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"If a teacher goes through my 10-hour workshop, then they go under the Princeton umbrella, and they will have the free resources provided by Princeton," she said. "My primary focus will go to the teachers in my district, but we want to help anyone in the area - Wesson, Franklin County, Lawrence County. It's open to any teachers who want to get a biotech program started."
Teachers who complete the training and wish to insert Biomedical Research into their schools' curriculum will be able to borrow $10,000 worth of scientific equipment necessary to conduct the class, including a thermal cycler, micropipettor and microfuge. They will also be eligible to order two $250 biotech kits per year from Princeton at no charge, and receive a professional development certificate from the university.
McKone said the kits contain all the materials necessary to conduct a biomedical experiment.
McKone's class is the seventh such Princeton satellite in the nation and the first in the South, with the other six located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She said the university decided to designate her class a satellite after reading about her students' work at Bogue Chitto Attendance Center in the February 2009 issue of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin. The Bulletin is a scientific journal distributed to hundreds of scientists and several universities that work with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The class was recognized in the journal because of its participation in the nationwide research program "Muse of Fire," which saw several institutions working together to search for specific strands of DNA and bacteria in fire ants.
"The Bulletin prompted them to make the decision to start a satellite right here in Mississippi because they saw our students were dedicated to biomedical studies," McKone said.
Dr. Rob Rockhold, vice chancellor for academic affairs at University of Mississippi Medical Center and author of the "Muse of Fire" curriculum, said the potential spread of Biomedical Research would "dramatically" improve the educational qualifications of students entering the workforce of the future.
"Biotechnology, advanced scientific applications are going to be essential as Mississippi takes its place in our new workforce," he said. "It's going to make our state and our country more competitive in the global environment, and it's going to be the way in which we bring new, better, higher-paying jobs into this state. The work by Kathy and the expansion of these courses is job development for the future."
Rockhold said UMC would continue working with McKone and other Biomedical Research classes that spring up in the future.
"I'm looking forward to this grassroots adoption of the idea of advancing scientific education through inquiry," he said. "The fact that one of our teachers has gone to these extraordinary lengths to develop herself and bring new resources into our schools - particularly in the rural counties - is just outstanding, and is the true measure of the quality of the teachers we have in this state."
The spread of Biomedical Research has already begun in the county school district. With McKone moving to Enterprise, she said her former class at Bogue Chitto will be headed by Wendy Cawthorn, who has undergone similar biotechnology training from Cornell University.
Superintendent Terry Brister said the district has purchased the expensive equipment necessary for the lab at Enterprise, so the class will not be interrupted when the Princeton equipment is loaned out to another school.
"All you hear is testing all the time ... and this is something that goes above and beyond that call of duty," he said. "We've got advanced classes in chemistry and math, and this is even above that. It draws a lot of interest. The people at Enterprise are talking about it already."
