Using DNA Barcoding to Identify Sweetbriar’s Bugs!
Jeffry Petracca, Entomologist and Manager of Student & Public Research, CSHL DNA Learning Center
12/30 9AM - 5 PM
Recommended for ages 13y - Adults
Insects can often be small and seemingly insignificant, but despite their size, they are incredibly important to living ecosystems. Because of their size and the sheer number of different species out there (even here on Long Island!), they can often be tough to identify. However, we can use an insect’s DNA to identify its species through a process called DNA barcoding.
Join us for this fun, hands-on workshop where we will learn how an insect’s DNA barcode can make identification easier and quicker, especially for citizen scientists! We will examine insects collected from Sweetbriar Nature Center, extract their DNA, and perform the steps necessary to examine their DNA barcode as part of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Citizen DNA Barcode Network program. All DNA barcodes generated from this workshop will be published to a professional scientific database with participating citizen scientists as authors! This workshop is great for high school students interested in molecular biology and life sciences, as well as lifelong naturalists who just want to learn a new approach for studying and understanding organisms and ecosystems!
Pack a lunch and something to drink.