Science-U Summer Youth Camp

Natural Born Killers: Food-Borne Illness and the Microbial Menace 

In this camp, food microbiologists-in training will be introduced to the food system.  They will learn what steps go into harvesting some of our food from plants and animals and what it takes to make our foods safe and wholesome. When things go awry--and they can—food microbiologists-in training will learn the skills needed to determine the source and cause of the contamination including laboratory methods in microbial forensics that are required to identify, track down, and eliminate the offending organism(s). And finally, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a mock trial where they will use their communication skills to convince a judge or jury that their laboratory investigations and resulting evidence will implicate or defend the perpetrator(s) of the outbreak.