After a few days in the lab, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I can expect to gain from this experience at Novozymes.
My lab mentor has been very focused on working with me on developing lab and demo components for use in my classroom. We are working with carbonic anhydrase to catalyze the dissolution of CO2 into water. This would fit wonderfully into kinetics, equilibrium and acids and bases at the ‘regular’ and AP levels of chemistry. RIght now our only hurdle is developing a way to use the materials and in an economic manner. The buffer solution (bicine) is rather expensive and, like everyone, I just don’t have the budget to be able to buy a fresh batch every year, so I am working with very low concentrations of the buffer.
I am also expecting to come away from this experience with a new understanding of lab practices. I went straight form undergrad into the classroom. While I did spend some time as a chemistry lab assistant, I still did not engage in any research on my own and was never really training in recording procedures. I am hoping to use this experience as a way of changing my thought process and incorporating more inquiry labs into my curriculum.