Ignite Biotech Program

The Ignite Biotech Summer Program consists of a two-week all-day experience where high school students, with an interest in the life sciences, will solve an important problem by first learning the required scientific concepts and then carrying out the experiments needed to solve it. Teaching is problem-oriented and delivered in interactive lectures and small groups. All students will carry out exp

eriments under the close supervision of trained faculty. Students will compile the data that they generate and present it to the group on the last day. Students will visit the work place of and have the opportunity to interact with professionals involved in different facets of the life sciences. The Ignite Science Initiative was launched in 2014 by Abel Baerga, PhD, Gualberto Rodriguez, Benjamin Torres, MSc, and Eduardo Canto, MD, all Colegio San Ignacio alumni, and Ritmo Aponte, then Principal of Colegio San Ignacio, with the goal of promoting interest in the sciences among high school students in Puerto Rico by providing hands-on advanced laboratory experiences and capacitating high school teachers to provide similar experiences in their classrooms. As part of the Initiative, the Ignite Biotech Summer Program was inaugurated in 2015. The summer program would not be possible without the support provided by the Amgen Foundation, Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, Hospital Auxilio Mutuo, Ferraiuoli, LLC, the Molecular Biology Science Building of the University of Puerto Rico, and Xsquare Capital, LLC.