On Wednesday, June 4, 2014, students representing 26 New Jersey high schools attended the Waksman Forum Poster Session to present their findings from their yearlong research investigations. Over 250 guests, including students, teachers, school administrators, scientists, and parents, came together for this closing event of the 2013 Waksman Student Scholars Program (WSSP), a research project in molecular biology, genetics and bioinformatics that focused on the analysis of a mRNA population from the duckweed, Landoltia punctata. The research question asked: “Which genes are expressed in this organism, and how do they compare with expressed genes from other species?” As a result of their work, over 492 of the 822 students from NJ high schools successfully analyzed and published 762 novel Landoltia DNA sequences on GenBank, the international repository of all known DNA sequences. The WSSP is sponsored by the Waksman Institute, Rutgers University and is directed by Dr. Andrew K. Vershon, a professor at the Waksman Institute.
High Schools represented on June 4th included:
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Academy for Enrichment & Advancement @ Union City High School |
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Bayonne High School |
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Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School |
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East Brunswick High School |
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Hackettstown High School |
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High Point Regional High School |
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Hillsborough High School |
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Holmdel High School |
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J.P. Stevens High School |
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James Caldwell High School |
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Middlesex County Academy for S.M.E.T. |
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Montville Township High School |
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Old Bridge High School |
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Pascack Hills High School |
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Pascack Valley High School |
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Piscataway High School |
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Robbinsville High School |
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Rutgers Preparatory School |
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Somerville High School |
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The Hun School |
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The Lawrenceville School |
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The Pennington School |
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The Pingry School |
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Union City High School |
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Watchung Hills Regional High School |
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West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South |