COMMUNITY SCIENCE :: ‘ĀINA-INFORMATICS NETWORK
Curious anticipation fills the lab at Moanalua High School as AP Biology students lift their pipettes, thumbs at the ready. Visiting teacher and ‘Iolani Community Science Genomics Specialist Eric ‘Iwakeli‘i Tong demonstrates how to depress the plunger and dispense the DNA extraction solution into a vial, reminding the students to avoid contamination. He stops by each workstation as the students work through the steps of extracting genetic material from the wild mushroom samples they gathered.
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VER THE COURSE of the week ahead, the students will sequence the DNA, map out the findings, and upload them to a database for the Hawai‘i Fungi Project, which aims to identify various mushroom species found in Hawai‘i. The curricula is one of many offered through the ‘Āina-Informatics Network (AIN), the ground-breaking ‘Iolani School Community Science program bringing genome science to high school students statewide. In 2017,‘Iolani became one of the first high schools in the world to procure a MinION sequencer made by U.K.-based Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The portable, palm-sized device — Tong calls it “the GoPro of genomic sequencing” — is a game changer, allowing for real-time DNA sequencing to happen on the fly in the most remote places, including the International Space Station. The darling of ‘Āina-Informatics Network’s mobile sequencing lab, the MinION can be brought into classrooms where students can watch it spit out long text strings — thousands and thousands of base letters — as it reads DNA like a scene out of the science fiction film “Gattaca.”The AIN mobile lab includes all the necessary equipment to run DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, gel electrophoresis, and nanopore sequencing, offering a broad array of genomic research possibilities. “In grad school, I would prepare my samples and I would send them away for sequencing, but the technology in our mobile lab makes that process visible to students, which I find really, really exciting,”
says Tong, who serves as ‘Āina-Informatics Network Coordinator, a dynamic role taking him to science classrooms across the state. Tong runs workshops on operating the equipment, co-designs curricula with teachers to address issues within their communities, and gets students to think about how the research can help strengthen the relationship between people and the ‘āina, setting their sights on goals like advancing food security, uncovering indi- genous knowledge, and protecting local biodiversity.
TEACHER TRAINING AND SUPPORT
The personal training, stipend support, and funding for lab equip- ment — including reagents, micropipettes, PCR thermocyclers, electrophoresis equipment, centrifuges, and more — is of critical value to the growing number of participating teachers from public and private schools across Hawai‘i. It gives teachers like Dr. Johanna Anton of Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on Hawai‘i Island the know-how to engage her students in a wide range of ‘āina-based projects, from examining the microbiome supporting native plant growth to investigating the symbiotic relationships between aquatic algae and bacteria. Anton was selected as an AIN Fellow after attending the three-day Kula A‘o Kālaiōewe Genomics Intensive in summer 2022. The hope of naming her an AIN Fellow is that she will become a resource for other Hawai‘i Island teachers wanting to adopt the curricula.
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