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Visit the Detroit Country Day School and the University of Louisville

November 2024
Seung traveled to the Midwest and visited new Stan-X partner, the Detroit Country Day (DCD) School. He met the first class of Stan-X students and their teachers at DCD, Karen Lamb, Allison Liddane and Ann Kingsbury. He also toured the newly established laboratory space. Several of the sponsors of that space attended a 'meet and greet' visit which was energizing! Afterward, Seung gave a brief all-school talk and met with additional leadership, including John Corrigan, Celeste Mahabir, and Kim Link.

Seung visited the University of Louisville School of Medicine, hosted by Drs. Max Boakye, Kenneth Palmer and Justin Kingery, leaders of graduate and MD PhD training there. After hearing a presentation about Stan-X programs from Seung these leaders have decided to train two instructors this coming year in the Stan-X teacher academy!

While visiting Washington University at St. Louis (WUSTL), Seung caught up with students who had previously taken the Stan-X course at Exeter, including Melody Nguyen and Elle McAlpine, who are both now in training at WUSTL.

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Visit to the Ethel Walker School and Rivers School

October 2024
Seung visited two new Stan-X partner schools, the Ethel Walker School and Rivers School. At 'Walkers' he met Dr. Meera Viswanathan and Dr. Eric Widmer. He taught in the Stan-X course, and also gave an all-school assembly. Seung's visit happened to coincide with a 'visiting day' for prospective students and their families.

Afterwards, he traveled east and met with Mr. Reynoso, Betty Bloch, and other leadership at the Rivers School. He also taught in the Stan-X course there.

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Visit to the Haileybury College and Rugby School

October 2024
Seung visited Haileybury College in October to teach in the Stan-X course there. He met for the first time with the new Head of School, Mr. Eugene du Toit, and toured (and taught in) the new SciTech building, which houses and showcases the Stan-X laboratory. He met for the first time with the new Head of School, Mr. Eugene du Toit, and toured (and taught in) the new SciTech building, which houses and showcases the Stan-X laboratory.
Haileybury administrators and teachers had also arranged for Seung to visit the august and beautiful Rugby School in Warwickshire, to discuss the inception of Stan-X curricula there. He met with, the head of science, Mr. Sam Robinson, and with head of school Gareth Parker-Jones and Deputy Academic Head Edward Davies. A happy outcome is that the Rugby School has decided to train teachers at the Stan-X Teacher Academy in 2025.

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Summer scholars work at Stanford

July-August 2024
This summer we hosted students from several Stan-X partners schools, including Exeter, Haileybury, Lawrenceville, Harvard-Westlake, and a student from the Cate School which is considering Stan-X curricula. In addition to benchside training and studies, that helped advance work started by student colleagues in the prior academic year, these student scholars enjoyed sampling Stanford offerings - like thesis defenses, group meetings, seminars. They also were able to experience living independently in the vibrant local community.

Later in August, teacher Christina from the **Lick-Wilmerding School** in San Francisco visited and joined us for dinner at our favorite local Korean restaurant. She learned about Stan-X offerings and I'm glad to say as of this writing, Lick-Wilmerding has decided to train teachers in the summer of 2025 and start a Stan-X course! They will join our other local partner schools, Lowell HS in San Francisco, and Marin Academy, as a formidable trio!

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Stan-X Teacher Academy roars along!

July 2024
At this year's teacher academy on the Lawrenceville School campus, we hosted seven teachers new to the Stan-X partnership, including instructors from the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT, the Rivers School in Weston, MA, the Detroit Country Day School in Michigan, and the Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The teachers were introduced to Stan-X curriculum and trained in person by Stan-X instructors, including Nicole Lantz and Elizabeth Fox. In addition to intensive hands-on training, the instructors had many breaks for networking, meals, and local outings. The training experience of the Stan-X teacher academy has emerged as a crucial element for continued adoption of the Stan-X concept and curricula by schools across the world.

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Lawrenceville School students visit, and ESN Board of Directors annual meeting held

June 2024
This was a busy month! We hosted Hutchins Scholars from the Lawrenceville School for a week of instruction. This included work with Ms. Lantz and Mr. Ken Mills and Dr. Sangbin Park. We worked hard and played hard! Shown here is our dinner at a local Korean restaurant (now an annual tradition).

