Pierce to Host DNA Research Workshop

The biotechnology program at Pierce College was chosen to host a workshop that will offer lessons in DNA research techniques to students from several community colleges.

Pierce was chosen to host UCLA’s Bridge Program because of its instructors’ expertise in biomedical research, and because of the new technological equipment acquired last year with a National Science Foundation grant.

“We tried to design a workshop to give students a real good idea of what it’s like to do research,” said instructor Martin Ikkanda, who will teach the workshop, along with instructors Lyn Koller and Kate Kubach.

The special four-day program, called Recombinant DNA Workshop, will be held in January during the school’s winter break. Students will receive hands-on experience in combining genes.

“They’ll work with DNA and get an understanding of what is done in biomedical research,” he said.

Twenty-four community college students from Pierce, Mission College, Valley College and East Los Angeles College will participate in the program.

Such an introduction to research methods is unusual for undergraduates, Ikkanda said.

“Very few actually get to do this sort of thing,” he said.

“Often they read about these procedures but never do them until perhaps graduate school, or if they are lucky enough to get into a lab.”

UCLA’s Bridge Program, which organizers expect to hold annually, encourages minority students to prepare for careers in biomedical research, though not all of the 24 enrolled in the workshop are minorities.