Photo via catholicanchor.org

Lumen Christi High School scored a coup in the New Year when they were chosen to participate in a cutting-edge bioscience curriculum pilot program involving extracting, cloning and splicing DNA from a jellyfish, reports CatholicAnchor.org.

The biotechnology education company Genotyp chose the Anchorage Catholic school as the first in the nation to work with their two-week lab program, which the company hopes will eventually be an affordable curriculum for high schools.

According to Colleen Larson, principal at Lumen Christi, the innovative program became accessible to chemistry students at the school through the efforts of a local parent who made contact with the company, and through state Rep. Chris Tuck, who chairs the State House Education Funding Committee.

Lumen Christi is a ministry of St. Benedict parish and a part of the Archdiocese of Anchorage Catholic School System.

Debbie Brewer, biology and chemistry instructor at Lumen Christi, said “This was really an excellent chance for our students to use real equipment that’s being used out in the scientific world.” She said it also provides a great opportunity for students to learn about cloning and its scientific applications, so that they can be informed citizens when the issue arises in the public arena.

Many people, though, have a negative reaction to the word “cloning,” she said, because they associate it with the immoral practice of cloning human embryos.

There are, however, other ethically acceptable forms of cloning which do not entail specially creating and destroying human embryos.

“Cloning is used in (the development of) many medications, in genetically modified foods, and in some vaccines,” Brewer explained.

Bob McMorrow, who teaches religion at Lumen Christi, said he received some calls from people who heard the word “cloning” and misunderstood the application of the concept in the Lumen Christi classroom.

McMorrow is planning to include a discussion on cloning in an upcoming biomedical ethics presentation to students. It’s one way to help students understand the moral implications of scientific research, and integrate cutting-edge science with Catholic bioethics.

The science project at Lumen Christi is called “Cloning a Fluorescent Gene.” Brewer explained that her students are attempting to take a gene that causes glowing in a jellyfish, make many copies, adapt the gene and insert it into an E. coli bacteria. The machine enabling this was provided by Genotyp, and will be returned to the company after the two-week lab is completed.

E. coli also has many negative connotations, but Brewer said the bacteria, used safely in the lab, is actually “the workhorse of chemistry and biology.”

Members of the media were invited to the kickoff and Lumen Christi’s special lab was highlighted in a segment on KTUU – Channel 2 news, where students were interviewed about the project.

Larson said “Anchorage school board members stopped by for the kickoff, and acting state Commissioner of Education Les Morse even visited. It was really great to hear many people rave about the school, the lab, the environment and the professionalism of the students.”

James Peyer, chief scientist and co-founder of Genotyp, said in a press release that his company is “dedicated to bringing U.S. science education back into first place and preparing America’s children for modern science jobs.” The press release mentioned that “four different Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Chemistry have been awarded for the tools and techniques the students will use.”

Genotyp’s goal is to market the curriculum nationally at a cost that most schools can afford, and his company is providing the equipment and materials free of charge to Lumen Christi in exchange for feedback they will provide on the project.