Later in the month, we held our second annual Board of Directors meeting for Experimental Science Now (ESN). Led by Dr. Amy Vollmer, this meeting helped us chart the coming year activities for ESN, including data gathering and outreach planning. Shown in the picture are a subset of board members, Stan-X instructors, and the Hutchins Scholars who happened to be in town that week!

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Visit by Seung and Lutz to Phillips Exeter Academy

May 2024
Stan-X leadership and instructors visit partnering schools regularly to provide additional enrichment. In May, Seung and Lutz travelled to Exeter to engage in benchside teaching and in-class discussions of a primary journal article. This included technical tips from Lutz to the students, and coverage by Seung with students of experimental strategy and logic in the Park et al 2014 PLoS Genetics study from his lab.

Seung was hosted by Townley Chisholm and Anne Rankin, which included family gatherings, meals, and even a fly fishing outing on the Lamprey River. Seung also visited with seniors Jenna and Valentina, who had been Stan-X scholars at Stanford the prior summer.

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Visit by students and teacher Anjana Amirapu from Lowell High School to learn molecular biology

January 2024
Ms. Amirapu brought students to the Kim lab for one day of intensive instruction led by Lutz Kockel and Arjun Rajan. Students learned methods relevant to their ongoing work to generate fly strain insertions derived from their transposon-based 'enhancer trap' screening. This was an exciting day for all, and developed important skills and concepts, and esprit de corps for the students.

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STAN-X: SIXTH ANNUAL STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE @ THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL

April 2024
Over thirty students and their instructors attended the sixth annual student-led Stan-X Research Conference on April 27, 2024. This 'east coast' version of the student/teacher conference was again held on the gorgeous campus of the Lawrenceville School. Another was held on the same day for several 'west coast' Stan-X schools on the Stanford campus.

The day began with a video greeting from Dr. Seung Kim (who was traveling at the time) to the attendees from participating schools: The Lawrenceville School (NJ), The Chapin School (NYC, NY), the Hotchkiss School (CT) and The Haileybury School (Hertford, United Kingdom).

Students provided oral and poster presentations about their work on generating fruit fly lines, and conferenced in breakout sessions organized by Ms. Lantz and Dr. Fox. Begun successfully in 2023, students from different schools worked in these sessions to discuss and solve challenging problems together. In attendance were officers from Experimental Science Now (ESN), including the executive director Dr. Amy Vollmer. ESN was developed to help schools start Stan-X curricula.

The engagement and energy of the students was palpable throughout the day and afterwards, and the sessions helped foster mastery of concepts and data interpretation! We are grateful to Ms. Nicole Lantz and Dr. Elizabeth Fox of Lawrenceville, who guided and organized the day. Other teachers involved were Ms. Turner and Mr. Lewis from Haileybury, and Ms. Pan from Chapin.

**THIRD ANNUAL STAN-X STUDENT CONFERENCE HELD AT STANFORD**

On April 27, 2024, instructors and students from 4 Stan-X partner schools convened for a day of posters, oral presentations and panel discussions. This included 51 students, 7 instructors, and 3 guest scientists from Albuquerque Academy, the Lowell High School in San Francisco, Harvard-Westlake and Stanford. We held two poster sessions and two sessions of oral presentations, enlivened by discussions between the presenters and audience. Integrated with lunch and a tour of the labs at Stanford, we had coaching sessions with Stanford scientists (doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and senior science staff) to discuss career development and the journey in a life of science

Guest User 3/31/25 Guest User 3/31/25

Stan-X Teacher Academy roars along!

**July 2024**

At this year's teacher academy on the Lawrenceville School campus, we hosted seven teachers new to the Stan-X partnership, including instructors from the **Ethel Walker School** in Simsbury, CT, the **Rivers School** in Weston, MA, the Detroit Country Day School in Michigan, and the **Westtown School** in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The teachers were introduced to Stan-X curriculum and trained in person by Stan-X instructors, including Nicole Lantz and Elizabeth Fox. In addition to intensive hands-on training, the instructors had many breaks for networking, meals, and local outings. The training experience of the Stan-X teacher academy has emerged as a crucial element for continued adoption of the Stan-X concept and curricula by schools across the world.

