Special to the Enquirer  

Students from Priceville Junior High School visited the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology Feb. 1. Erica Eaton’s seventh and eighth grade science students participated in a learning activity facilitated by HudsonAlpha’s April Reis called Exploring Enzymes. Students investigated enzymes and learned about enzyme specificity using locks and keys and discussed the role of enzymatic reactions during the digestion of a fast-food meal. In addition, students evaluated several enzymes by creating apple juice and observed an enzymatic action in real time as they created cheese. This field trip and other Morgan County Schools groups were funded by a generous donation from the Morgan County Schools Foundation. Reis and the rest of HudsonAlpha’s Educational Outreach team work to foster a genetics-literate society and train Alabama’s future biotechnology workforce. HudsonAlpha is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using genomics to improve life through discovery, education and economic development in the genomic sciences. HudsonAlpha’s mission is to develop and apply scientific advances to health, agriculture, education and commercialization.