Two University of Maine at Presque Isle biology majors and their instructor are looking at genetics in a new light after a week-long visit to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Darren Pelletier and Alyson Kieffer - both Caribou High School alumni who are entering their second year at the local university - and instructor Anne Chase spent the first week in August attending the National Human Genome Research Institute.

The three rubbed elbows with top biomedical researchers and scientists as they learned about efforts to find the genetic basis of various diseases and disorders, and the ethical, legal and social issues that surrounds that work.

"It was cool to meet researchers and directors on the front line of coming up with vaccines to prevent diseases," said Kieffer, who plans to become a marine biologist.

"The best part for me was meeting some of these doctors you read about in magazines, getting advice from them and learning about career paths I can take," added Pelletier, who hopes to become a pediatrician.

The two were among 11 students from across the country who participated in the intensive, six-day short course. Such summer sessions are aimed at faculty and students at colleges and universities with substantial under-represented minority, rural, or disadvantaged students.

"Just thinking that students from a school in rural Maine so close to the Canadian border could participate in something like this and to know that our names and our school are known to this national institute - that was a really good feeling," Pelletier said.

The special course was under the direction of the institute's senior advisor Jeff Witherly, who has ties to Aroostook County and played a large part in making the trio's visit possible. Witherly grew up in Limestone, went on to Ball State University, and now works for the NIH. Officials with the program "Transitions: A Partnership for College Success," sponsored by the Nellie Mae Foundation, brought Witherly to the University of Maine at Presque Isle in 2006 to speak with students from Caribou High School and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics about DNA research.

That connection led to Pelletier, Kieffer, and Chase's visit to the institute this summer. The Transitions program provided funding for the trip.

Now that they're back, Kieffer and Pelletier will be sharing what they learned. Plans are underway for the two to help design a display for the university's Northern Maine Museum of Science, and, as part of the Transitions program, the college sophomores also will be paying a visit to their former high school to talk about their NIH experience.

"I hope that what they're bringing back in their heads and their hearts is going to be infectious," instructor Anne Chase said. "I hope other students are going to say, ‘That's really cool,' and, while they might not have the same opportunity, this will get them thinking about these issues and broaden their thinking patterns."

There is also hope that the trip will open another door for Pelletier, Kieffer, or another local student - a chance at a full summer internship at the National Institutes of Health in 2008 to learn about DNA research.