Meet the Scientists

On Saturday 17^th March IIB led the Meet the Scientists Event at the World Museum. Activities included stands led by the CCI and Madine group from IIB along with other stands from Life Sciences, ITM and IGH.

The CCI had a large team, and all worked together brilliantly on the Seeing is Believing stand! The team included:

Violaine See (CCI staff): Preparation of samples for imaging, and assistance at the event.

Dave Mason (CCI staff): Preparation of samples, imaging of samples, produced posters for the event, and assistance at the event.

Marco Marcello (CCI staff): Organisation of virtual reality tours of microscopy images, with Virtual Arcade

Daimark Bennett (CCI staff): Preparation of samples for imaging, and assistance at the event.

Raphael Levy (CCI staff): Preparation of samples for imaging, and assistance at the event.

Anne Herrmann (Postdoctoral researcher): Imaging of samples, preparation of printed materials for the drawing microscopy station.

Sophie Cowman (PhD student): Filmed and produced a tour of the CCI facility, which was on display during the event.

Rebecca Kelly (PhD student): Preparation of CCI postcards, set up and take down of stand, and assistance at event especially for the match the picture quiz.

Claire Kelly (PhD student): Set up and take down of stand, and assistance at event especially for the virtual reality microscopy tour.

Hammed Badmos (PhD student): Preparation of samples, and assistance at event especially for the microscope demonstrations.

Jen Francis (PhD student): Assistance at event especially for the microscope demonstrations.

Sumaira Ashraf (Postdoctoral researcher): Set up and take down of stand, and assistance at event especially for the microscope demonstrations.

Jen Adcott (CCI Staff): Organisation of the Seeing is Believing stand and co-ordinator of activities, imaging of samples, designed and produced the match the picture quiz and microscopy stickers, and assistance at the event.

Feedback from the CCI stand, seeing is believing:

Violaine See – “It was great, and the activities were all very popular. What I really liked about our exhibit is that it was real science. Well done Jen A for leading this, the result was absolutely awesome. Well done Jen F, Hammed, and Sumaira for guiding the kids with the microscopes with so much patience and enthusiasm. Dave has been an absolute star with the colouring sheets and at explaining what we do with microscopes. Rebecca and Claire have been fantastic with the quiz and virtual reality. An amazing team effort. I feel very fortunate to have you all around, you are amazing.”

Daimark Bennett – “Fantastic effort by everyone and great activities – it was great to see how busy it was even later on. The VR clearly went down a storm and everything from the stickers to the CCI movie looked really professional and well put together. It really is hard to convey the science when it’s so chaotic but I think the exhibit was pitched at the right level. In any case, my daughter, who is not easy to impress, gave the thumbs up 🙂 Well done everyone!”

Jen Adcott – “It’s great to work with such a fantastic team of people! The day was busy, and the CCI stand seeing is believing was hugely popular with many repeat visitors. I am looking forward to meeting more future scientists at the next events.”

The Madine group ran 2 activities ‘How does the heart work?’ and return of the popular ‘A lego treasure hunt for new medicines!’ with the help of PhD students James Torpey and Nathan Cumberbatch, MRes student Kiani Jeacock and undergraduate volunteers.  Visitors enjoyed learning how blood is transported around the body by watching blood cells flow around the giant circulatory system (borrowed from IACD created with a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement award, granted to Dr Valentina Barrera). Children of all ages were keen to take part in the Lego treasure hunt around the museum to find the correct drug that fit the Lego protein molecule, and be rewarded with a Lego Scientist to take home. Thanks to members of the group for their help and enthusiasm when describing the drug development process through the use of Lego.

British Science Week – Starting Young

During British Science Week Jill Madine went into Orchard Day Nursery in Huyton to inspire budding young scientists with exciting experiments. Following a discussion on what a real researcher does and looking at models of the heart, brain and circulatory system the children were asked to think like a real researcher and predict and draw what they thought would happen. The scientific question was what will happen when skittles sweets are placed on a plate of water. The children cam up with 3 hypotheses: they would go soggy, the colours would run or they would go bang! The children then watched with awe as the skittles made a rainbow pattern and went white. This was then followed by much discussion as to whether this was what happening in their tummies when they ate skittles!  The second experiment was to make a lava lamp and watch the coloured bubbles float around in the oil to much amazement. Now that the children were real researchers the afternoon ended with them dressing up in a lab coat and safety goggles for photographs which was enjoyed by all. Whilst it was definitely a challenge to come up with experiments for 3-5 year olds it was a fun and rewarding afternoon which hopefully inspired some future scientists.

Merseyside Young Life Scientists ‘Becoming Scientists’ Day

The Merseyside Young Life Scientists scheme offers an exciting series of events for Year 12 students interested in learning more about a career in life sciences.
Whilst most students were enjoying their Easter Break, 30 Year 12 students who are part of Merseyside Young Life Scientists were up early making their way to the School of Life Sciences for a Becoming Scientists Taster Day.
Students were able to experience a first year lecture on DNA and spend time in the teaching labs. Lecturers, Postgraduate students and Undergraduate students were on hand to show these year 12 students what being an undergraduate in life sciences is really like.

After a busy morning, of lectures and practical laboratory experiments students caught up with their PhD mentors over lunch. Choosing a topic to research for the academic poster presentation is the next challenge for the students.
Over the next few months, students on the scheme will produce posters on a scientific topic with the help of their PhD student mentors. The culmination of their hard work will be a Merseyside Young Life Scientists conference showcasing their posters in September.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the Becoming Scientists Taster Day!

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To find out more about studying Life Sciences at Liverpool join us at an Open Day http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/open-days-and-visits/ or visit our course pages https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/life-sciences/undergraduate/