Discovering the Science of Synthetic Worms

A team from Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation visited the Marlow Middle School Science Lab on Wednesday, Nov. 29 to film and interact with the students in Sarah Specht's class. Specht has worked for months with the OMRF to create a new Discovery Kit that will be available to schools throughout Oklahoma. Marlow is one of 2 pilot schools chosen for the launch of the Discovery Kits.

Dr. Andrew (Andy) Weyrich, OMRF President, and Lisa Day, Vice President of Government Relations & Advocacy watched as the students conducted the experiments created by Specht and OMRF. MMS students Maggie Derichsweiler and Niah Busch and Dr. Weyrich have fun with the synthetic worms. Specht assists her students Keira Blundell, Blayne Turner and Morgan Henry with the steps of the new worksheet.

"We're very grateful to Sarkeys Foundation for their partnership in underwriting this project. You never know what will spark a kid's interest in science. With this kind of outreach, we hope we'll plant the seeds that will yield many more homegrown biomedical researchers," said Weyrich. The entire team said they had a blast at Marlow, which was the first stop on the 77 for 77 campaign trail.

Photos by Toni Hopper/The Marlow Review