Indigenous students take on genomics in new program
Summer internship will teach students to use gene studies in their communities
A new summer internship at Simon Fraser University seeks to steep 20 Indigenous students from across Canada and the U.S. in genomic sciences.
In part, the program — seven iterations old, but being offered for the first time in Canada — is intended to help aspiring Indigenous scientists understand how genomics can be used to address health, environmental and political problems in their communities, according to the university. But as Kim TallBear, a professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies, put it, it is also about making crucial connections and getting students comfortable in an unfamiliar setting.
“What we see by the end of the week is the participants really become friends and a support system for one another,” TallBear said. “One of the issues I think that happens a lot with Indigenous people coming into the university is it’s a whole new cultural environment. They can have culture shock, and once they get accustomed to learning how to speak this language, move in these spaces, feel comfortable in the lab, it’s a lot easier for them to imagine themselves in this setting and to stay in university.”
During the weeklong internship, which began Sunday, students will get an introduction to genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, community-driven research and conservation biology, among a host of other topics.
While in the lab, they will learn how to extract and analyze DNA from clams taken from a traditional B.C. clam garden, said Felix Breden, a professor of biological sciences at SFU. The skills they learn could in turn be applied to things like conservation genomics, human migration and human health, he said.
What we see by the end of the week is the participants really become friends and a support system for one another.
“We just want them to get some exposure to the techniques of genetics and genomics,” Breden said.
All but three of the selected participants in the program, formally titled the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics Canada, are from Canada.