DNA Lab Education

The Pritzker Laboratory represents an unparalleled educational facility for the next generation of world-class evolutionary biologists through our affiliations with graduate programs at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago, a National Science Foundation funded program for undergraduate researchers, DNA Residency programs for high school students and high school educators, and the general public through the DNA Discovery Center.

In the last decade, nearly 200 postdoctoral and doctoral scientists from 29 countries have been trained in the Pritzker Laboratory.  These scientists have gone on to successful careers as conservation biologists, professors, and curators worldwide from Tokyo to Los Angeles.   In the Spring of 2008, we opened the DNA Discovery Center, which provides museum visitors with the opportunity to see and speak directly to researchers in The Pritzker Laboratory while they are conducting cutting-edge DNA research. This unique opportunity expands our ability to convey The Field Museum’s genetic and evolutionary discoveries from our scientists to museum visitors. It also provides a venue for the general public to ask about recently discovered or more general questions about genetics and evolutionary biology.  Come visit us weekdays from 11 am-noon for our talk-to-the-scientist hour.