Some of the teenagers were testing blood in a forensics lab to identify an imaginary criminal. Others, including Amanda Barlow of Bountiful, were fermenting cow manure to learn about how natural gas is created.
        In all, more than 40 high school students took part in Utah State University’s Biotechnology Summer Academy. The competitive program ran from July 9 to 13 and only accepted students with a 3.5 or higher GPA and interest in the sciences. Dr. Afifa Sabir, creator of the program, said the most common GPA was a 4.0.
        Barlow, of Bountiful, has a 3.997 GPA. She signed up for the weeklong program because she wants to go into biotechnological engineering. Specifically, she wants to improve prosthetic limbs.

        “My dad in an amputee and he has a prosthetic arm, and it doesn’t work very well,” Barlow said. Plus, she said, she’s always liked science and math. When she was younger she thought of going into astrology. Another participant, Britton Welsh of Ogden, found out about the program while surfing the web with his dad. They stumbled upon the academy’s Web site and found clips showing its various activities.
        Welsh, who wants to go into anesthetics, spent his time learning “how the body employs enzymes to break down really tough atomic bonds.”
        In other words – intensive chemistry.
        “It’s really interesting because in chemistry everything can be accounted for. You totally predict how things are going to act based on chemicals.”

        
        Plain City resident Marissa Anderson spent the week in a cloning lab, using enzymes to break up strands of DNA. This was Anderson’s second year at the Summer Academy. She was among a group who begged Sabir to let them come back this year. As a result, Sabir has added an advanced portion of the program the last two years. Anderson finds everything fun, from the science to the dinners and campus life in the evening.
        “I really like working in the labs and making a bunch of new friends,” she said, before sitting down to work on a PowerPoint presentation on her research results.
        For those in the program, a week’s stay in the dorms, days in the laboratories with professors, three meals a day, and evening activities are included in the $100 fee.