Guest User 3/31/25 Guest User 3/31/25

Summer scholars work at Stanford

Yong Chong 12/30/23 Yong Chong 12/30/23

STAN-X TEACHER MENTORING AND OUTREACH IN 2023

January-December, 2023

A hallmark of STAN-X programs is the training and mentoring of instructors from our partner schools, to foster autonomy and career development. This year we continued this through our weekly network meetings (organized by Lutz Kockel), instructor visits to the Kim lab, instruction of established partnering instructors in new experimental methods and approaches, and visits to potential new partner schools to orient instructors and school leaders in STAN-X philosophy, curricula and opportunities. Many of these visits have been described in prior newsletter postings (see listings for other dates in 2023 below). Additional visits are summarized below.

January 2023

Visit by Lowell High Schoolers to learn molecular biology

Ms. Anjana Amirapu brought her students to the Kim lab for one day of intensive instruction led by Lutz Kockel and Arjun Rajan. Students were instructed in molecular biology methods relevant to their ongoing work to generate and map new fly strain insertions derived from their transposon-based 'enhancer trap' screening. This was a lively day for all, and developed important skills and concepts for the students.

February 2023

Training instructors from the Lowell High School (San Francisco) and the Latin School (Chicago)

Lutz Kockel welcomed Melissa and Geraldine from the Latin School of Chicago and Anajana Amirapu from the Lowell High School. They are instructors in established programs at these schools who sought additional training. They enjoyed an intensive series of didactic and practical training in microscopy methods and orientation to the new CRISPR-based modules being developed for STAN-X classes.

October 2023

Introducing STAN-X to the Ethel Walker School and the Rivers School

After visits in the spring and summer to established STAN-X partners including Hotchkiss, Harvard-Westlake, Loyola Marymount University, Exeter, Haileybury, Oxford, Harvard and Lawrenceville, Seung Kim dropped in during October on the teachers and leadership at the Ethel Walker School (Simsbury, CT) and Rivers School (Weston, MA). At Ethel Walker he met with head of school Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Academic Dean Megan Mulhern, and members of the Science Department, including head Dr. Emma Mitchell. He toured the beautiful campus, and science laboratory spaces during class time and also had a working lunch with science department instructors. We are hoping to establish a new STAN-X program at the Walker School in the near future.

Seung also visited leadership and teachers at the Rivers School. He met with head of school Ryan Dahlem, Dean of Studies Chris Dalton, and other leaders, and with chair of the science department Betty Bloch. He then toured the impressive new science building, admired its architectural distinctions, and viewed potential lab space that could house STAN-X classes.

December 2023

On-site instruction of collaborating instructors from the Pritzker College Prep School (Chicago)

We welcomed Anna and Hannah, teachers at Pritzker who are taking over the course from outgoing teacher Alex Gannett. They spent several days with Dr. Kockel training in fruit fly methods, and theory. We especially value their diligence, effort and energy: Pritzker serves students under-represented in science in the lively urban setting of west Chicago.

Yong Chong 8/31/23 Yong Chong 8/31/23

STAN-X at HARVARD SUMMER SCHOOL

For the second summer, members of the Stan-X team ran BIOS-S15 at Harvard.

June-August, 2023

For the second summer, members of the Stan-X team ran BIOS-S15 at Harvard. This year we had a dozen students including two post-baccalaureates, who completed a course designed around CRISPR-based genome editing in fruit flies. The course was led by four instructors, Nicole Lantz, Arjun Rajan, Lutz Kockel, Seung Kim, and two teaching assistants, Ms. Maddie Laws and Ms. Clara Gulick. Arjun, Maddie and Clara are alumni of their high school's Stan-X course, so this was a deep dive for them to explore science teaching! The lab was held daily in the famed Biolabs at Harvard, whose notable features include the famous doors adorned with animals from multiple families.

This year, students built new fly lines using CRISPR "Hacky" protocols built by our Stan-X team member Dr. Sangbin Park. These approaches permitted students to use CRISPR/Cas9 strategies in vivo to replace genes with alternative 'LexA' coding regions. Then, as in prior years, students intercrossed their new fly strains to assess region and temporal gene regulation using reporter transgenes. This involved tissue dissection and fluorescence microscopy.

