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BIOT 103,
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the first in a future curriculum of biotechnology, to be taught
this fall
Gavilan College seems to be ahead of the learning curve when it
comes to teaching the skills needed in a brave new world.
“BIOT 103,” the first in a future curriculum of biotechnology, to be taught this fall
Gavilan College seems to be ahead of the learning curve when it comes to teaching the skills needed in a brave new world.
By fall of 2007 Gavilan Community College hopes to offer a full curriculum in biotechnology. The college is offering its first biotech class – called “BIOT 103” – starting this fall.
“This class is like the first stop to see if biotech appeals to a student,” said Gavilan spokeswoman Jan Bernstein Chargin. “Its definitely hands-on and you’ll be working with lab materials.”
The course was designed by Gavilan instructor Mary McKenna and will be taught by Jennifer Rilea, who also teaches biotechnology at Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill. The class will use a textbook written by Ellen Dougherty of San Mateo, who is considered the authority on high school and community college-level biotech teaching methods.
Rilea said the class will mostly involve learning laboratory procedures.
“Biotech is learning how to manipulate living organisms for something useful,” Rilea said, “whether it’s new pharmaceuticals or a pest control method in the ag industry. The blue jeans I’m wearing – the colors, the texture, all the different kinds of choices you have in jeans comes from enzymes. People don’t realize how much biotech is all around them – the clothes you wear, the drugs you take, the food you eat.”
It’s a discipline that’s being increasingly used in the areas of seed testing, animal medicine – even winemaking.
Students taking BIOT 103, she said, will learn how to mix chemicals, grow bacteria and mix DNA – the building blocks of living cells. Rilea will also instruct her students on the history of biotech, its many industrial uses and how drugs are discovered.
In her popular class at Sobrato High, she has students take a bag of corn chips, mash them up, add DNA and discover that the corn used in the process was genetically modified.
“They ask why, and it’s to create a strain of corn that’s pest resistant,” Rilea said.
Genetically modified food is one of the most controversial uses of biotechnology, Rilea said. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of food eaten in the U.S. is now genetically modified. Opponents of the technology call such genetically tinkered foods “Franken-foods.”
This time next year, when Gavilan College is expected to have developed a full-blown biotech program, Rilea said she is sure that a “bio-ethical” class will be added. The subject is a component of the one she will teach this fall.
“Biotech can be very controversial,” Rilea said. “I’ve been to conferences where the facilities have been surrounded with police in riot gear. I don’t know if the protesters completely understand about biotech in foods. For example, the farmer who doesn’t use biotech who has a field next door to a grower that does, and his field gets cross-contaminated – that has to be regulated. But there are useful applications.
“In this class we will learn about the good side and the bad side,” she added.
Bernstein Chargin anticipates the class will be popular.
“Every city wants to bring in biotech,” she said. “It’s the next big thing for the California economy. It’s already established in South San Francisco. In this area with our ag component, it’s prime for biotech and the expansion of seed technology and food manufacturing, and biofuels. There’s a lot of applications.”
Rilea said she plans on taking the class on a field trip to a biotech company, such as Affymetrix in Santa Clara, a company specializing in “gene chips,” where she took a fellowship.
“You don’t have to be a scientist for a career in biotech,” Rilea said. “You can be an ad-man, technical writer, web designer, a secretary. You don’t have to have a PhD. You could get a pretty good paying job with a two-year degree.”
There are no prerequisites for the class, such as previous lab or science experience, but it is advised that students have completed at least one high school science course with a grade of “C” or better, and are eligible for English 250 and math 205 on the Gavilan College Assessment test.
Students will learn the use and care of instruments such as microscopem spectrophotometer, centrifuge, pH meter, mechanical and micropipettes, autoclave, and electronic balance. Scientific techniques such as the keeping of a lab notebook, report
writing, and calculations are included.
Fall semester starts Sept. 5. Late registration runs through Sept. 8. For information on registration and assessment testing, call 408-848-4800 or go to www.gavilan.edu.
