Members of the Cancer Center staff run these types of pop-ups for students and have also started to pilot weeks-long biology programs that slot into regular school curricula while taking advantage of UVM’s high-level technology.
“We’ve had students who look at DNA damage. We’ve had students interested in a nuclear membrane marker. And so depending on what students are interested in, we can actually provide samples for them, and they can visualize that on our microscope,” explained Katie Queen, Ph.D., deputy associate director for cancer research training and education coordination, who runs the program for UVM.
The Outreach and Education Van delivers mobile screening, prevention, and education to rural communities throughout Vermont and northern New York. The effort aims to spark an interest in science for rural students with the hope of leading them into careers as clinicians or researchers.