UMNH Summer Program

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How to Register

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

Team Leaders

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What:	A summer program for high school students interested in science
Where:	At the Utah Museum of Natural History, on the campus of the University of Utah
When:	June 16-27, 2008, Monday-Friday 1-4pm
Why:	Excellent learning opportunity to put on college applications, hands-on scientific experiments, meet scientists, potential career development

Best of All....  It’s Free!!!!

Please visit the website below for details on how to register to join:
http://www.centralpt.com/pageview.aspx?id=21566#teens

Program Description:

When Gastropods Attack for 15 – 17 year olds (10-12 graders) All snails are not created equal. Some are born with a heightened hunting instinct and a toxic venom to match...Roaming beneath the ocean's surface venomous marine snails such as cone snails and turrids use an assortment of toxins to hunt fish, worms, and even other snails! What can scientists learn by investigating these toxic avengers of the deep? Join us for hands-on scientific explorations, working with scientists while investigating the physical and chemical mechanisms that allow the Conus and Turrid snails to catch and eat their prey.


Program sponsored by NSF postdoctoral fellowship to Mandë Holford (0610202)

When Gastropods Attack!

Module One
Taxonomy and Molecular Systematics Cone sanils, turrids, and terebrids have been studied for several years and the evolutionary relationships of these gastropds is an ongoing scientific investigation by several scientists, including many of your summer camp instuctors from the Olivera laboratory on the U of U campus. Morphological characteristics, or physical traits, have traditionally been used to determine how species are related. It turns out that the information gathered through morphological analysis allows for a baseline understanding of relationships, but often falls short of giving a complete and accurate picture. Recent advances in molecular techniques have allowed scientist to compare species and individuals at the genetic level using DNA. This information, combined with morphological analysis, has given scientists the ability to predict more clearly how these amazing gastropods have evolved over the centuries. In this module we tour the mollusk colleciton at the Utah Museum of Natural History and learn about reconstructing the evolutionary history of mullusks using fossils, DNA, and other characters.

When Gastropods Attack!

Module Two
Chemistry in the Environment Cone Snails, Turrids, and Terebrids are venomous marine gastropods that live in the ocean. The chemicals in their surrounding enviornment are so important to survival that even small chagnes may mean the difference between life and death. We will explore and test the living conditions of these intersting sea creatures in our own saltwater aquaria. We will also discuss the similarities and differences between these gastropod environments, the chemical enviornment of freshwater fish, and the chemical environment inside your body.

When Gastropods Attack!

Module Three
Biodiversity of Snails and their Venom Peptides Cone snails, turrids, and terebrids are a part of the Conoidea superfamily of gastropods. For centuries cone snails have been collected for their exquisitely beautiful shells, however it wasn't until 30 years ago that the toxins from these animals were identified by scientists, and since that time they are being used as highly effective biochemical tools for studying the function of the nervous system. There are about 500 species of cone snails, each expressing a unique set of 50 to 200 toxins, resulting in up to 100,000 conotoxins that can be investigated as biological tools! This module we learn about this amazing diversity of peptides.

When Gastropods Attack!

Module Four
Biodiversity of Snails and their Venom Peptides (continued!) To date less than 10 percent of cone snail toxins have been fully characterized, which leaves a significant amount of these useful toxins still to be investigated. Similiar to cone snails, turrids and terebrids use peptide toxins to prey on other marine organisms. Very little is known about the toxins from turrids and terebrids. The first turrid and terebrid toxin was identified in 2003 and 2004. Turrid and terebrid toxins present a wide-open frontier for scientific investigation. Given the similiarities in evolution and venomous hunting methods, it is expected that turrid and terebrid toxins, like cone snail toxins, will prove to be effective tools for scientific research. In a scientific twist of nature, the venoms ofConoidean snailsare beginning to out shine the exterior beauty of the shells. In this module we visit the Olivera laboratory and conduct real time experiments to synthesize and characterize toxins from cone snails, turrids, and terebrids.