Dates: Sep 27th, 2021- Dec 8th, 2021 (11 weeks) (Click here to apply)
Tuition: $2, 700 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Molecular Phylogenetics Program

This hybrid research-immersion course utilizes marine invertebrates (abalone, purple sea urchins, bay mussels), vertebrates (salt-tolerant fish - Japanese medaka, zebrafish), insects - fruit flies, and nematode – worms - to genetically barcode (sequence) the mitochondrial cytochrome C-oxidase and perform a phylogenetics analysis. Students will learn evolutionary and molecular biology concepts, extract DNA from multiple species and PCR-amplify a genetic marker to analyze mutation rates, sequence relatedness/speciation, and comparative sequencing analysis of a metabolic gene critical for adaptive metabolic mechanisms. The course content is a mix of evolutionary biology theory and modeling, standard and advanced molecular biology techniques, and bioinformatics analysis. Part of the course complements the ongoing research project in partnership with National Park Service, which utilizes environmental DNA (eDNA) methodology to better understand the adaptive mechanisms and responses to environmental stressors of Southern California endangered black abalone population. During the 11-weeks hybrid course meting twice weekly, students will perform research in-person once per week, and meet virtually to discuss concepts and primary scientific literature, design experiment, analyze the data, etc. once per week. The course will conclude with the science seminar during which students will present their research in-person to a selected audience.

Course is available for 4 pre-college units. 

Dates: Sept 27th, 2021 - Dec 8th, 2021 (11 weeks) (Click here to apply)
Tuition: $2,000 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Introduction to Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Program

This course utilizes two different case studies/data sets to introduce students to experimental design, biostatistics fundamentals, management of a large gene expression data set, and basics bioinformatics concepts. Data sets include environmental assays performed on developing invertebrate embryos and RNA Sequencing gene expression data from animal physiology/aging project. Concepts covered during the first part of the course cover experimental design, biological and technical replicates and statistical power, central limit theorem and Bayes rules/theorem, 1-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparison t-test. Second part of the course focuses on differential gene expression workflow, data normalization, principal component analysis (PCA), and introduction to Bioinformatics databases (GenBank, UCSC genome browser, David Bioinformatics, STRING) utilizing RNA Seq analysis (sequence alignments, gene finding, and differential gene expression analysis).

Course is available for 4 pre-college units. 

Dates: July 6th, 2021 – Aug 12th, 2021 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $2,000 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Tuesdays and Thursdays  (3:00pm – 5:00pm PST)
Synchronous online teaching
4 hours of work required outside of online lecture

Introduction to Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Program

This course utilizes two different case studies/data sets to introduce students to experimental design, biostatistics fundamentals, management of a large gene expression data set, and basics bioinformatics concepts. Data sets include environmental assays performed on developing invertebrate embryos and RNA Sequencing gene expression data from animal physiology/aging project. Concepts covered during the first part of the course cover experimental design, biological and technical replicates and statistical power, central limit theorem and Bayes rules/theorem, 1-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparison t-test. Second part of the course focuses on differential gene expression workflow, data normalization, principal component analysis (PCA), and introduction to Bioinformatics databases (GenBank, UCSC genome browser, David Bioinformatics, STRING) utilizing RNA Seq analysis (sequence alignments, gene finding, and differential gene expression analysis).

Course is available for 4 pre-college units. 

Dates: July 7th, 2021 – Aug 11th, 2021 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $2,000 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Marine Biology and Estuarine Ecology Program

This course utilizes marine invertebrates - purple sea urchins, bay mussels and salt-tolerant fish (Japanese medaka) to assess ecological health of a local estuary. Students will test the water and sediment quality using microbiology, environmental toxicology, and analytical chemistry to better understand the sensitivity and resistance of marine organisms and laboratory fish to environmental stressors. This immersive research course is part of an ongoing effort to develop both real-time and long-term broad testing/monitoring program resulting in effective mitigation strategies to minimize the human and ecological risk due to pollutants exposures within a delicate local estuary.

Course is available for 4 pre-college units. 

Dates: July 6th, 2021 – Aug 12th, 2021 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $2,000 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Tuesdays and Thursdays  (1:00pm – 3:00pm PST)
Synchronous online teaching
4 hours of work required outside of online lecture

Neurotoxicology Program

Toxicants in water supply, food, and common household products bioaccumulate in the food chain, plants, animals, and people. Some of those chemicals are carcinogens, immune stressors, and endocrine disruptors, affecting the delicate hormonal balance critical for sexual differentiation and organogenesis. Do they affect female and male brains differently, and what are the consequences of chronic exposures? We expose female and male adolescent fruit flies, then microdissect their brains and quantify gene activity to better understand effects of pervasive and persistent industrial chemicals on developing brain and physiology of each sex. In this course, students will learn to maintain and differentiate female and male fruit flies, expose them to problematic chemical pollutants, isolate their brains, extract RNA and analyze differential gene expression via RNA sequencing methods. Students will manage and analyze large gene expression sequencing data and present their findings in the formal science seminar at the end of the course.

Course is available for 4 pre-college units.