Workshops

Portable Next Generation Sequencing



Medical device held in gloved hand.

We have conducted next generation sequencing (NGS) hands-on practical modules at the Laboratory for Education in Molecular Medicine (LEMM), a dual-function teaching and research lab at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, in order to expose medical students to a new portable sequencer device. 

Technician working on medical device.

Hands-on experience helped student participants become more comfortable with NGS, and stimulated interest to learn more about the science and application of this technology in medicine beyond what is typically covered in the undergraduate medical education curriculum. 


El Paso Physician Apr 2019

Perspectives in Medical Education 2019


Foldscope. An origami paper-based smartphone attachable microscope


Phone with paper oragami telescope and students working.

Evaluating the performance of a low-cost mobile phone attachable microscope in cervical cytology

Primary school students from El Paso are invited to campus for a full day of fun and science during the Medventure for Your Future event. A module called “What You Can’t See Can Hurt You” introduces participants to microbe visualization with microscopy, and allows them to set up their own Foldscope. This is a paper-folding smartphone attachable microscope that they can take home. Winners for the best foldscope-acquired photomicrographs received prizes.


Link to Medventure For Your Future


Learning Module Teaching New Technological Advancements in Research to Maxine Silva Magnet High School (SMHS) Students


Students in lab.

With new technological advancements being discovered each day, we hope to equip students with a clear vocational vision and a mind capable of discerning the advantages and disadvantages of new technological tools, while developing an open-minded attitude toward ever-changing scientific technologies.


We organized hands-on lab sessions at the LEMM to allow magnet high school students to learn and perform sequencing and Western blot techniques.