What is Base Pair?
Base Pair, initiated in 1992, is a successful biomedical research mentorship program that pairs faculty from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) with public high school students and educators. Oriented to interact primarily with participants from the largest public school district in the state of Mississippi, the Jackson Public School District (JPSD), the program has expanded to enlist students and/or teachers from school districts throughout central Mississippi, including Byram, Clinton, Madison, Mendenhall, and Northwest Rankin. This biomedical research mentorship program allows each student to experience the scientific field in a “hands-on” manner under the guidance and supervision of a faculty researcher at UMC. In preparation for this mentoring, Base Pair created a novel, graduation credit-accruing high school course, Biomedical Research, that prepares students for laboratory research at UMC during the academic year. Sanction of this course by the Mississippi Depart
