Biotech Summer Institute

The Biotech Summer Institute (BSI) is an interactive workshop for high-school teachers designed to provide hands-on biotechnology skills to take back to the classroom.

This event will take place on St Charles Community College Main Campus, June 9-10, 2026 , 9a.m. - 3p.m., In the Life Sciences Building.

Some of the technologies that we will be exploring are micro pipetting, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gel electrophoresis, bacterial transformation, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) gene editing.

To help you with the implementation of these technologies, we will be making kits and equipment available to take back with you as well as a stipend of up to $450

Biotech Summer Institute Agenda

June 9, 2026

*Activities will occur in the Life Sciences Building unless otherwise noted

9 a.m.- 10 a.m.	Welcome, Introductions, and Introduction to Biotechnology Room 129
10 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.	Break with Refreshments Room 132
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.	Preparation for Bacterial Transformations Room 109
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.	Lunch and Industry Partner Presentation Rec Center 108
11:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.	Tour of Life Sciences Building
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Lunch and Industry Partner Presentation Rec Center 108
12:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.	Micro-pipetting Basics, Bacterial Transformation Experiment Room 109 Lab Kit: Micropipette Art: Full STEAM Ahead!
2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Reflection and Closing Remarks Room 129
2:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.	Reflection and Closing Remarks Room 129
3 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.	VR activity (optional) Center for Immersive Learning (CIL)

June 10, 2026

*Activities will occur in the Life Sciences Building unless otherwise noted

9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.	Welcome Back Room 129
9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.	Gel Electrophoresis with Dog Genetics Room 129 Lab Kit: Dog Genetics Lab: Oodles of Labradoodles™
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.	Break with Refreshments Room 132
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.	Gel Electrophoresis and Completion of Bacterial Transformation experiment Room 129 Lab Kit: True Blue™ Transformation Lab: Genetically Engineering Bacteria
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Lunch and BIO-STL Presentation Rec Center 108
12:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.	Introduction to CRISPR - Paper Model and Virtual Reality Room 129/CIL Lab Kit: Knockout! A CRISPR/Cas Gene Targeting Lab
2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Break with Refreshments Room 132
2:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.	Reflection and Closing Remarks Room 129

Interested?
Fill out the form today

Scan the QR code or follow the link for the interest form.

bio qr

Biotech Summer Institute (BSI) Interest Form

Key Takeaways

Learn about biotechnology, an overview of the local industry, and potential career paths for your students.
Use prepared lab kits to connect real-world issues with some of the solutions found in biotech.
Learn the theory behind these technologies and be trained to implement them.

This project was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This program and the included material are made possible and is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under the Grant No. 2500500.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. View a copy of this license.