CN News ITEM 1-E

The Amgen Biotech Experience ("ABE"), a global science education program for middle school students, invites middle school students to experience the latest biotechnology and scientific discoveries in the laboratory, aiming to nurture the next generation of scientists and innovators. The Tsinghua University-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences (referred to as "Life Center"), as the organizer of ABE in mainland China, introduced this innovative science education program to China in 2021. In August 2022, the second phase of the training was successfully carried out in cooperation with the College of Life Sciences of Yunnan University (hereinafter referred to as "YUNU's College of Life Sciences"). The Life Center is responsible for the development and development of the teaching program and the provision of teachers, while YUNU's School of Life Sciences provides the training laboratory space and facilities and equipment.

A total of 22 high school students and 2 local high school biology teachers from Yunnan Normal University Affiliated High School, Yunnan Normal University Affiliated Star School, Kunming No. 3 High School, Kunming No. 8 High School, Yunnan Normal University Affiliated High School Chenggong Campus and the first batch of Yunnan Province "Talent Program" trainees participated in this three-day experimental experience.

In the morning of August 1, the opening ceremony was held in the lecture hall of the School of Life Sciences at the Chenggong Campus of Yunnan University, where Jiang Yi, Director of the Life Center Office, and He Zhaorong, Vice President of the School of Life Sciences of Yunnan University, gave a brief introduction of this activity, hoping that the students would complete the experimental operations under the guidance of the teachers, take the three-day experimental experience as an opportunity to stimulate scientific interest, improve innovation, feel the beauty of biology and experiments, and experience the unique charm of life science. The unique charm of life science.

Jiang Yi delivered a speech at the opening ceremony

He Zhaorong delivered a speech at the opening ceremony

One part of this activity includes experimental operations such as plasmid extraction, nucleic acid electrophoresis detection, E. coli transformation and PCR technology taught by Li Peng from Tsinghua University Experimental Teaching Center, which makes those seemingly inaccessible and complicated contents in high school biology textbooks accessible and makes the world of science clearly unfold in front of students' eyes; the other part is a lecture on the frontiers of life sciences given by Cui yingzi, a postdoctoral fellow from Tsinghua University School of Life Sciences, which explains in detail the development and application of new coronaviruses and new crown vaccines in China, leading students to experience the charm of frontier science together.

Experimental operation lecture in progress

During the lecture

Student experiments

Students view electrophoresis results

At the closing ceremony on August 3, Zhang Guiyou, director of the Modern Life Science Experimental Teaching Center of Tsinghua University, He Zhaorong from the Academy of Biological Sciences of Yunnan University, and Wang Ou, a biology teacher from the Chenggong Campus of Yunnan Normal University, made concluding remarks at the closing ceremony, expressing affirmation and encouragement to the participating students and expecting that the first batch of ABE program participants in Yunnan Province will be able to join the field of life science research and energize the future world of science, just like the batch of military talents trained by the Yunnan Army Military Academy.

Zhang Guiyou spoke at the closing ceremony

He Zhaorong spoke at the closing ceremony

Biology teacher Wang Ou spoke at the closing ceremony

The three-day course passed quickly, relying on the platform of the Life Center and the Academy of Biological Sciences of the University of Yunnan, the teachers of the two schools overcame the difficulties of the epidemic and made careful planning and arrangements for this in-school training, making the content of this in-school training rich and colorful, so that the participating students broadened their horizons, felt the charm of science, experienced the process of scientific research, stimulated scientific interest, improved innovation, and helped students to establish scientific aspirations!

Some students' experience

Wu Wanke, Yunnan Normal University High School:The seeds of interest grow quietly in the century-old campus, from the novelty of trying to touch it at first to the openness of unveiling the mystery. The code of life hidden in the clarified solution, the world of microorganisms in a small test tube, it seems that when we look at this disturbed world from a different angle, the mysterious Pandora's Box will slowly open. Just like the purification of proteins, the best results are often not obtained by a single method; the linear arrow from structure to property to use, no longer thinking "how" first, but from "what" and "why "in the answer; if the aseptic conditions are not done, the results of cloning may make a few days of effort lost, often a tiny detail, will determine the overall win or lose; communication and cooperation among peers is the key to the focus, proper communication can certainly make it twice as good. We are undoubtedly fortunate that the archaic words on the books come to life, and the best solution is obtained by trying again and again, and the unattainable faraway places are suddenly close at hand. The seed in the heart has broken the ground, and will eventually go straight to the clouds, casting a green.

