My DNA Summer School project, supported by TÜBİTAK 4004 Nature Education and Science Schools Support Program, was held at Bilkent University National Nanotechnology Research Center in August.
The aim of My DNA Summer School was to introduce 60 female students to science and help them realize their potential and develop their visions, while contributing to their inner motivation and acting as a steppingstone in shaping their careers.
These are successful 9th and 10th grade female students who have the potential to become scientists but come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Under the leadership of the project coordinator, Dr. Ayça Arslan Ergül, and her team (who continue their graduate studies at
UNAM), the 60 students benefited from opportunities to visit UNAM’s infrastructure with its rich program content. They were able to
receive scientific research training, make experiments and presentations and participate in various scientific competitions along with activities such as staining bacteria with the gram staining technique and observing model organisms with a microscope.
TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal attended the closing program of the My DNA Summer School at UNAM on Monday,
August 22. Stating that the field of molecular biology and genetics is of critical importance, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic, Mandal said that TÜBİTAK will always take part in these and related projects that reveal the importance of science.
Researcher Dr. Ayça Arslan Ergül gave a presentation on the project, and the program was completed with an exhibition of posters and presentations prepared by the students.