As we ring in 2024, the CARLOW Center is aflutter with students diligently working on their science fair projects for the Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair. Brianna and Lily Balian were in the lab working away during their Christmas break to start their experiment. Brianna and Lily are working with primary rat neurons and how fatty acid and glucose supplementation affect neural development. David Sachmanyan was also here during break coding a program for his robotic hand controlled by electroencephalogram data collected using an EEG headband. His partner, Dylan Jiang, 3D designed and wired the robotic hand that will be used in their project. As the director of this center, it is rewarding to see the hard work my students put into their projects. I am blessed to have the opportunity to work in an environment that allows students to explore different interests in science without being chained to the traditional classroom curriculum.

In addition to the extraordinary work in the lab, we will once again commence with our weekly skills labs for students to learn basic medical skills required for their certificate of completion from the CARLOW Center. This semester, we will also offer another dual enrollment Pasadena City College course, Introduction to Health Sciences, here on campus. For the Spring 2024 college course, we will partner with Alverno Heights Academy to host some of their middle school students, allowing them to earn college credit alongside our high school students.

We are also excited to share the new equipment we purchased with our generous grant from the Carrico Foundation. Our recent acquisitions include a Thermal Cycler, Real-Time PCR machine, fluorescence imager, and CNC machine. Descriptions of these machines are to follow in our upcoming videos.

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By: Elizabeth Parga