Wenqi Wang, Starlight School, Yunda High School: I am honored to be able to participate in the ABE program. Through the three days of study and practice, I benefited a lot. I learned the extraction of plasmids, enzyme digestion electrophoresis technique and target gene cutting and recovery technique. The teacher's lively and interesting explanation made the seemingly profound knowledge easy to understand, and the experimental operations were interspersed. I went from ignorance to mastery, from carelessness to carefulness, and from rustiness to proficiency and confidence. Along the way, the teacher guided us to stimulate our curiosity, my classmates and I continued to explore, marveling at the wonders of the world of biology, saddened by the great power of cutting-edge technology. It was as if I had seen the tip of the iceberg of life science, and I was even more eager to understand its full picture and unveil the mystery of the world of biology. This activity has reinforced my ideal of wanting to work in biology, and I want to contribute to my country and the world through my work and research in this area of life science. In order to realize my ideal, I will also work harder and put my feet on the ground to realize my dream.

Junhong Zhou, Kunming No. 3 High School: I feel very honored to be able to participate in this ABE program. The ABE project has provided us with valuable practical experience, which has stimulated our interest in biotechnology and provided us with indispensable motivation to move forward in the future. "The project provided us with the opportunity to "go to the next level". During the program, I had the opportunity to meet and listen to the mentors from Tsinghua University and Yunnan University. They represented the top of the biology world and gave me a magnificent view of the top of science. In addition, the program was also very beneficial for the cultivation of ideas. The instructors talked about the importance of biotechnology in addition to theoretical knowledge. From epidemic disease prevention and control to genome sequencing, biotechnology has become one of the important pillars of human society. After listening to the mentors' devoted lectures, my goal of moving forward is even stronger. "The ABE project started with practice, but it is more than that. As a participant of the first ABE program in Yunnan Province, I am not only proud of myself, but also have a sense of mission to open the way for others to follow. One day, today's valuable experience will become a star of inspiration in the scientific universe.

Jiao Zhenqiu, Kunming 8th Middle School: I am honored to be able to participate in this ABE program. The short three days were full of rewards. While I experienced the colorful teaching content of the Tsinghua teachers, the hands-on experiments brought me a lot of gains. The strangeness was mixed with familiarity. The unfamiliar students and teachers still gave me a feeling of closeness. The familiar experimental contents in books often feel powerless when practicing in person, either because of the shallow knowledge or limited strength, but with the help of teachers and classmates, I learned a lot of biological knowledge and mastered the use of many experimental equipments and understood the importance of biological experiments when I experienced advanced experiments for the first time. The knowledge in books was transformed into real experiments, which can be described as unfamiliar to familiar. "I feel shallow when I get it on paper, I have to do it myself." The ABE project made me realize the importance of experimentation and the backwardness of myself. In just three days, I realized that I cannot be a frog at the bottom of the well in the future, but I have to study harder and keep opening my eyes. In the future, even if I can't make small achievements, I still need to enrich my mind and become a person who knows the theory and a person who dares to practice. I thank my teachers for their teaching and my classmates for their help. Although I am not one of those talented players who can be seen in a different light, the success of the experiments and the results have convinced me of the importance of accumulation, stability and persistence. If you know that you are not capable, you should work harder and strive for the position of national talents and climb to the top of the academic world.

Yuhuan Li, Chenggong Campus, Yunnan Normal University Affiliated High School: I am honored to participate in the ABE project, which gave me the opportunity to work with Tsinghua faculty and outstanding students at Yunnan University to complete many interesting experiments on gene cloning, gene expression regulation, protein isolation and purification, and so on. I think this ABE program between Tsinghua University and Yunnan University provides a great platform for us high school students to integrate the boring text in our biology textbooks into our experiments and learn more about these very meaningful biology topics. The teacher's vivid explanation and various amazing experimental phenomena not only broadened my horizon but also nourished my ideal to work in biology. The fine experimental operations and cooperation made me appreciate not only the fun of scientific research, but also the hardship and greatness of the front-line researchers who are constantly exploring in a black box. When I learned about the innovations and breakthroughs in epidemic prevention and control, vaccine development and DNA sequencing technology application in China, my gratitude to the front-line epidemic fighters, my admiration to the scientific research scholars, my pride to the growing strength of our country and other strong emotions finally converged into one sentence: "I want to do my part for our country in the future.".

Ren Kejin, a participant of the Yunnan Provincial Program of Excellence: The three-day ABE training program is over, but the insights and experiences I gained in this program will be unforgettable for the rest of my life. The integration of knowledge and experimentation has significantly improved my ability to think and do. During the experiment, my companion and I encountered errors in operation, but with the teacher's tolerance and teaching, we were able to recognize the mistakes and correct them quickly. The teacher's explanations were very detailed, with answers to all questions and answers, keeping up with hot current events, leaving us room for thinking and practice, which greatly enhanced my interest in learning biology. Among all the experiments, I was most impressed by the use of the electrophoresis instrument, because I could directly observe the results of the previous experimental steps through the electrophoresis results, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. In the ABE project, I also made some good friends, and we discussed problems and conducted experiments together, which fully developed the ability of group cooperation. As our teacher said, this activity made us feel that biology experiment is not such a high level thing, it is all around us and something we secondary school students can accomplish. We opened Pandora's magic box and unleashed all the amazing magic on earth.