2 teachers earn chance to work with top researchers

Tami Caraballo*, a science teacher at Snohomish’s Glacier Peak High School, is spending her summer immersed at a Seattle research firm, studying a tumor-suppressing protein called P53.

“Everybody has it,” she said. “If it’s not mutated, it works to repair or destroy damaged cells.”

Caraballo is working with scientists at Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology, part of the biotech hub south of Lake Union. “We’re looking at mutations and the impact on genes and human health,” she said.

This is the first of two summers Caraballo will spend at the firm as part of the Partners in Science program. She is one of two science teachers from Snohomish County, and 11 in Washington, selected to participate.

The program is sponsored by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, based in Vancouver, Wash. It allows Northwest teachers to work in research labs to promote science education. Teachers from Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Oregon also were selected for the program.

“This is leading edge research,” Caraballo said of the work under way at Institute for Systems Biology. “They really don’t know what they’ll find.”

Her assignments include finding, tracking and organizing research on the P53 protein. When the protein is damaged, it can lead to a number of cancers, including those of the colon, brain, breast and lungs.

It’s a steep learning curve, she said, and far different from her day-to-day classroom work of overseeing 165 students.

Sometimes, she said, she feels a little in overwhelmed by the sophistication and complexity of the daily discussions. “I sit in on some things and think, ‘Wow, I think I know five words of what they said,’ ” Caraballo said.

It’s a good lesson in empathy, she said. “It helps me understand how my students feel.”

True scientific research often involves a lot of hit-and-miss work, she said. “With research, real research, there’s a lot of failure.”

One of the lessons she hopes to take back to her classroom is for student to overcome their fears of failure if they get a different answer than they expected while working on scientific problems.

Less than a mile away, fellow science teacher Carole Tanner, from Everett’s Jackson High School, is assigned to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where she’s working with evolutionary biologist Katie Peichel.

Her work began in May with a trip to Vancouver Island, collecting small stickleback fish from lakes and streams.

“All these lakes and streams are isolated,” she said. “The question is how different are all these groups of fish and how are their genes expressed differently?”

It’s part of a project to research the stickleback’s reaction to viruses and specifically if scientists can detect if the fish are finding way to combat viruses.

“I’ve identified 10 genes than might be anti-viral genes,” she said. “If they look interesting, we’ll carry on. If not, we’ll look for other genes.”

Teachers selected for the program receive a $10,000 grant. Tanner said she plans to use the money to buy scientific equipment for her classroom. Caraballo plans to use some of her grant money for classroom equipment, too, as well as travel to a science convention and a trip to San Diego to make a presentation on her research.

Tanner’s eight-week stint at “the Hutch,” as the center often is called in verbal shorthand, allows her to both experience the work of a scientific research team and become something of a student herself, she said.

Tanner said she feels her work in Seattle will have direct applications in the classroom, where new biotechnology classes will be launched in the fall.

The classes will have a mix of 11th and 12th graders. Her goal is for them to learn that there are a number of ways students can pursue careers in science, from a two-year biotechnology lab specialist program offered at Shoreline Community College to those who earn bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D degrees in broad-ranging scientific specialties.

“A lot of times kids have a preconceived idea that they can’t do science unless they’re the most brilliant kids,” she said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com

Correction, July 30, 2013: Tami Caraballo’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.