Bio Lab Olympics Make Sport of Science

Anna Cappella was ready for the Bio Lab Olympics. The junior biology major had spent the last two semesters perfecting her laboratory skills in the Experimental Techniques in Molecular Biology course and the Cell and Development course. As she made her way through the events — the Parafilm Pull, Conical Tube Bowling, the PCR Pipette Challenge — Cappella's confidence began to falter.

"We were using the same skills but in a new way, so I thought I would be good at it," she said. Narrator: She was not good at it. But it didn't matter to Cappella. "We learned a lot this year, and now we get to vibe. It's a nice break."

The Bio Lab Olympics, the brainchild of Carrie Doonan, director of undergraduate laboratories, and her team, takes place at the end of the spring semester when students are feeling the pressure of preparing for finals and finishing up projects. But on this day in late April, the undergraduate labs were buzzing with an infectious joy as first-year students and juniors and seniors had a little fun with their classmates, TAs and instructors.

There was a lot of laughter — and smack talk — as students raced to see who could eject pipette tips the farthest, put on gloves over wet hands the fastest or pipette colored liquid into wells of a PCR plate to spell out 'PCR' the quickest.

"I thought I had a good strategy, but then I misspelled PCR," said a laughing Andrew Voor, a senior neuroscience major.

But it wasn't all about speed. Students guessed how many pipette tips, plates and test tubes the undergraduate labs use in a year. Teaching Lab Manager Mariah Murphy raided the stock room for old equipment and glassware, and students had to identify each item and what it was used for. Students sent a roll of tape barreling toward 10 50 mL conical tubes set up in a bowling pin formation.

"There are so many different types of activities, so no one feels intimidated. You don't have to do them all, you can just pick and choose what you want," said Assistant Teaching Professor Emily Drill.

Devon Gaichas, a first-year student in the introductory lab course Frontiers, Analysis and Discovery in Biological Sciences (FADS), spent the past year getting up to speed with bench work and experiment design after coming from a high school that didn't offer lab courses. Participating in the Bio Lab Olympics was an unexpected change of pace.

"We would never get away with doing this kind of stuff in the lab," Gaichas joked.

For Doonan, that's part of the appeal.

"We really wanted to show them the fun of lab," she said. "The overarching goal is stress relief, because that week they really need it."

But even more important is building community, Doonan said.

"I think they go hand in hand because if you feel a part of a community, you think, 'I'm not alone in this. I have other people who are going through this, too.'"

The stations were run by Biological Sciences faculty and staff, including Brian Corletti, Cytalia Crosby, Lynley Doonan, Ken Hovis, Amber LaPeruta, Kaelin McKelvey and Brett Wisniewski. Teaching assistants, who designed T-shirts for classes to wear, were also on hand for the days' events.

Ken Hovis, assistant dean for educational initiatives and associate teaching professor, was eager to help with the event this year.

"I usually only get to interact with students in the classroom setting, but here students were laughing, having fun, and yelling with excitement," Hovis said. "And when I saw those students get awarded medals at the end of the event, it was pure joy and happiness on their faces. I had a great time! It was such a great environment."

The afternoon's activities culminated in an awards ceremony with students walking away with gold, silver or bronze medals in each event. Everyone also received participation medals, Olympic stickers designed by Associate Teaching Professor Natalie McGuier, and "Olympic-sized" treat bags full of nutritious snacks to get them through finals.

"The most heartwarming thing for me is to see the students grow, to feel confident and comfortable enough to go around to the events with another friend that they met in lab and just do something silly," Doonan said. "It's such a great event, and it's all thanks to this fantastic staff and these wonderful students. It's such a great community."