ESP Biography

We will be learning about the cutting-edge research in drug discovery of natural products. Techniques ranging from drug isolation to high-throughput screening will be addressed. The research methods are all those used in the Chemical Screening Center and the Linington Lab at UC Santa Cruz. There will be many colorful graphs and videos of screening robots! The main purpose of this class is to introduce interested middle/high school students to the world of academic research.

In this class, we will learn why different metal salts burn different colors. For instance, potassium chloride burns purple while cupric sulfate burns green. The demonstration will be used as motivation to explain the chemical principles behind electronic transition of various metals, and to provide a brief summary of the electromagnetic spectrum, fluorescence, electronic states in a lattice, and atomic orbital theory.

Did you know that Slime Mold, despite its moldy name, is not a Fungus? As an organism capable of inching along like a caterpillar or of pseudopodia, Slime Mold is a truly unique organism. We will learn about the types of Slime Mold and why they are so interesting. We will also talk about the networking abilities of Plasmodial Slime Mold and watch several time lapse videos of Slime Mold in action.