The Wistar Institute’s Commitment to Teaching the Next Generation of Biomedical Researchers

In her role as dean of biomedical studies at The Wistar Institute, Dr. Kristy Shuda McGuire uses her love of science and teaching to nurture future scientists, from high school students to adults

What is your philosophy on educating future researchers?

My perspective is that to learn science, you need to do science. That’s a saying that we often repeat at Wistar. Sometimes students are learning in the classroom here, and other times we're relying on our educational partners for the classroom component, but what we focus on is providing the hands-on component in the lab – that's Wistar’s specialty. There are numerous established scientists and researchers who credit Wistar with teaching them how to think like a scientist. Before we even formalized education and training programs here, Wistar was where people learned how to do science and learned to think like a scientist. This Institute is run by scientists for scientists, and our culture has always been about passing along that knowledge.

What kind of foundation does the lab component provide?

What we really focus on in the training lab is providing students with very generally applicable laboratory techniques. I think one of our greatest compliments came from a colleague at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He looked at the laboratory skills that we teach – how to work with DNA, RNA, proteins and cells – and said, ‘There isn't anything that I do in my lab that doesn’t use or build upon these foundational skills.’ Those complex laboratory techniques all build off the skills that we teach here.

Some of the students may not have a deep, foundational science background when they arrive. How do you bring them up to the level where they can be comfortable in a lab?

We practice what we call “just-in-time teaching”. Our students arrive with a range of skillsets: some have a deep background in theory but may not have put that knowledge into practice in the lab before; or we have students who are experiencing concepts for the first time in the lab. Having that heterogeneous group works really well – they're all getting exposed to the real, practical parts that you have to know and draw upon to understand laboratory techniques and analyze the data.

Wistar education and training programs have really diversified and grown. What do you see for the future of these programs?

From the time that we started growing our programs, we really used our signature Biomedical Technician Training (BTT) Program as the foundation. Using the structure and philosophy of that Program to prepare students for careers in the life sciences, we’ve developed a number of new programs, from high school all the way through to adults looking to re-skill or upskill. Moving forward, we'll continue providing essential skills and listen to our employer partners to fulfill whatever specific employee needs they might have. We’ve always provided training to adult learners through our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, so we have that skillset. Now we're serving adults who may not have those advanced degrees, but foundationally, we’ve been working with adult learners for a long time. And now, instead of just teaching high school students through our summer program, we’re going into their schools, allowing us to serve even greater numbers.

Why is it important to reach that younger audience?

There’s some research that says that we should be starting even earlier. But given our resources and the type of research we do at Wistar, we're in a good spot with high school students who are deciding on that next step. But if I had limitless resources, I would teach science and biomedical research to as young of a population as I could!

What draws you to this work?

I come from a family of teachers and married into a family of teachers. Even in my life outside of work, teaching pervades a lot of what I do. This position at Wistar has been the perfect combination of my interests and training in biomedical research and education. I'm really thankful for what I do here. I don't know anybody else who gets to run programs for high school students through postdoctoral fellows and even junior faculty. It’s a really broad portfolio but very focused on something I love and that is so important for society: biomedical research.

Was there an educator in your life who catalyzed your interest in science or in math?

My mom taught elementary school and then preschool. She has memories of me asking for homework assignments before I was two years old, so learning and teaching is always something I’ve enjoyed. I remember extracting my first DNA from an onion in my high school AP biology class and it was so exciting to physically see something that we had learned the structure of, but only in theory. I think that really crystallized my love of science, and I really wanted to give that experience to others. For years, I participated in a program to introduce sixth grade girls to hands-on science, and I started with that same onion DNA extraction. However, I redeveloped the process to use strawberries – they just smell so much better than onions!

What does it mean to you personally when you see someone who's gone through one of our programs and has successfully completed it, or gone on to pursue further education or a career in life science?

It’s exciting to see students and trainees pursue different pathways – ones that I may have even considered, but did not pursue – and it’s gratifying to see those who follow in your footsteps and into science education. We really try to celebrate important milestones for students and trainees, whether it’s a completion ceremony, award, or publication. And around here we always try to celebrate with food!