Public Engagement - March 2024 By Sarah-Jane Judge Image February saw the launch of our Royal Society funded partnership with three Midlothian Primary Schools – Gore Glen, St Andrew’s, and Stobhill Primary Schools. Awarded to Bill Earnshaw and Lucy Remnant, this Royal Society partnership funding supports three visits to each school where we introduce the scientific process and research skills to the primary 5 and 6 students by challenging them to answer the question “Which fruit has the most DNA?”. Our first visit saw us demonstrate how to extract DNA from fruit and introduce the science behind this experiment. The students thoroughly enjoyed sorting giant knitted chromosomes and finding out which of their classmates had the gene for ‘super tasting’ using PTC taste strips. Students then went away to conduct their ‘literature review’ to decide which fruit they wanted to experiment with on our second visit. Out of the 5 participating classes, three chose to experiment on strawberries with the other classes choosing kiwi and dragon fruit makings for a fun but messy session with students working in small groups to extract the various fruit DNA. Our final visits later this month will see students present their results back to us in the form of posters and presentations. Thanks to Ardra Suresh (Hardwick lab), Jenna Hare (Bird lab), Ipek Ustun (Earnshaw lab), Sam Corless (Earnshaw lab) and Daniel Lechiguero Noguera (Honours student with Earnshaw lab) for helping out in the sessions and showcasing to the students the wide range of different stages and roles involved in scientific research. It was a busy month for science for St Andrew’s and Stobhill primary schools as they also received a visit from Engage Nepal with Science in the form of WCB researchers Alba Abad and Anjitha Gireesh and their Nepalese counterparts from the Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology (Nepal) Suvechhya Bastola and Rojlina Manandhar. Students had a great time learning about Nepal, how to use microscopes, microbes, and getting hands-on making their own soap. Related Links WCB - Earnshaw Lab WCB - Bird Lab Publication date 30 May, 2024
