Students from Caritas College and St Tiernan's taking part in the demonstration in interactive Science Live lectures at UCD
UCD research was brought alive to over 500 secondary school pupils through a series of visually exciting presentations at UCD Conway Institute and the CSCB. Three recipients of RDS Science Live Demonstration Lecture bursaries found creative ways of encouraging young people to see science as exciting, challenging and fun.
Dr Annette Byrne, Senior Research Fellow with the CSCB and UCD Conway Institute, brought the audience on a fascinating journey of the development of a cancer drug in her presentation "From Molecules. to Man! How to make a Cancer Drug in 60 minutes". Bringing students directly into the world of cancer drug discovery, she described how drugs make their way into the clinic, from the initial idea through the various stages of pre-clinical screening of tumour cells in the lab and then on the patient. The pressure was on for the "Who wants to be a Superbrain?" quiz with students happy to avail of the "Ask your teacher" lifeline.
'Inflame your Brain' presented by Dr Sean Callanan, UCD Conway investigator and lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine, took the audience on a tour down the rapids, following the route of cells in the blood as they make their way to the brain. Volunteers from the audience donned T-shirts and hats representing various cell types and, using a 2m high and 3m wide model of the blood brain barrier, showed how bodyguards protect the brain from invading cells. Dr Callanan explained how the blood brain barrier becomes 'leaky', allowing viruses to inflame the brain.
Dr Orla Donoghue from the CSCB posed the question "Do Sparks Fly when Chemists meet Biologists?" in a lively presentation, tackling the science behind some current news stories and dispelling some myths of the beauty industry. Dr Donoghue revealed how thanks to UCD scientists, our styrofoam coffee cup could be turned into a biodegradable credit card and how with the help of carbon dioxide capturing systems we could soon be driving alcohol-fuelled cars! Volunteers were called on to build molecules against the clock, and then it was just eyes down for a tense game of "Chemical Bingo".
