Kennebunk High School PCR equipment provides students with in-demand biotech skills

KENNEBUNK, Maine - Kennebunk High School students are getting hands-on experience with the same technology that became a cornerstone of the COVID-19 response and remains essential in professional laboratories worldwide, giving them exposure to real-world laboratory techniques and career-ready skills. 

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment, along with gel electrophoresis apparatus and specialized centrifuges, allows AP biology students to perform advanced genetic manipulation experiments that mirror real-world applications in medical diagnostics, research, and vaccine development.

"It's important for them to have an understanding of what PCR does as well as the other laboratory techniques used to manipulate DNA,” said AP Biology teacher Neil Battagliese. “PCR was a part of our COVID [response]. It's part of understanding how we are able to generate vaccines, how we can test for certain things such as pregnancy tests."

Students are using the PCR machine to amplify specific DNA segments, create bacterial transformations, and analyze genetic material—the same processes used by scientists during the pandemic to detect the virus and develop treatments.

"This is the same exact technology that industrial labs use to create actual biological tools,” said senior Caroline Tabor. “It's the same stuff that's used for ancestry DNA and gene mapping."

The $5,000 equipment grant from the Education Foundation of Kennebunk and Arundel (EFKA) has transformed how students learn molecular biology concepts, replacing theoretical textbook learning with career-relevant laboratory experience.

"I would rather see them learn the basics of those lab skills at the high school level rather than getting to college and being a little bit lost," Battagliese said. "Having those biotech skills already is going to help them out in college."

Junior Quinn Wherley noted how the equipment enhances understanding. 

"I think all the machinery and the equipment is really helping my conceptualization and being able to visually see all these labs," Wherley said

The user-friendly design of the PCR system allows students to complete complex procedures within a single class period, reflecting a shift in both technology and curriculum over the past decade. The compact, integrated system makes sophisticated genetic analysis accessible in ways that were impossible in high school classrooms of the past.

"Having easy and affordable access to these types of machines was impossible 15 years ago," Battagliese said. "PCR was around for a while, but having it actually usable in a classroom, not so much. They're big, they're expensive."

The modern PCR equipment features automated domes that operate centrifuges with simple placement, integrated gel electrophoresis systems, and specialized visualization chambers—all designed for student use. This technology's arrival coincides with a fundamental shift in biology education away from traditional taxonomic approaches toward biochemistry and molecular biology.

“Over the years, our biology teachers have had conversations on which approach to take,” Battagliese said. “Do we go more in the molecular biology route, or do we follow more of a taxonomic, old-school way of teaching biology? In the taxonomic approach, students would learn about the living world through the classification of organisms. Nowadays, there’s more of a push to understand the mechanisms at work in cells and how this leads to a better understanding of heredity, evolution, disease, and biotechnology. This is what they will be learning more about in college.”

"I am going to remember this lab, and going into college, I have a little bit more of an idea that I do like this kind of lab work, and I know how it works," Tabor said while finishing her lab work.

Later this year, students will simulate CRISPR gene editing techniques, further expanding their career-ready laboratory skills in one of biotechnology's fastest-growing fields.

The program's success has prompted plans to expand access to these technologies beyond AP classes to other biology courses, giving more students exposure to the same PCR technology that continues to be vital in medical diagnostics, forensics, and pharmaceutical research.

"There's a lot of cool stuff making ground in the field of science, and I'm excited to see where it goes," Wherley said. "This lab has really helped me see all that."
 

Click here to donate to EFKA.
 

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