News of the School Summer 2013 Park Tudor School
Smith College professors bring biology projects to PT
Students in Upper School biology and
AP biology classes again this year had the opportunity to participate in sophisticated DNA and genetics investigations led by Smith College professors. This marked the third visit by Smith College biology professors Drs. Bob Merritt and Lori Saunders to Park Tudor. They spent three days in March working with Upper School biology students, conducting labs and lectures, and were assisted by graduate student Caitlyn Kirby, president of the Smith College Class of 2012, and Park Tudor graduate Anagha Inguva, Park Tudor Class of 2011, a science major and member of the Smith College Science Center Committee on Diversity. Anagha also met with students interested in science careers and/or science-related majors. Biology students conducted an investigation of DNA found in a cell structure called the mitochondrion, while AP biology students participated in a newly created lab procedure that includes DNA amplification and inversion polymorphism at the end of the human X-chromosome. Science Department Chair and biology teacher Dr. Scott McDougall says, “The mitochondrial DNA extracted from students’ cheek cells was amplified millions of times over, creating a large enough sample to conduct an evolutionary relationship analysis. Students were able to compare their DNA to that of the other animal species and extinct creatures like the Neanderthal.” The partnership, which began in 2007, is made possible by the Bennett Fund, created by a grant from Park Tudor alumnus Dob Bennett ’76 and his wife Deborah, a 1981 Smith College alumna. Over the past six years, Smith College professors have made visits to Park Tudor to work with fine-arts students as well as science students. The Bennett Fund also provides scholarships to enable Park Tudor students to attend Smith College, as well as for Upper School students to attend summer programs at Smith.
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Anagha Inguva ’11 (left) works on a DNA experiment with freshman biology students Haley Foster and Deeba Derazi.
Summer 2013
at Park Tudor
Park Tudor’s Summer 2013 program offers more than 100 classes, camps and workshops for central Indiana students in preschool through high school through August 2. A brochure and class registration are available on the Park Tudor website.