The St. Dominic Bio Molecular Modeling Team is open to 8th graders who are serious students and willing to do additional academic work after school and at home.  These students are enthusiastic learners willing to extend their knowledge of biology and technology. The team will be part of the Milwaukee Area S.M.A.R.T. (Students Modeling A Research Topic) Team Program, run by the Center for Bio Molecular Modeling at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Their science teacher has been certified by the CBM to advise a SMART Team.  All teacher advisors and scientist mentors are volunteers.

See our RNA Polymerase II !!!

Read MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling's letter which includes information and photos about the 2010-2011 Team and Ms Donna LaFlamme. Download..

Read the Journal Sentinel Article "These kids have it down to a science"

On October 17, our twenty-five member 8th grade team passed their qualification exam at the Milwaukee School of Engineering with flying colors. To qualify to work with a scientist the students (from 14 local high schools and St Dominic) were required to learn about Non-Structural Protein 1 (NS1) from the Influenza A virus.  In addition, as part of the qualification process, all students on the team used RasMol molecular visualization software to design a model of NS1. This design was e-mailed to the Center for BioMolecular Modeling at MSOE and built on their rapid-prototyping machine. Students were also required to write an abstract explaining how the structure of NS1 affects its role in the infection process.

On Saturday, November 7, the team met all the scientists who volunteered to take part in this program.  A mentor scientist was assigned to each team and he or she explained the protein to be designed by the team. This year the St. Dominic Team was assigned a new mentor, Dr. Francoise Van den Bergh, also of the Medical College.  Dr. Van den Berg chose the firefly luciferase protein for the students to study.  Dr. Van den Berg visited the St. Dominic Team during their Monday meeting on November 16, at which time she and her graduate student, Nathan Duncan, did a presentation for them. On December 2, Dr. Van den Berg did an experiment with the students using luciferase.

The St. Dominic 8th Grade S.M.A.R.T. Team gave their final oral presentation at the Medical College of Wisconsin on Saturday, March 19, 2011.  For the past four months, the team has been studying the motor protein, cytoplasmic dynein, under the mentorship of Dr. Jason Bader of the Medical College.  In the cell, dynein carries cargo too big to diffuse and plays an important role in positioning chromosomes during mitosis. Impaired dynein function has been implicated in neurodegenerative disease.   The S.M.A.R.T. Team Program (Students Modeling A Research Topic) is sponsored and run by the Center for BioMolecular Modeling at Milwaukee School of Engineering. The program exposes teams of high school students to the dynamic world of real scientific research by pairing them with local scientists who guide them in the study of a specific protein. SMART Teams are supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)- National Center for Research Resources-Science Education Partnership Award (NCRR-SEPA), and an NIH CTSA Award to the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The primary goal of the SMART Team program (Students Modeling A Research Topic) is to introduce students to the “real world of science” as it exists in a local research laboratory.  This research experience begins when each SMART team is paired with a local research lab.  Each SMART team will work with their “research partner” to understand the lab’s research and to design and build a physical model of the protein that is being investigated.  Last year’s team presented at the Medical College of Wisconsin, for the Saint Dominic School Board, for the St Dominic Home and School Association, and at the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers Convention. Our Home and School Association generously funds SMART Team activities such as field trips to the MSOE Rapid-Prototyping Center and to the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers meeting. Past SMART Teams have presented at the American Crystallography Association meeting in Chicago and for the Biochemistry Department at the Medical College of Wisconsin. St. Dominic’s Team is made up of eighth grade students and is advised by Ms. Donna LaFlamme, our Jr. High Science Teacher.  This year, all the SMART Teams have been invited to bring 2 or 3 of their members to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Meeting in Anaheim California to do a poster presentation.

We’d like to thank Ms. LaFlamme for making this wonderful opportunity possible for the students at St. Dominic School. We know that all of the students involved in this program are doing their very best, and we are proud not only of their tremendous accomplishments, but also of their efforts.  St. Dominic School encourages all of our students to always put their best effort forward. As Scripture states: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.”  1 Corinthians 9: 24