Sussex SPaRCS
If you're taking your A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) you might be able to join our School Partnership Researching Chromosome Stability (SPaRCS) programme. You'll participate in chromosome stability experiments for live research projects and your findings will contribute to our research.
About SPaRCS
Dr Jon Baxter established the University of Sussex School Partnership Researching Chromosome Stability – SPaRCS – as a programme for Year 12 and Year 13 students. If you successfully join the programme, you'll help us conduct chromosome stability experiments for live research projects.
How students get involved
During the project, you'll grow yeast with different modifications in genes that are known, or suspected, to play a role in maintaining genetic stability.
Using a classical yeast genetic assay, 'colony sectoring', you'll assess if these mutations lead to chromosomal instability. This assay is visual, non-toxic and easy to carry out in a school environment.
You'll identify which genetic modifications result in increased DNA instability, and your data will be fed back to the University for further investigation.
The research
Research in the Baxter lab is focused on understanding the mechanisms and regulations that drive the duplication of the DNA (‘DNA replication’) and what happens if these processes go wrong.
Although the ultimate goal is to understand how human diseases develop, the lab uses the simpler baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which has similar biological processes to human cells.
In the future our research could contribute to a wider project of cancer research and provide large amounts of information on how tumours grow and spread as quickly as they do, and ways in which we can fight and control them in the least invasive or damaging way possible.” Students at brighton and hove high school
Who we have worked with
SPaRCS has been growing since October 2016, when we worked with Gildredge House Free School in Eastbourne as part of a Royal Society Partnership Grant. It was a fantastic collaboration where the students got stuck into the project, and we learnt what does and doesn’t work in a school lab setting.
The following year we worked with Brighton and Hove High School (BHHS) and Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), where we ran a similar programme to the one with Gildredge House, along with adding another dimension – counting via Zooniverse. It was great to see how different schools approached the project and to understand what best support we can provide.
More recently, we have been working with undergraduates to act as mentors for students, as well as introducing better instructions and support mechanisms, including a lab book and instruction video.
Why get involved?
You can develop nine of the 11 stated aims of the biology A-level and specifically build on core concept five of the A-level curricula.
Academic curriculum
- Develop and demonstrate appreciation of the skills, knowledge and understanding of scientific methods used within biology.
- Develop competence and confidence in a variety of practical, mathematical and problem solving skills.
- Carry out experimental and investigative activities, including appropriate risk management, in a range of contexts.
- Evaluate methodology, evidence and data, and resolve conflicting evidence.
- Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of: DNA, genes and protein synthesis; DNA replication and mitosis; genetic diversity; control of gene expression.
Personal development
- Teamwork, troubleshooting, critical thinking, timekeeping.
- Careers and higher education links.
- Linking curriculum learning to careers.
- Experiences of workplaces.
- Encounters with further and higher education.
Testimonials
A spokesperson for Brighton and Hove High School said: “Our main goal was to successfully carry out the whole process and get valid and helpful data that we could give back to the University and help them in their research. We wanted to prove that it is possible for schools to be able to work with universities and people working in science, to collaborate and benefit the learning of the pupils and also help carry out easy experiments that would create data vital towards other studies. This would allow our project to be done on a more national scale and could help future research projects speed up the lengthy process. We also wanted to produce this document, to help other schools with the setting up process that took us such a long time.”
One student from Gildredge House gained a place on an apprenticeship training course to become a university biology laboratory technician. Her teacher said: “Her participation in the project ignited an interest in laboratory work and the experience and skills she gained from being a part of the project allowed her to stand out in the application process."
Contact
If you would like to find out more, contact Dr Jon Baxter at jon.baxter@sussex.ac.uk.