Western New York Genetics in Research and Health Care Partnership

描述（由申请人提供）：西纽约遗传学研究和卫生保健伙伴关系将与14个县地区的弱势学校建立持续的伙伴关系，这将作为教师和学生招聘、培训和指导生物科学的管道，特别关注遗传学。它的目的是支持学生在科学研究和卫生专业方面的职业道路，强调向代表人数不足和处境不利群体的学生提供援助，并使教师熟悉他们可以在课堂上介绍的基本生物信息学概念。该合作伙伴关系将由pi领导，代表布法罗大学生物技术和临床实验室科学系（BCLS）和纽约地区健康教育中心系统，该系统在布法罗大学家庭医学系设有全州办事处。成员将包括伊利尼亚加拉AHEC和WNY农村AHEC，以及15到25个学区，这些学区将在5年的项目期间被邀请加入。在项目开始时，AHEC分析将确定为代表性不足的人口服务的弱势学区。每年将邀请3至5个地区加入该伙伴关系，使他们有资格获得教师培训（每年共20名教师）和高级体验式学习项目的技术支持和Capstone研讨会（每年共100名学生）。来自合作学校的20名生物学教师每年将参加在布法罗大学举行的为期两周的夏季研讨会，在那里他们将接受有关使用美国能源部联合基因组研究所的综合微生物基因组注释协作工具包（IMG-ACT）的培训。在每学年的秋季学期，AHEC将组织4-5个健康/科学学院和职业探索课程，让学生熟悉基因注释项目，并给它一些“现实世界”的背景。学生将在这些课程的最后阶段制定职业规划，并表明他们对春季学期进行基因注释的兴趣。然后，每位老师将在学年期间与至少5名学生（每年总共100名）一起使用IMG-ACT参与基因组注释。每年春天，顶点研讨会将在UB举行，将参与的学生和教师聚集在一起，展示他们的项目，并与研究人员和雇主建立联系。AHEC将跟踪和提供支持（例如，奖学金和职业信息，新的实习机会），以参与学生进入和通过大学，支持进入和保留在该地区的研究和卫生事业。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Western New York Genetics in Research and Health Care Partnership will develop an ongoing partnership with disadvantaged schools across a 14-county region that will serve as a pipeline for teacher and student recruitment, training and mentorship in bioscience, with a particular focus on genetics. It is designed to support career paths for students in both scientific research and the health professions, emphasizing assistance to those from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, as well as to familiarize teachers with basic bioinformatics concepts that they can introduce into their classrooms. The Partnership will be led by the PIs, representing the University at Buffalo Department of Biotechnical and Clinical Laboratory Sciences (BCLS) and the NYS Area Health Education Center System, which has its Statewide Office based in the University at Buffalo Department of Family Medicine. Members will include the Erie Niagara AHEC and WNY Rural AHEC, along with the 15 to 25 school districts that will be invited to join over the 5-year project period. At project start, AHEC analysis will identify disadvantaged school districts serving underrepresented populations. Each year, 3 to 5 districts will be invited to join the Partnership, making them eligible for teacher training (total 20 teachers per year) and technical support for advanced experiential learning projects and a Capstone Symposium (total 100 students per year). Twenty biology teachers annually from the partnering schools will attend a two-week summer workshop at the University at Buffalo where they will receive training in use of the Integrated Microbial Genomes Annotation Collaboration Toolkit (IMG-ACT) of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. During the fall semester of each school year, AHEC will organize 4-5 health/science college and career exploration sessions to familiarize students with the gene annotation project and to give it some "real world" context. Students will develop career plans by the last of these sessions as well as indicate their interest in doing gene annotation during the spring semester. Each teacher will then work with at least 5 students (100 total per year) to participate in genome annotation using the IMG-ACT during the school year. Each spring, the Capstone Symposium will be held at UB, bringing participating students and teachers together to present their projects and network with researchers and employers. AHEC will track and offer support (e.g., scholarship and career information, new internship opportunities) to participating students as they enter and progress through college, supporting entry to and retention in research and health careers in the region.