Biotech Students Tour Medical Tech Company

Science teacher Blair Buck reports that his biotechnology students were treated to a laboratory tour of the Becton Dickinson Company – a global medical technology company – in Franklin Lakes, N.J., on April 12. Among other accomplishments, Becton Dickinson manufactured the first syringe made specifically for insulin injection. The class trip was arranged by Jackie Donohue ’07 and her mother Joyce, who is employed there.

Blair noted, “We were treated to lectures on Proteomics and actual hands-on lab work with a Ph.D. doing research on protein biomarkers. It’s estimated that there are as many as 500,000 proteins in human blood, of which perhaps 5,000 have been detected. We had the opportunity to load blood plasma on a PAGE gel and watch as scientists processed the plasma proteins using isoelectric fractionation and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.”

He added, “We were also shown how a laser-driven mass spectrometer can analyze protein fragments, sequence the protein, and compare it to a database on the Internet that would allow identification of the protein and its fragments. It was very high-tech but presented in such a way that students could grasp the basic concepts of what was being done. They even fed us breakfast and lunch!”

Posted 4/13/07

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