Biology as a field helps humanity better understand the living world and the many ways its species function, evolve, and interact. Studying biology is an important course for all highschoolers to better understand the world they live in and all of the species that live in it as well.
At the school, every student has to take biology in their freshman or sophomore year before continuing on to the other science courses, such as chemistry and physics. But, some students develop a passion for biology during the course and can decide to join the Biology Club.
Led by co-presidents senior Alex Pan and senior Sohum Sukhatankar, the club aims to explore further into the field of biology for students who are willing to spend the extra time. This includes doing lab experiments, studying for the Biology Olympiad, and improving lab skills.
The experiments that the club usually focus on include chromatography, gel electrophoresis, PCR testing, bacteria gram scanning, growing bacteria samples, as well as more advanced experiments. An example of the more advanced experiment done last year is modifying bacteria.
“We transformed bacteria,” said Pan, “by putting green fluorescent proteins in the bacteria.”
In order to improve their lab skills, the members work on pipetting and following lab safety protocols, both essential to working in a lab environment and conducting biology experiments. Pipetting is used in almost all experiments and is the way to pick up and deposit specific amounts of liquid samples. Lab safety is key, so all of the members must learn lab protocol before doing their own experiments.
The Biology Olympiad is a national competition where students compete using all of the knowledge they have learned about biology. Using what they have learned from studying with Mark Adame, biology teacher and club sponsor, Biology Club members will go on to compete in the Olympiad, taking exams to prove their proficiency.
Moving forward, Pan and Sukhatankar are trying to increase the number of experiments conducted this year in order to give the members more experience. They also aim to have more fun while learning more in depth about biology.
“We are going to try and do more lab activities that we didn’t do last year,” said Pan. “Activities like gram staining, PCR, and gel.”
