DNA sequencing and traveling to Tanzania to fight the commercial bushmeat trade are not the typical activities of high school students. But, the High Tech High (HTH) Roots & Shoots group in San Diego, California is proving that anything is possible.

Under the guidance of their teacher and group leader Jay Vavra, 11th- and 12th-grade students will travel to Tanzania to fight the illegal commercial bushmeat trade using DNA evidence.

"These High Tech High students know when to stop talking, roll up their sleeves and take action," Dr. Jane said.

Since January, the students have been in contact with a Tanzanian Roots & Shoots group about their bushmeat DNA study. They are planning a conference to be held at Mweka College of African Wildlife Management. The conference will bring together the HTH students, Tanzanian researchers and U.S. graduate students from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's MENTOR program.

"Our trip will bring together conservation science skills we've learned in the classroom, the Bushmeat crisis currently happening in Africa and the Roots & Shoots values of helping others, animals and the environment," said Elise Schultheis, a HTH Roots & Shoots member.

When the HTH students travel to Tanzania in June, they will meet with their Tanzanian counterparts to discuss their ideas and promote new methods of bushmeat monitoring and identification. Their goal is to promote cultural understanding, raise awareness about the African bushmeat crisis and establish a foundation for future international collaboration on this issue.

When bushmeat reaches the market, it has often been dried and smoked, making it unidentifiable as illegally obtained bushmeat. HTH students have been working with the scientists at the Zoological Society of San Diego's center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) to help develop ways DNA sequencing can be used to identify bushmeat in the marketplace. They've extracted DNA from store-bought jerky to see if they could determine the type of meat.

This identification would allow policing agencies to determine when illegal bushmeat is in food products and if it came from an endangered species.

"Like other international conflicts, resolving the African bushmeat trade will be difficult because it is so multi-dimensional," said group member Alex Bozzette. "Proposed solutions must ultimately address the illegal trade's economic, ecological, environmental and humanitarian roots, but conservation forensics is a large step in the right direction."

After the students return from their trip to Tanzania they will compile the data and information they collected into a presentation to raise awareness about the bushmeat crisis.

Before heading to Tanzania, HTH Roots & Shoots members will display their project for about 24,000 biotech professionals at the BIO 2008 International Convention.

Intrigued by the High Tech High students? Read more about their research efforts and their trip to Tanzania.