At the conclusion of BIOS-S15, students prepared written summaries and oral presentations about their flies and phenotypes. This rigorous exploration of biology through 'unscripted' experiments with a 'team' of student scientists produced 11 new fly strains that are now the focus of a manuscript in preparation. Congratulations to all the students on a successful course, and experiencing how science experiments are planned, executed, interpreted, and communicated!

Yong Chong 8/30/23 Yong Chong 8/30/23

STAN-X SUMMER AT STANFORD, 2023

Six instructors hailing from US and UK schools convened this past July on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School to train in fruit fly genetics and biology.

This summer, the Kim group hosted students from our Stan-X partners for multi-week internships. As before, the students were selected by their teachers for this opportunity through the Stan-X course or program at their school. In June, we were delighted to host three students from Lawrenceville in the Hutchins Scholars program, Mina, Jane and Arya. They were accompanied by Ms. Nicole Lantz and spent their stay here working on molecular genetics and fruit fly biology.

In August, we hosted Valentina and Jenna, two students from Exeter who had completed the Bio 670 course in the preceding term. They worked for 3.5 weeks with Dr. Lutz Kockel on characterizing new fly strains produced by their fellow Exonians and did a deep dive into fly genomics. One evening at the end of their stay, we had an outing with the students and other members of the Kim group or Stan-X instructors, and Jenna's mother (seen here to Seung's left), for a delicious celebratory dinner, and a movie (the Hitchcock classic, "Rear Window") at the Stanford Theater in downtown Palo Alto. It was a splendid way to end the summer.

Yong Chong 7/31/23 Yong Chong 7/31/23

DISCOVER NOW 2023 TEACHER ACADEMY at LAWRENCEVILLE

Six instructors hailing from US and UK schools convened this past July on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School to train in fruit fly genetics and biology.

Six instructors hailing from US and UK schools convened this past July on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School to train in fruit fly genetics and biology. This included teachers from new partner schools at Marin Academy (San Rafael, CA), and teachers from established Stan-X partners, Haileybury College (Hertford, UK) and the Hotchkiss School (Lakeview, CT).

The teachers read materials related to a new Stan-X curriculum involving CRISPR-based fruit fly targeting, then were trained in person by Stan-X instructors, including Nicole Lantz, Elizabeth Fox, Dr. Sangbin Park and Ms. Anne Rankin. The intensity of hands-on training for five straight days was leavened by interludes for meals, including multiple tasty dinners, and local outings, but especially from the networking and team building that has come to characterize the special training in Discover Now.

Yong Chong 6/30/23 Yong Chong 6/30/23

VISITING our TEACHING PARTNERS in the UNITED KINGDOM

We visited with our two U.K. partners this summer to teach and plan.

We visited with our two U.K. partners this summer to teach and plan.

First, Seung visited Haileybury College in Hertford where he was hosted by Vicky Turner and Gareth Lewis, and head of school Martin Collier. Seung visited the Stan-X class and shared meals and discussed a paper with the students. He also attended Chapel and was treated to some splendid meals with the students and faculty colleagues. He briefly toured the nearly-completed SciTech building, which was scheduled to open early in the new 2023-2024 school year. SciTech looked pretty spectacular! He also participated in a faculty round table to discuss curricular planning around experience-based science, that included Gareth, Liam Duffy, the deputy head of STEM research and partnerships, and Arthur Kattavenos, Haileybury’s Head of Science.

Afterwards, Seung visited the University of Oxford and the Stanford Bing Overseas Program (BOSP) to lecture and visit with students in the course he co-taught with his teaching partner, Prof. Alberto Baena-Lopez in the Dunn School of Pathology. Seung was pleased to meet his students Jessica and Marianne, two juniors from Stanford who were taking the Animal Transgenesis course as an enrichment experience. The Oxford-Stanford course involved lectures and tutorial style discussions of writing assignments. Seung was housed at Lincoln College, and met with Alberto to plan future courses. The week visit culminated in an intensive writing and coaching session, followed by a fine meal in the heart of London. That evening, there was a farewell banquet at the Savile Club in London, hosted by the director of BOSP at Oxford, Dr. Stephanie Solywoda.

Yong Chong 5/11/23 Yong Chong 5/11/23

ESN BOARD MEETING @ THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL, NJ

Experimental Science Now is a public charity founded in 2022 to support the development of Stan-X curricula at schools serving youth underrepresented in science.

