughout BC since 2004 and Geneskool Summer Camps have been travelling around the province since 2009.