Science Insights programme helps school pupils get insight into science careers

Forty high school pupils from across Central and Southern Scotland visited the Institute as part of the annual Science Insights work experience programme

Science Insights, which has been running since 2014, offers 5th year high school pupils an opportunity to get hands-on experience of working as a researcher in biological, biomedical and animal sciences.

The pupils, from 33 different schools, spent a week taking part in various activities on all four campuses of the University of Edinburgh's College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

These included a visit to the Anatomical Museum and library at the Old Medical School, Central Campus, a workshop about using animals in research at the Roslin Institute, Easter Bush Campus, and a tour of Surgical Robotics at the Institute for Regeneration and Repair (IRR), Edinburgh BioQuarter.

During their day at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer, on the Western General Hospital campus, pupils visited the Zebrafish Facility and Flow Cytometry Facility (FACs); attended a talk on Ethics in Science; and took part in research taster sessions in labs in the Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Edinburgh Cancer Research and the MRC Human Genetics Unit.

We were very excited to share our everyday work that involves manipulating DNA (molecular cloning), introducing these constructs into cells, and imaging the cells that have fluorescence. It is amazing to have the opportunity to work at the cutting-edge labs at the IGC, but it is even more exciting to show it to others.

Links

More information about the Science Insights programme

Ewa Ozga’s blog about hosting a lab taster session at Science Insights