High school students performing groundbreaking genome sequencing of endangered Hawaiian bird
A high school student pipettes in a sample from a Palila into a sequencer at the Kealakehe High lab. Credit: Hawai‘i State Department of Education- Credit: Hawai‘i State Department of Education
- Credit: Hawai‘i State Department of Education
- Credit: Hawai‘i State Department of Education
Students at Kealakehe High School on Hawai‘i Island, in partnership with the San Diego Zoo Keauhou Bird Sanctuary, have completed the first-ever genome sequencing of the Palila, an endangered finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to Hawai‘i.
The project saw a team of four Kealakehe High students and two private school students from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy and ‘Iolani School assembling the genome themselves using resources from the Kealakehe High lab.
“It’s such a big eye opener for students like us, to be able to access all this technology and then being able to actually do something more for Palila, as well as other honeycreepers and our home,” said Malia Bacxa, a Kealakehe High School senior.
Kealakehe High students worked closely with Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., Aryn Wilder, Ph.D., and Christopher Kyriazis, Ph.D. from the San Diego Zoo. On Maui and in Keauhou, the San Diego Zoo’s Hawai‘i Endangered Bird Conservation programs implement propagation techniques to prevent extinction of critically endangered Hawaiian forest birds in the wild.
“In my mind, this is exactly the way conservation work should be done,” said Aryn Wilder, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “It should be in partnership with communities and people who actually have a direct stake in the outcome of this species.”
Faculty Dr. Yvonne Chan, Eric Tong, Joanna Kobayashi, and Ethan Hill from ‘Iolani School, and Dr. Johanna Anton from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy have helped to guide students through the technical aspects of the project.
“We’re getting kids involved in the real science of doing the sequencing, looking at the reports, we’re hoping we can raise both community awareness and then also use some of the technologies to prevent extinction or potentially reverse it,” said Justin Brown, Career and Technical Education (CTE) and robotics coordinator at Kealakehe High School.
Students also are working with the US Patent and Trademark Office and local and global indigenous rights experts for legal advice on the fair use language that will accompany the final sequence.
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