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Promoting Genetic Literacy: The Greenwood Genetic Center Receives Grant from
the National Institutes of Health
October 9, 2009
Contact: Dr. Leta M. Tribble (864-943-4170) Dr. Roger E.
Stevenson (864-941-8146)
 The
National Human Genome Research Institute (NGHRI) has awarded a grant in the
amount of $860,000 to the Education Division of the
Greenwood Genetic Center (GGC). Funding will be over a two year period with the
project under the direction of Dr. Leta M.
Tribble, Director of Education at the Center.
“These funds from the National Institutes of Health will allow
us to enhance the on-campus and outreach educational activities of the Center,
especially those that involve high school students and teachers,” said Dr. Roger
Stevenson, Director of the Greenwood Genetic Center.
Funds will be used to expand the Center’s Outreach Education
programs which serve to support and encourage a greater understanding of the
field of human genetics. The project has two components:
-A Genetics Education Center, housed in an existing building
on the GGC campus, will provide laboratory-based activities in human genetics
and biotechnology for visiting classes. -A Mobile Genetics Education Laboratory,
a 40 foot bus designed and equipped as a science laboratory, to provide
laboratory-based activities in human genetics and biotechnology. The Mobile Lab
will focus on serving students and teachers in communities from which travel to
the Center’s main campus is not practical.
One of the project’s key supporters, Dr. Ray Wilson, Director
of the Western Piedmont Education Consortium, states “If our students are to
compete for jobs in the health care field and in technologies of the future, we
must offer them experiences that will expose them to the technology and ideas
used in the field today.”
According to Dr. Tribble, “This project is a natural extension
of our long-standing education programs and will allow for expanded service to
South Carolina’s students, teachers, and their communities. There is a need for
strengthening genetic literacy as we deal with issues of ethics, technology,
personal healthcare decisions, and future employability.”
Additional information for this grant may be found on the
NHGRI website at
http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter_SearchResults.cfm |
