Collin Manning and Max Liberman were about to nail Greg Anglin.
The Milton High School juniors had a piece of classmate Anglin's fingernail, crucial DNA evidence that the two hoped would prove they had the right suspect in an experiment they called "The Case of the Missing iPod."
If it sounds like something out of the hit TV series "CSI," that's because it is. The students were performing an experiment in Milton High School's state-of-the-art biotechnology lab, one that didn't cost the town's taxpayers anything.
The nonprofit Milton Foundation for Education, which raises money to support the Milton public schools, contributed $45,000 in donations for the lab. Those were augmented by grants from a privately funded biotech industry program to equip the lab and train Milton High science teachers on how to use it.
The new lab, unveiled last week, puts Milton among a handful of schools statewide whose students have access to such state-of-the-art equipment.
"They are preparing for the future and leaving high school with contemporary skills," said John Drottar, Milton High principal.
In the lab, students can perform a full range of biotech experiments, from DNA amplification to protein analysis.
During a recent visit to the lab, students prepared experiments they were to conduct for visitors at an open house set for last Thursday, before the lab was to become available to the general student body. "Mystery of the Crooked Cell" is an investigation into the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia. In "Day-Glo Bacteria," students give bacteria a green glow using DNA isolated from a jellyfish.
"We're comfortable that this lab will be accessible to all students - not just those in Advanced Placement or honors classes," said Helene Haddad, Milton Foundation for Education president. "That was one of the goals and focuses we had in making the donation."
Barbara Plonski, head of the Milton High science department, said budget restrictions prevent any one teacher from being assigned strictly to biotechnology. But because five high school science teachers took the training, the technology will be available to students in all grades at every level of instruction.
The private, industry-funded Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation, or MassBioEd, through its BioTeach program, has provided more than 100 schools across the state with up to $14,000 worth of biotechnology equipment, supplies, and training.
"Some schools have really taken off with it, as Milton has," said Lance Hartford, MassBioEd executive director. "Others haven't been as active."
Hartford said it is in the biotechnology industry's interest not only to help train those who will someday fill jobs in the field, but to educate the public on how biotechnology affects their lives.
The BioTeach grant funds three days of professional development for teachers and also provides funds for instructors from Boston University's CityLab program, an educational outreach arm of the BU Medical School, to go to the schools to help the teachers practice what they've learned.
"To buy the equipment and not give the teachers the training would have meant we'd be saddled with some very expensive paperweights," said Plonski.
Ben Leveillee, a biotechnology educator for CityLab, said the equipment Milton purchased allows the science classes to conduct biotechnology experiments as they are done in a professional setting.
Leveillee said the enthusiasm of school faculty will be the most important factor in whether the program is a success.
"The entire science faculty seems to share a common vision for what this program will be and the valuable role it will play in the education of their students," he said.
Plonski, the Milton High science department chief, said she has tried to stretch the donations and grants by finding good buys and also accepting donations of used equipment, resulting in a lab equal to some one would see on a college campus or at a private school. She nods to the efforts of the teachers and backers who made the lab possible. For example, an impassioned plea by science teacher Paul Damiani at a Foundation for Education fund-raiser for the Milton schools resulted in $15,000 in immediate donations for the lab, paving the way for many more, she said.
Haddad said she believes the donation is money well spent, even before she got a chance to see the enthusiasm the students had for the new technology.
"I was amazed at the response of the students," she said.
Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.
