Introduction to Amgen Biotech Experience

Blended ABE Italy 2020 - 2021 course

SOFIA platform code 48725

What is ABE?

ABE site Italy (https://www.amgenbiotechexperience.net/it/eng) was born in 2017 thanks to a cooperation agreement between ANISN (the Italian National Association of Natural Sciences Teachers) and the University of Naples Federico II. Since the 2020 - 2023 cycle, the partnership grew with the inclusion of IFOM (FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology), IBBR (Bioscience and Bioresources Institue of the CNR), LSS (Experimental Sciene Laboratory in Foligno) and the Society of Naturalists. ABE site Italy takes advantage of international cooperation with a consolidated network of 20 similar ABE sites that are active in 3 continents in prestigious institutions (https://www.amgenbiotechexperience.com/where-­we‐are). In particular, ABE site Italy is twinned with the ABE site Massachussets (USA) at Harvard University and with the ABE site France at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Target

45 high school Science teachers from Campania, Lazio, Apulia, Basilicata, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Sicily, Lombardy.

Training program

This is an Italian-language course organised by ABE Italy. It is targeted to high school teacher residing in the mentioned regions. It is targeted at teachers who have never taken part in ABE residing in the mentioned regions, as well as veteran ABE teachers from the same regions.

It will be carried out in blended mode and will consist of four phases:

• Phase 1: distance-learning, with 5 webinars lasting two hours each
• Phase 2: in presence, through lab experiments (ABE labs: cloning of red fluorescent protein) in an intensive course that will last two days and will happen in January and February 2021 at the teaching labs of the ABE site Italy partner research institutions.
• Phase 3: implementation with the students at school, abiding by the anti-Covid 19 regulations and compatibly with the contextual situations. ABE Italy will provide instruments (micropipettes, electrophoresis boxes, PCR) and reagents without charge, for a period of time not to exceed 3 weeks, to carry out the lab activities with the students in the schools, either during school hours or outside school hours.
• Phase 4: distance participation in the Italian ABE community; access to the international community; small-group meetings; attendance to public payback and dissemination events.

In particular, phase 1 consists of a distance course comprising 5 meetings of two hours each, which will happen in the first and second week of December (2,3,4 and 10,11 December), and it is structured with 4 kinds of alternating sessions: ABE labs (carried out using the LabXchange platform), which will also be in Italian starting in October; scientific talks; introduction to IBSE; alignment of the teaching program with the national curriculum; and experiences of veteran ABE teachers.

All participants will receive a micropipette and pre-casted gels; after the 5 meetings, those interested will take part in optional groups that will learn to use standard Molecular Biology equipment and will perform an electrophoresis. In this case, electrophoresis boxes and food colourings will also be provided, in order to perform the activities from home.

THE DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS NOVEMBER 25th, 2020

For more information about the ABE Italy program: info.abe@anisn.it.

Training program