Experimental Science Now is a public charity founded in 2022 to support the development of Stan-X curricula at schools serving youth underrepresented in science. On May 11th, the board, advisors and staff of ESN met for their first annual board meeting. The meeting was hosted on the beautiful campus of Lawrenceville. In addition to discussing exciting progress, plans, and goals for ESN, the board members and advisors met with Lawrenceville students and instructors in their lab space, and learned about their ongoing research on fruit flies. It was an extraordinary, energizing day! Goals for the next year include hiring an ESN executive director.

Yong Chong 5/8/23 Yong Chong 5/8/23

VISITING OUR STAN-X PARTNER AT THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL

Seung Kim visited Hotchkiss students, instructors and leadership.

Seung Kim visited Hotchkiss students, instructors and leadership. There he instructed in a Stan-X class, videotaped some material for celebrating the Stan-X partnership with Hotchkiss, met with students and faculty over lunch, then concluded his day with Head of School Craig Bradley. Mike Boone, who heads the design lab at Hotchkiss, has been collaborating with Stan-X on developing 3D printing programs to generate fruit fly models for instruction. Prototypes have been generated from efforts by Maddie and Leo, shown on the right in the group photo, with Seung, Mike, and Paul Oberto (who leads Stan-X instruction with Jennifer Rinehart). Multicolor models depicting mutant phenotypes are in development! We are thrilled to see this progress.

Yong Chong 4/29/23 Yong Chong 4/29/23

STAN-X WEST COAST STUDENT CONFERENCE

Earlier this spring, forty students and instructors from three schools in the western U.S. convened for the Stan-X research conference on the Stanford University campus.

Earlier this spring, forty students and instructors from three schools in the western U.S. convened for the Stan-X research conference on the Stanford University campus.

After an introductory group activity among the participants, the morning and afternoon were filled poster sessions and oral presentations. The participating students of Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles), Albuquerque Academy (NM) and Lowell High School (San Francisco) presented their work on the fly strains they generated during the past school year. This included presentation of intercrosses, molecular studies and gene expression mapping in tissues.

Meeting participants took a lunch hour on the sunny terrace of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. This refreshed caloric and fluid needs, and provided opportunities for students and instructors to meet with members of the Seung Kim lab, and discuss science and careers in science. Afterwards, students were led on guided tours through lab space in the Beckman Center.

In concluding remarks, Stan-X co-director Dr. Lutz Kockel promoted all participants to the status of honorary masters of genetics, “because," as he put it, "they are”.

The in-person Stan-X conference at Stanford started in 2022, and this year's meeting was another resounding success. Together with the parallel east-coast Stan-X conference at the Lawrenceville School in NJ, a total of over 100 students and teachers presented data generated through the Stan-X curricula, and met with their peers. These activities emulate those of practicing scientists. The teachers and organizers look forward to the next meeting in 2024.

Yong Chong 4/29/23 Yong Chong 4/29/23

FIFTH ANNUAL STAN-X CONFERENCE AT LAWRENCEVILLE

Over fifty students and their instructors attended the fifth annual student-led Stan-X Research Conference on April 29, 2023. Held in person on the beautiful campus of the Lawrenceville School, the day began with a video greeting from Dr. Seung Kim (who was traveling in Rome the time) to the attendees from five schools: The Lawrenceville School (NJ), Commack School (NY, The Chapin School (NYC, NY), the Hotchkiss School (CT) and The Haileybury School (Hertford, United Kingdom).

Students provided oral and poster presentations about their work on generating novel fruit fly lines. This involved intercrosses, mapping, and dissecting and imaging tissues. One highlight of the presentations was a description by Maddie (Hotchkiss School '23) of her collaboration with Leo (Hotchkiss '24) and her instructors in the Design Lab at Hotchkiss to develop 3D fly models and virtual images. These are being developed into video games and teaching materials for future classes.

Students from the participating schools also tried a new element of the conference: they worked in mixed brainstorming sessions to discuss and solve challenging problems together. The excitement and deep engagement of the students, and evident mastery of concepts and experimental outcomes was energizing for all! We are grateful to Ms. Nicole Lantz and Dr. Elizabeth Fox of Lawrenceville, who guided and organized the day.