The doors open up to the public with the help of MRC PPU Volunteers
Saturday, September 19th marked Doors Open Day at the School of Life Sciences and the MRC PPU was in full force participating with two events geared at engaging the public and informing them about the research we do.
In The Wonder of the Brain, visitors of all ages were encouraged to learn more about the inner workings of the brain and had the opportunity to take part in numerous games. These included matching neurotransmitter ‘vesicles' with the proper receptor, making thinking caps that reflected regions of their brain or neurons out of pipe-cleaner and included ‘train their brain' exercises focused on memory and motor skills. This event was in conjunction with the Hearts and Minds exhibit occurring in the LifeSpace Gallery that included example of normal and diseased brains through Magnetic Resonance Images and illustrations that highlight changes that occur during neurodegeneration.
Help the Scientist Beat Cancer! was another event organized by the unit that encouraged children to learn about different kinds of cells (which they could make and take home) before moving on to discover what made normal cells different from cancerous ones – the latter which they worked diligently to ‘destroy'. This culminated in youngsters identifying creative ways to stop the ‘bad proteins' that often turn healthy cells into cancer cells.
The goal was for visitors to come away with a better understanding and appreciation for the research that many of the volunteers are currently pursuing to help in the fight against cancer, neurodegeneration and other diseases. We undoubtedly achieved these goals many times over given the fact that both events had numerous visitors throughout the day and all had great questions about science.
This event would not have been possible without the help of the following volunteers and staff from the MRC PPU: Nicola Darling, Sonal Das, Federico Diez, Luke Fulcher, Juanma Ortiz-Guerrero, Katie Mulholland, Michael Munson, Angie Nicoll, Catherine Rodger, Laia Pedro-Roig, Grant Ross and Hannah Tovell.
In The Wonder of the Brain, visitors of all ages were encouraged to learn more about the inner workings of the brain and had the opportunity to take part in numerous games. These included matching neurotransmitter ‘vesicles' with the proper receptor, making thinking caps that reflected regions of their brain or neurons out of pipe-cleaner and included ‘train their brain' exercises focused on memory and motor skills. This event was in conjunction with the Hearts and Minds exhibit occurring in the LifeSpace Gallery that included example of normal and diseased brains through Magnetic Resonance Images and illustrations that highlight changes that occur during neurodegeneration.
Help the Scientist Beat Cancer! was another event organized by the unit that encouraged children to learn about different kinds of cells (which they could make and take home) before moving on to discover what made normal cells different from cancerous ones – the latter which they worked diligently to ‘destroy'. This culminated in youngsters identifying creative ways to stop the ‘bad proteins' that often turn healthy cells into cancer cells.
The goal was for visitors to come away with a better understanding and appreciation for the research that many of the volunteers are currently pursuing to help in the fight against cancer, neurodegeneration and other diseases. We undoubtedly achieved these goals many times over given the fact that both events had numerous visitors throughout the day and all had great questions about science.
This event would not have been possible without the help of the following volunteers and staff from the MRC PPU: Nicola Darling, Sonal Das, Federico Diez, Luke Fulcher, Juanma Ortiz-Guerrero, Katie Mulholland, Michael Munson, Angie Nicoll, Catherine Rodger, Laia Pedro-Roig, Grant Ross and Hannah Tovell.