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Ludwig Oxford and IDRM host 6th form students for a taster week of research

Mehdipour Public Engagement Shi Van den Eynde White

Staff and students at Ludwig Oxford and the Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine put on lectures, panel sessions, lab workshops and more for 6th form students with a keen interest in scientific research.

A joint venture from the Institute for Developmental and Regenerative Medicine (IDRM) and Ludwig Oxford gave 6th form students with a keen interest in biological science and research a taster week at the Old Road Campus.

Staff and DPhil students from across Ludwig Oxford hosted the 6th formers in their lab spaces each afternoon for a week-long taster into cancer research. The Mehdipour, Shi, Van den Eynde and White lab groups each hosted an afternoon, demonstrating their research and giving the students the opportunity to practice some key lab skills, from pipetting to DNA extraction to running a Western Blot.

Image looking through a shelf of pipette tips and falcon tubes to show the summer students watching a demonstration at the lab bench. Five students are in focus, with the out of focus laboratory consumables in the foreground. Image showing students looking at a pellet of DNA spun down from a centrifuge. In the foreground, four summer students look at one tube whilst in the background a DPhil demonstrator shows another student a second tube. Students are wearing white lab coats and safety glasses.

 

Post-doctoral researcher Damayanti Chakraborty commented:

I had so much fun doing this student taster week. It took me back to my undergrad experience and reminded me of 'why we do what we do'."

Staff from the Professional Services team also shared their expertise by showing the group some of the cutting-edge instruments managed by them, and sitting on panels to discuss their routes into their chosen careers.

Students and volunteers sit around a table at a panel discussion about careers. Professional services and research staff from Ludwig Oxford are amongst the panellists.Laboratory technician Sungyong Kim stands next to the Sequencer demonstrating to three students how to load the samples. All are wearing lab coats and safety specs.

Professor Richard White also gave a seminar on his approach and pathway to research, and particularly enjoyed the discussion with the 6th formers afterwards. He commented: 

 

“What was most impressive were the questions the students asked. Though a lot of them don’t have a deep background in genetics, they asked questions that were on par with what I would see in a graduate student. It made talking to them all the more enjoyable, since they clearly were interested in learning more.”

We would like to thank all the staff and students who took part: Damayanti Chakraborty, Robbie Crickley, Alice Daddi,  Kate Dunning, Charlotte Farrow, Sungyong Kim, Mengjie Li, Richard Lisle, Stan Ng, Vinnycius Pereira Almeida, Hannah Pook, Alex Royer,  Vicky Tan,  Richard White and Amanda Wicki.

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