Project Based Learning
Live Cell Technology – Education
The Live Cell Biotechnology Discovery Lab is a maker space dedicated to creating the next generation of technologies for remote education. Since 2020, UC Santa Cruz has collaborated with schools both locally and internationally to incorporate our cloud-enabled labs in the classroom.
The technologies we have designed will create access to hands-on laboratory experience at the scale needed to adequately provide the next generation of scientists and engineers with the skillsets they will need to craft solutions to some of our planet’s most pressing challenges.
Impact on students
“It was amazing watching the students light up as they performed science experiments for the first time… This course inspired many students to start doing research in computational neuroscience, and even inspired some to pursue PhDs.”
-Matthew Elliott, Graduate Researcher and Teaching Assistant, UCSC
Our technologies are making it possible for highschools, community colleges, and universities to provide their students to conduct real hands-on experiments that they would not otherwise have the resources and staff to offer. An initial feedback analysis has found that working with our technologies had a large influence on how students saw themselves in relation to STEM professionals.
Engaging in project-based learning through our cloud-based technologies is helping students to feel like they can be a part of the STEM research community. Watch more videos from students on our UCSC/ Alisal Collaboration Playlist
After these early collaborations allowing high school students to use microscopy on autocultured organisms/cells, we expanded to bring experiments on resource-demanding organoids to college classrooms, equipping students with experience and skills that are in high demand in the biotech industry.
Lab-on-a-chip
Learning simple code through lab-on-a-chip teaching experiences
Students remotely operated optofluidic chips that were based on the UCSC campus, allowing them to learn simple coding as they executed their experiments.
Progress and final results were available online in real-time.
Please contact us (livecell@ucsc.edu) about collaborations and your ideas to take advantage of our cloud-enabled experimental setups for education.
Let us know how our technology can fit your research/ teaching
Learn more about our cloud-based technologies
News from the Discovery Lab
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Two Genomics Institute graduate students receive DEI Action Award
The Genomics Institute’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee has awarded its annual DEI Action Award to Prajna Hebbar and Samira Vera-Choqqueccota. This is an award our committee gives annually to recognize members of the Genomics Institute that are taking positive action to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our campus community and beyond. It…
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Reducing Education Inequalities in Latinx Communities Through Cloud-Enabled Project-Based Learning
Funded by CITRIS, a new project out of the Genomics Institute’s Discovery Lab will develop culturally relevant, technologically enhanced STEM education tailored to diverse Latinx populations in the U.S. and Latin America.
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Postdoc Spotlight: Maryam Moarefian
Maryam Moarefian is developing a platform for studying neural networks in “cortical organoids,” model brain tissue grown from stem cells September 16-20 is Postdoc Appreciation Week, when we celebrate the incredible contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to the mission of major research institutions like UC Santa Cruz. The UCSC Genomics Institute benefits from the dedication…