The Waksman Student Scholars Program is open to all students at the high school level, with a background in at least Honors Biology strongly recommended and preferred. Through the program, participants learn laboratory procedures and discuss results of their experiments. Students have the option of participating in it at the club level, or taking it as a 3-credit class with pass/fail grading. The club generally meets at least 3 times a week.

For an additional fee, students can sign up to receive 3 credits from Rutgers by taking a written midterm and final, among other things. This is a distance-learning type course; there are no actual classes at Rutgers. There is also an optional web-based course.

Roughly every 4-6 weeks, a meeting with all of the participating high schools and Rutgers faculty convenes at the Waksman Institute. A representative from the exec board and students working for Rutgers credit will attend, in addition to a few students selected by lottery. These students report back to their peers at the very next meeting of WSSP @ EBHS.

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Summer Program

A team of two students and one teacher from each school, including EBHS, are selected through an applications process to "attend" the Waksman Institute during the summer. The program typically runs from early July to August and meets Mon-Fri. Routine schedule includes seminars, laboratory, guest speakers and bio-ethics components; at its conclusion, students give presentations on various topics. These two students will be responsible for sharing their knowledge with their peers when they return to EBHS and will become co-Presidents of the club by default. There is no fee for attending the institute.

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Course Requirements:
1) Lab research
2) Waksman Challenge
3) Poster
4) Personal Log (see below)
5) Laboratory Log (e.g., fill out the appropriate info in the red binder when we screen worms this year)
6) Midterm & Final (Rutgers Credit Only)

*you must attend at least 3 meetings a week to receive credit.

Personal Log:
1) Write the procedure and/or results of the day's activities
2) Notes on the Challenge (include web addresses, as well as notes on the challenge)
3) Each entry is to be dated
4) Log must be initialed by Ms. Sanelli at the end of each week
5) Log will be collected prior to the end of the marking period.
6) Failure to submit a checked log will result in a failure for the course.

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The Waksman Challenge

This is a series of questions designed to introduce students to the relatively new field of bioinformatics. Through the Challenge, students gain familiarity with genetics databases and how to use the internet to their advantage, while being exposed to thinking critically. Staff at the Institute will read over each group entry and provide helpful criticism and hints. A new Challenge is posted every month or so.

Click here to see the latest challenge
Click here to see a sample challenge with responses

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WSSP Poster Session

At the end of the year, there is a "poster session", simulating those of real-life scientists. Taking place in a formal, conference-like setting, students present what they've accomplished over the past school year through a poster presentation. They are then asked questions regarding their presentation by both the WSSP coordinators at Rutgers and other outside scientists, who select the winners of the competition.

East Brunswick High School has been a first-place winner for the past 3 years.

In July 2001, the session was held at a branch of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech in Piscataway, NJ, and students were given the opportunity to take a tour beforehand as well. A practice poster session is generally scheduled at the Waksman Institute halfway through the school year.

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Current Project

Our goal is to attempt to disrupt the normal embryonic process of the C. elegans in order to find a number of common genes which have been preserved in animals throughout evolution, and which are thus likely to code for functions that are essential to survival. This process is achieved by inserting a human gene into bacteria, which is then fed to the C. elegans. A screening system is used to find out the effect of the gene on the embryo of the C. elegans. If disruption is development is noticed, the sequence is identified and the significance of the sequence is discussed by students.

For more comprehensive information, lab protocols, etc., please click here.
For updates on the status of our project, visit the News section.

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