This spring 2016, I had the opportunity to teach laboratories as TF with the Life Science Outreach Student program at Harvard. It has been a unique experience to learn how to teach a variety of high school topics in Sciences, communicate about why doing Science is fun, but most importantly connect Scientific techniques to the students' every day life. It was also an opportunity to answer general enquiries and describe what types of biological and evolutionary questions I can address in my own research using similar molecular, genetic and microbiology tools.

High school Biology students participating in the program are awesome, super enthusiastic about Science while exploring, thinking critically, and gaining hands-on experience during cool well-designed lab experiments. Topics during Spring 2016 included how do plants function? (photosynthesis and the function of phloem), how does our heart look like from the inside, and why is it such an important organ (review of heart anatomy, oxygen and blood circulation), how do we study gene function (central dogma DNA-RNA-Proteins, transgenics in the nematode using green fluorescent proteins (GFP), mutant behaviors), what is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)? What are the applications in our everyday life? How do we link genotype with phenotype and what are current biotechnology techniques used in research (restriction digestion, gel electrophoresis)? 

Thanks to Tara Bennett and Alia Quatarneh, I also had the opportunity to participate in the Amgen Biotech International Workshop as Teaching Fellow during the summer 2016. Around thirty teachers and educational coordinators from around the world participated in this professional development event provided by Amgen and Harvard.

As a TF, together with the site coordinator, my role consisted in coaching participants through all laboratory techniques and sections, answering questions from general enquiries to specific technical aspects, breaking down concepts in small groups during labs (i.e. gel electrophoresis, bacterial cloning, restriction digestion), demonstrating methods, helping participants anticipate how to troubleshoot in the classroom. In return, it was rewarding to interact with so many enthusiastic teachers, the Amgen team, and fellow TFs, and I enjoyed discovering new educational methods and teaching strategies that have the power to inspire high school students.