Regeneron's BioBus Returns to Grady School in Elmsford

The wheels on the bus go round and round, and what people may not realize is sometimes the microscopes do too.

At least that is the case with the BioBus, a converted bus that now serves as a mobile science lab. The lab travels to students, and on Oct. 26 it returned to Grady Elementary School, having also visited last year“Thank you for coming back,” Principal Douglas Doller said to bus staff when he stepped out of his office to take a peek inside.

“Whoa, this is so cool,” exclaimed one student as he led his class on board.

Students walked into a science lab complete with three microscopes and screens above them so they could get an even better look at what they were seeing when they peered into the scopes. The back of the bus served as more of an educational setting where students could sit as they were presented with information.

On this day each sixth-grade class had an opportunity to spend time on the bus. Classes were broken up into two groups. While one group learned about the parts of a cell, the other group was busy at the front of the bus peering into microscopes to get a closer look at Daphnia, a small planktonic crustacean, commonly called a “water flea.”

Volunteers from Tarrytown-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals helped students use the microscopes and answered questions.

“Almost every scientist who studies cells uses a fluorescent microscope,” said Dr. Ben Dubin-Thaler, founder and executive director of BioBus. He went on to demonstrate how a fluorescent microscope works, offering the user a unique view of cells. The microscope uses different colored lighting to highlight the many parts of a cell. Students saw a green cell enlarged on a screen before Dr. Dubin-Thaler switched colors, turning the cell red. He had taken a picture of both images and, using a computer, superimposed one on top of the other, enabling students to see the entire cell in green, and its nucleus in red.

“The red is DNA,” Dr. Dubin-Thaler said.

“That was a moving thing,” said one student when suddenly something wiggled across the large screen attached to the microscope.

“It looked like the Flash,” added one student, referring to the comic book super hero.

The appropriate science term was offered by another student, “It’s a living cell.”

Dr. Dubin-Thaler was impressed with the students’ observations and reminded them how scientists also use this practice when they do their work.

“It’s why scientists think we are related to a banana,” Dr. Dubin-Thaler said, a fact that caused laughter among the students. “At the cell level,” he noted, much to their relief.

The students’ observational skills were later put to the test when they used the microscopes on their own. As they peered at the Daphnia, they observed such things as dark spots within the crustacean, and hypothesized that they were eggs. Other students noticed it had only one eye. And still others watched as the Daphnia they were looking at was eating by wiggling its legs to create a water current as miniscule things in the water were pushed into its mouth to be filtered.

“It looks like it has a little nose,” observed one student.

“There is something we recognize as familiar, but it is different,” BioBus staff member Rosemary Puckett said when students noticed the creature’s eye and nose.

The BioBus has been visiting schools since 2008, when Dr. Dubin-Thayer developed the concept, believing hands-on science was the best approach for inspiring students to take an interest in the sciences.

Since it first hit the road, the BioBus has visited more than 500 schools and worked with 250,000 students.