FARMINGTON — Livermore Falls High School senior Josie Thomas wants to study marine biology. Mt. Blue High School senior Brody Hines is applying for nursing school. Each has a strong interest in science and wanted more lab experience before going to college.

The two, along with Mt. Abram High School students Forrest Norcott, Shen Temple and Justin Haines, and student Paul Boucher are gaining that experience through a biotechnology program at Foster Technology Center.

Searching for new strains of bacteria and working with DNA samples became even easier for the group this year with a donation of equipment worth thousands of dollars, teacher David Nordstrom said.

The students in the biotechnology program have developed a special camaraderie and ability to work together. It has enabled them to pursue their interest in science and produce results. This year, they have found two viruses from Rollo Pond, which could be a notable discovery, Nordstrom said.

They are using DNA cloning techniques to identify them from their genetic code. If the code has never been seen before, they may have discovered a new variety of virus, a kind that only infects bacteria, he said.

The new equipment has helped.

“To do the work the right way, they need the right equipment,” said Dennis Eagleson of Baker Company in Sanford, who visited the class Thursday.

One piece in particular, a biological safety cabinet, creates a zone of perfectly sterile air necessary to protect sensitive experiments, Nordstrom said. It also filters any air leaving the cabinet so the work environment is also safe.

The Baker Company designs and manufactures this type of equipment. Eagleson paid to have the cabinet moved from Augusta to the classroom at Mt. Blue High School.

He was the original donor of the piece to a biotechnology program at Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta. The Baker Company creates “immaculate” work spaces for biotechnology, medical and computer chip manufacturing industries, Nordstrom said. The company also provides training sessions at the Eagleson Institute where Nordstrom attended a session in November bringing what he learned back to his students.

When Nordstrom’s mentor, Lucy Levesque, who taught biotechnology at the Augusta center retired, the program there was dropped, he said. The Foster program became the recipient of her 10-year collection of equipment, he said.

Now this local biotechnology program is the only one in the state, Glen Kapiloff, director of the Foster Technology Center, said. It’s quite a process to start one with approval needed through the Department of Education, he said.

Although Nordstrom now teaches science half time for Mt. Blue High School and the biotechnology class half time for the Foster Technology Center, he had made requests for the program for about 10 years, Kapiloff said. A pilot program was formed three years ago at a time when Mt. Blue needed to cut a science position to half time, allowing Foster Technology Center to take the opportunity to start the program half time.

Biotechnology, a growing industry, also fits Gov. John Baldacci’s STEM initiative that provides knowledge and skills for Maine students in areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Kapiloff said.

Eagleson has also provided advice on how to design the biotechnology classroom that will be constructed as part of the new Mt. Blue Learning Campus, Nordstrom said.

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