Students from Upper School Science Teacher Mr. Paul Zahller’s Autotroph Biological Design class took part in a tour at the International Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a not-for-profit research institute dedicated to plant science and product development. The tour on Wednesday included time viewing core technologies such as the Bellweather Plant Phenotyping Facility, Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory, Plant Tissue Culture and Transformation Laboratory, and Integrated Plant Growth Facility. In addition, students met plant scientists from the Slotkin Lab and participated in two studies: plant blindness in collaboration with Memphis University and a Danforth project on corn plant architecture.
Maybe this field trip planted a seed in our students’ minds to become plant scientists themselves one day!