Dates: Jan 10th, 2022 - March 16th, 2022 (Click here to apply)
Tuition: $2,000 - Scholarship available, click here to apply. 
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Intermediate Biostatistics/Bioinformatics

Students will learn how to analyze data by utilizing published primary life science literature (biology, environmental chemistry and toxicology, animal physiology, etc.). We will use “R”, a common biostatistics programming language, to explore experimental designs, fundamental biostatistics concepts, and management of biological/ gene expression data sets. Concepts covered during the first part of the course cover experimental design ( biological and technical replication and statistical power), central limit theorem, Bayes rules/theorem, linear regression, and pairwise comparison; the second part of the course focuses on 1-way and 2-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), multivariate statistics including Principle Component Analysis (PCA)  and post-test correction strategies;  students in the course will utilize bioinformatics databases (GenBank, UCSC genome browser, David Bioinformatics, STRING) to infer biological relevance of the data analyzed. The course is structured as a 40 min lecture/concept introduction, 40 min manuscript discussion/concept applications, and Computer Lab Exercises. A personal computer is required.

Prerequisites: General Biology, Introductory Statistics (H.S. level is acceptable)

Course is available for 3 pre-college units. 

Dates: Jan 10th, 2022 - March 17th, 2022 (Click here to apply)
Tuition: $2,000 for the online course and $3,000 for the in-person course - Scholarship available, click here to apply.                                        
Grade Level: Students must currently be in 10th - 12th grade
Schedule: 

Biodiversity and Molecular Genetics

Which genetic differences underline the awesome diversity of animals? What is genetically shared and what is unique among evolutionary distant animals? How closely related are you to them?  In this research-immersion course, you will explore and analyze various organisms to better understand and appreciate biodiversity on anatomical, morphological, and genetic levels, tracing back animals’ evolutionary connections.  You will apply evolutionary and molecular biology concepts, extract DNA from multiple species (sea urchins, abalone, worms, insects, fish, and yourself …), sequence genes critical for metabolism and adaptation, calculate mutation rates, and infer evolutionary distance between animals. This course is a mix of evolutionary biology, standard and advanced molecular biology/gene sequencing techniques, and bioinformatics analysis. Part of the course complements the ongoing research project in partnership with the National Park Service, which utilizes environmental DNA (eDNA) methodology to better understand the adaptive mechanisms and responses to environmental stressors of the Southern California's endangered black abalone population. During the 10-week course meeting twice weekly, students will work in small teams in the lab to discuss concepts and primary scientific literature, design experiments, perform research, analyze the data, and prepare a scientific report. The course will conclude with the formal science seminar during which students will present their research in person to a selected audience.

Course is available for 3 pre-college units. 

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.