Viviana Simon, MD, PhD, left, and Randy Albrecht, PhD, right, showed students how to put on a biocontainment suit.
Tenth-grade honors chemistry students from the Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan recently visited renowned microbiologists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for a day of hands-on learning. Randy Albrecht, PhD; Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD; Viviana Simon, MD, PhD; and Peter Palese, PhD, showed the students how to use micropipettes and microscopes; separate DNA, RNA, and proteins; and practice lab safety. Dr. Palese, the Horace W. Goldsmith Professor of Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Microbiology, discussed his transformative work in developing a universal flu vaccine and emphasized the importance of getting an annual flu shot.
Ethan Rotenberg, PhD, the students’ chemistry teacher, said the visit made “science much more tangible and meaningful to the students,” and hopefully, inspired some to pursue scientific research or medicine as a career.
At the Icahn School of Medicine, Dr. Albrecht is Associate Professor of Microbiology; Dr. García- Sastre is Director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute; and Dr. Simon is Professor of Microbiology, and Medicine (Infectious Diseases).