02/03/2017
The Babraham Institute has been opening the doors of its laboratories to students for the past 23 years. This year’s event, held on 1st March, welcomed 120 sixth-form and secondary school students from Cambridge, Essex and as far afield as Wales. The Schools’ Day programme for both students and their teachers involved over 100 scientists, running more than 20 hands-on projects from each of the Institute’s science programmes. Four of the projects were new this year and another two were run by scientists from Crescendo Biologics and Definigen, companies co-situated with the Institute on the Babraham Research Campus.
George, a student from Framlingham College in Suffolk described his day: "I really enjoyed my project because the subject I was doing was very relevant to part of the AS course we have already covered. To be able to do very accurate and small experiments, using advanced equipment and while supervised by young post graduate scientists with a passion for molecular biology, was incredible. From my project, we got to keep a photo of our results as proof of our efforts – which was amazing. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in this."
Over its long history, it’s encouraging to see that Schools’ Day has made a difference to those who attend. Rowina Westermeier was inspired by her visit to the Institute over a decade ago: “I remember fairly vividly going to Babraham's school outreach day about eleven years ago. I found it tremendously exciting and the experience had an enormous impact on my career choice. I finished my PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge last year and am now working as a protein biologist. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity we were given and would like to express my heartfelt thanks”. (Dr Rowina Westermeier, Associate Biologist at Domainex).
02 March 2017