By Sarah Carrillo
News Assistant
Imagine grinding up parts of frozen frog mixed with liquid nitrogen into a fine powder and then mixing it with enzymes in order to extract its DNA. No, this is not a scene out of Jurassic Park — it’s actually just one of the many experiments the students of the Natural Science Division conduct in labs every day.
The Natural Science Division has gained praise from both students and faculty for developing into a diverse program with high-tech equipment and a caring group of teachers.
When Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Thomas Vandergon came to Pepperdine eight years ago, he was the only molecular biology teacher in the department.
“Most of the research in genes, cells and cancer was done in the last 30 years,” Vandergon said. “Some of the faculty was trained in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s and didn’t have much hands-on experience.”
Through Vandergon’s work and the hiring of other molecular biology teachers, like Dr. Jay Brewster and Dr. Donna Nofziger Plank, the program has come to encompass a wider range of scientific learning, from genetics and molecular biology to ecology and biology of large organisms.
“It’s nice to have a diversity of faculty,” Brewster said. “(The program is) cohesive and we work well together. All of the diverse interests are very beneficial for the students as they go on to Ph.D training.”
In addition to a new faculty, the department has also been working to gain new equipment for the students to use.
One example is the micro array technology that is used in the genetics labs. It involves using slides to analyze cells and determine which genes are being utilized in different cells. This technology is also used in the medical field as well as genetic research.
Normally, a small school like Pepperdine would be unable to afford to do these kinds of experiments. For example, the laser slide scanner, an instrument that reads the micro array slides, costs around $100,000.
However, Pepperdine has joined a group of schools, including California Lutheran University and the University of Missouri, that share equipment like the laser slide scanner, allowing students access to a wider variety of technology. The students prepare the slides in the lab using yeast cells stained with chemicals and then send the slides away to be analyzed by the scanner.
“(The program is) a really cool deal for (students) and a lot of fun for me,” Brewster said.
The program, Genome Consortium for Active Teaching, is led by Dr. Malcolm Campbell of Davidson College in North Carolina, who analyzes the slides for the 35 schools involved. The slides Pepperdine uses are donated by a company in Seattle called Institute for Systems Biology. By joining this group, students can conduct experiments that require the laser slide scanner, like analyzing yeast cells.
“We have access to cutting-edge technology that’s being used in the large universities,” senior biology major Katie Niederer said. “It provides (biology) students with technology that they can market to employers.”
Another tool that students use in independent research is the flowcytometer. It allows a person to focus in on a single cell as it moves through liquid. By focusing a laser light on the cell, measurements can be made and thousands of cells can be studied quickly. At most other schools, this type of equipment is not available for free for undergraduate students. Purdue University, for example, charges students $75 an hour to use its flowcytometer.
“Technology helps in teaching and students will see this technology in graduate schools and jobs,” said Dr. Douglas Swartzendruber, chair of the Natural Science Division.
One program that gives students valuable time in the lab is the Summer Undergraduate Research in Biology program.
SURB students assist in research and learn skills necessary for their future careers.
“We did an experiment involving isolating DNA and transfecting cells with other DNA,” senior biology major Mark Boyajian said. “It’s useful to see the applications (of class work) in the lab.”
For one particular SURB student, the program meant more than just experimenting with DNA.
Junior music performance major Jennifer Bergeron was scheduled to participate in SURB this summer, but after a serious car accident, was left unsure about her future plans.
“(Vandergon) convinced me that it would be better to work in the lab this summer than sit around and mope about what happened,” Bergeron said. “He really helped me this summer when I was depressed or didn’t feel like working.
“Every professor (in the department) is incredible and wants to know us as people,” she added.
These professors have also found ways to make lectures interactive as well.
In Vandergon’s class, Natural Science 101: Science as a Way of Knowing, students take virtual field trips in class using the Internet and other sources before embarking on the trip in real life.
“It makes the field trips more readily accessible,” Vandergon said. “The students have already learned the material so it’s double exposure.”
Examples of these field trips include the planetarium and a look at the intertidal zone, the area in the ocean between high tide and low tide.
Pepperdine students also have access to equipment that is standard in most labs including microscopes, phonometers and photometers.
October 03, 2002