The National Science Foundation has awarded Flathead Valley Community College a $424,590 grant to enhance the biotechnology curriculum in Northwest Montana high schools as a way to attract more students to the growing field.

The award will support TeaM SCoRE Biotechnology, Teachers in Montana Strengthening the Continuity of Rural Education in Biotechnology.

Ruth Wrightsman, FVCC associate professor of biology, has been selected as the project’s director. She will collaborate with high school life science teachers to implement DNA laboratory activities in freshman and sophomore biology classes.

High school students will have the opportunity to engage in innovative laboratory activities, participate in authentic research projects and develop skills needed for success in college science courses.

“By raising awareness of biotechnology career options early in the high school curriculum, we hope to recruit more students into biotechnology,” Wrightsman said.

Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding field that harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to solve problems such as disease, famine and energy shortages.

Overall, biotech careers are expected to increase in demand over the next 10 years.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted a 10 percent growth for biological techs, biochemists and biophysicists between 2012 and 2022 with a seven percent increase in microbiologists’ jobs. That’s an expected growth to 88,300 jobs by 2022.

The three-year project is planned to train and equip 24 life science teachers from high schools throughout Northwest Montana to deliver biotechnology curriculum in their classrooms via DNA barcoding experiments. Teachers and students will have access to lab equipment purchased with the grant money.

At the end of the project, any novel DNA sequences discovered as a result of the experiments will be submitted to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Subway.

The grant was awarded to FVCC from the science foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program and builds upon a prior grant to from the foundation that allowed Wrightsman and Dr. Jerry Manning to develop the first biotechnology transfer degree program in Montana.

Manning, a biology instructor at FVCC, will co-teach the teacher workshops with Wrightsman and assist teachers in their high school classrooms in implementing the laboratory experiments.

FVCC offers a two-year Associate of Science degree in biotechnology that allows graduates to enroll as juniors in Montana State University’s biotechnology program.

For more information about FVCC’s biotechnology program, visit www.fvcc.edu/biotechnology.