In early November 2019, SoundBio Lab teamed up with Celgene for a one-of-a-kind biotech workshop event for middle school children. Held at Celgene’s downtown location in Seattle, WA, this event specifically targeted girls and under-represented minorities in order to promote diversity in biotechnology.

The children were treated to several hands-on science activities designed specifically by Celgene and SoundBio scientists. The goal of this event was to inspire kids to envision themselves as scientists, and to help them see the connection between DNA and cancer.

Staff and volunteers from both SoundBio Lab and Celgene led 8 different groups of kids in these hands-on activities, starting with a favorite, strawberry DNA extraction. The next activity was learning how to properly micropipet using colored water, petri dishes, and a 96 well plate. The groups then participated in a novel cancer game where they got to tear apart paper mache ‘cells’ to learn about healthy DNA variation, as well as the different kinds of mutations that can lead to cancer. All in all, the kids and volunteers had a wonderful morning learning about biology.

We hope to continue this workshop series as an annual event. If you have a middle school student who is interested in biology, we’d love for you to join us! You can do so by emailing our Director of Outreach at holly (at) sound.bio.

Each child was assigned a role in our Cancer Game. Field scientists had to collect DNA sequences from other groups and report back to their research laboratory!

One group focusing intently on their micropipetting skills.

Group photo of all the middle school students + 19 dedicated volunteers!