BTI's in Full bloom this spring Carlmont's Biotechnology Institute: A Community Newsletter

Junior field trip to Genentech

a million thanks to bti parents, Kristen tomita, akiko chai, trevor swartz, kristin bish, and sejal mehta

These parents all work at Genentech and planned an extraordinary day for our juniors. We got to tour the pilot plant and a number of labs. We also had a beautiful lunch, which included career talks with Genentech employees. Thank you, Genentech parents for being such engaging, generous hosts and creating an inspiring day we'll never forget!

End-of-year Mentor Breakfast

Every year, each of our eleventh-grade students is matched with a professional whose career interests them. They build a special relationship over six months and students even shadow them at work one day. Mentors give feedback on students' resumes, help them set goals, and might even go out for coffee or a walk to catch up. We can't thank our mentors enough. They have dedicated a great deal of their time and expertise to making a difference in our students' lives. We are also grateful to our mentor coordinator, Mr. Fabic for finding these fabulous volunteers. Below is a list of the mentors, photos from our end-of-the-year breakfast, and job shadows.

junior Job shadows

bti lunchtime social: valentine's day

There was lots of love and sweet treats at our lunchtime social to celebrate Valentine's Day! Students decorated heart cookies, made friendship bracelets, and cards.

what's happening in our classes

Sophomores

Biotechnology 2

Biotechnology 2: Students have finished their DNA Exonerations unit, where we used gel electrophoresis and forensic DNA techniques to exonerate individuals who were wrongfully convicted of crimes. In our next unit, we are trying out a new CRISPR lab and researching how CRISPR can be used for targeted medical interventions.

World History

Sophomores have been wrapping up their unit on Genocide, focusing on highlighting people who helped others during genocide. We will end the year with a unit on pandemics and completing a college research project.

English II

English II students spent a good bit of Quarter 3 working on their biotechnology team research projects, which they presented to the senior cohort and families at Open House. Among the many topics were bioprinting, CAR T-cell therapy for cancer treatment, a vaccine to help the diminishing bee population, and a biotech solution for fighting Lyme disease. The presentations were outstanding! This quarter students are exercising their creativity through narrative essay writing and poetry writing.

juniors

biotechnology 4

The start of the 4th quarter coincided with the start of the student’s final exam. Using all of the skills the students learned this year, the students need to grow an edible plant from a seed and clone. Looking at more environmental applications of Biotechonlogy, the students also engineered water filteration systems and had fun testing their designs.

us history

Students have been applying concepts of social justice and civil rights to researching current issues about similar content today. From this students have been creating social awareness campaigns in small groups to bring awareness about current issues from reproductive rights to immigration to voting rights to criminal justice. Products of the awareness campaign will take various forms such as Twitter feeds, protest posters, infographics, and speeches. Later in the semester, we will be doing a final project about potential career paths students are interested in pursuing in their future adult lives.

chemistry for biotechnology

Students have become experts in Stoichiometry this semester, stoichiometry is calculations based on the proportions from balanced chemical reactions. As we like to say in class, “Can’t stop the Stioch!” Early in the semester students made soap from Lye and oils, the final soap and project learning posters were displayed at open house. More recently we have begun studying acids and bases. Students have been conducting a multi-week experiment to measure the affect of acidic solutions on sea shells and the chemistry surrounding ocean acidification. Recently students have completed several acid-base titration labs and learned how to calculate pH values.

English III

English III students spent Quarter 3 reading Margaret Atwood's, Oryx and Crake and creating ad campaigns for the environmentally-friendly cleaning products they created in their Biotechnology 4 class. They are ending the year with a fiction writing unit.

Seniors

biomanufacturing

Students are hard at work on their final Capstone projects, ranging from cosmetics to bioplastics to supplements. Teams are developing products, extracting bio-active ingredients, and doing validation testing to ensure quality products. Their creativity and dedication to getting their products finished and functioning is impressive!

Gov/Econ

Students compared what they read in Bad Blood in their English class to the HBO doc The Inventor and will be hearing from part of the prosecution team when John Bostic of the DOJ comes to visit and speak on Monday, 5/22. Students are also working on a unit about personal finance, which includes learning about taxes, reading a paycheck, and other fun adulting they’ll get to practice in the real world once they graduate!

English IV

Seniors are exploring topics in George Orwell’s 1984 such as privacy, security, surveillance, totalitarianism, censorship, and gaslighting. They are also starting their final essay of the year!