Bio-Rad Hosts Local Students from Bio-Tech Summer Academy
August 8, 2023
Students from the Bio-Tech Summer Academy pose in front of Bio-Rad's Digital Biology Center in Pleasanton, California.
Bio-Rad recently opened up our Pleasanton location to San Francisco Bay Area high school students participating in a weeklong Bio-Tech Summer Academy. The event was organized in collaboration with Bay Area LEEDS, an organization Bio-Rad has sponsored for over a decade in support of the work they do to develop tomorrow’s STEM workforce.
"...anything that can be informative for a young person, I love to do it."
- Darren Link, VP, Digital Biology Group
More than 25 students visited our Pleasanton office on July 27 for a tour of the facility, keynote speakers, a career roundtable, and student presentations judged by Bio-Rad employees. For many students, this was their first introduction to biotechnology.
“I haven’t taken a bio course or anything in high school, so it was fun to learn a little bit more.," said Darsh Doshi. "I was mostly here to explore the subjects, and we also got to do a lot of experiments; it was fun to try something new.”
Darsh Doshi, left, presents with a fellow student during the Bio-Tech Summer Academy held July 24-28, 2023.
As part of their assignment for the week, students were tasked with delivering a “pitch” to a team of investors (industry judges) after considering the benefits, disadvantages, and societal effects of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene editing tool. The assignment was designed for students to weigh the pros and cons of a real world biotechnology topic affecting our society.
Darren Link, second from right, talks with students during their visit to our Pleasanton office on July 27, 2023.
One of the keynote speakers, Darren Link, VP of Bio-Rad's Digital Biology Group R&D Team, says that the students brought an exciting energy to the Pleasanton campus. “We are all on our own journey, and anything that can be informative for a young person, I love to do it,” he says. “I love to see their excitement at this stage of their life. It’s fantastic.”
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