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Activity description:

The Urban Barcode Project (UBP) is a science program spanning the five boroughs of New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area. The UBP is the first large-scale effort to engage high school students using DNA technology to explore biodiversity in New York City and is currently supported by The Thompson Family Foundation. The Urban Barcode Research Program (UBRP) is a student mentorship program supported by the Pinkerton Foundation and Science Sandbox. These science education initiatives engage high school students to use DNA technology to study biodiversity in NYC. Just as a unique pattern of bars in a universal product code (UPC) identifies each item for sale in a store, a DNA barcode is a DNA sequence that can potentially identify each living thing. DNA barcoding integrates big ideas from molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, ecology, and biodiversity – while at the same time providing the flexibility to address a variety of student-driven questions. The programs culminate annually with an end-of-the-year student symposium.
Join us for our Urban Barcode Symposium keynote address, “How I became a rainforest explorer: Ant genomes to microbiomes” presented by Dr. Corrie Moreau, Ph.D., Moser Professor of Biosystematics and Biodiversity and Director & Curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection.

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