Winstanley STEM day

For the second year running, a group of staff and students from CPR presented multiple activities, information and answered questions at Winstanley College’s STEM day. Two members also hosted an SDS-PAGE workshop where students, in groups of 3 or 4, where instructed in how to run SDS-PAGE gels, and were able to analyse their own samples.

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Lupe wins a Biochemical Society Outreach grant

Dr. Guadalupe Gómez Baena, a postdoctoral research associate in CPR, has won a Scientific Outreach Grant from the Biochemical Society.

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VG&M Summer Science Club

Five members of the Centre for Proteome Research ran the first of six science club sessions hosted at the Victoria Gallery & Museum.  The session was entitled “Beyond the Cell” and was attended by 13 students aged between seven and 10. We started out the afternoon by introducing the students to the concept of our DNA being stored in the nucleus of our cells – to accompany this idea the students extracted DNA from strawberries and made DNA models from sweeties. We then talked about DNA being the code for proteins and how there are different types of proteins in our bodies. The students matched descriptions of proteins to the types of “sample” were that protein might be found. We also used jelly beans to demonstrate how different amounts of proteins, or the presence of a new protein, could help us to diagnose a disease. To round off the afternoon the students tried out three different analysis techniques – testing the pH of household solutions using red cabbage indicator, running dyes and inks on paper chromatography, and measuring the travel time of differently weighted marbles on a model mass spectrometer. We really wanted to encourage the students to ask as many questions as possible and try to think like scientists, any they absolutely loved the hands-on activities, especially those involving sweets!

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Victoria acting as judge in the Big Bang North West

Victoria Harman recounts her experiences as a judge at the Big Bang North West science fair.

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It’s all about the actors, darling!

In May, Rob delivered a Cafe Scientifique talk at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre. Read on to find out what he thought about it, especially talking without slides!

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Science Club at New Park Primary

Science Club at New Park Primary, 2016-201.