Yonkers students genetically engineer bacteria with Dr. Raven Baxter at the Regeneron DNA Learning Center

On September 26, 2022, a school holiday, Yonkers high school students put new genes into bacteria at the Regeneron DNA Learning Center. Dr. Raven Baxter worked with the group, from Yonkers Partners in Education, at their lab benches in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

The visit came two weeks after President Biden launched a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative by executive order. The White House fact sheet said "we can program microbes to make specialty chemicals and compounds." It warned of "a shortage of relevant talent spanning all levels." It promised training "with a focus on advancing racial and gender equity and support for talent development in underserved communities." Putting a new gene into bacteria, as the Yonkers students did, is a basic step in programming a microbe.

Close to 30 students took part, according to the River Journal. A teacher from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which runs the center, led the experiment. In the center's bacterial transformation lab, students put genes for a glowing protein and for resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin into E. coli bacteria. After a night of growth, the changed bacteria are compared with controls to see which grow on ampicillin and glow green under ultraviolet light. The lesson also shows "how bacteria can be used to make human proteins such as insulin." In August 2022, Senate Republicans voted down a $35 cap on insulin costs for private insurance, though the Inflation Reduction Act kept one for Medicare.

The visit was part of Baxter's partnership with Regeneron. She said the partnership shares work "to usher in the next generation of scientists," such as the Science Talent Search. "One of the cool opportunities that I get to do as part of this partnership is to teach introductory molecular biology techniques to high school students at the Regeneron DNA Learning Center," she told the River Journal.

"The students from the Yonkers Partners In Education are brilliant. They were eager to get hands-on experience in the lab," Baxter said. The most inspiring part, she said, was "the enthusiasm for science and learning more."

"My goal every day is to bridge the gap between science and the public," she said. Asked about her favorite part of her career, she answered, "I love opportunities where I get to interface with people in person, doing science."

Asked for her advice to high school students interested in science, she said, "Get ready to have the biggest adventure of your life."

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory founded the DNA Learning Center in 1988 as "the world's first science center devoted entirely to public genetics education." It reaches 30,000 precollege students a year. Regeneron spent about $4 million to build and equip the two-lab Sleepy Hollow site, which opened on its campus in December 2019. Yonkers Partners in Education was founded in 2007 "to expand opportunities for students in the historically under-resourced Yonkers Public Schools."

Baxter, a molecular biologist, earned her Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo earlier that year, with research focused on science communication.

The River Journal's interview with Baxter, "Raven the Science Maven Shares Her Love of STEM," ran on November 9, 2022.