As part of the MRC’s inaugural Festival of Medical Research, both of our units at MRC Harwell opened their doors to the general public on Saturday 18th June for a ‘Your genes and you’ open day. “I have enjoyed expanding my knowledge on genes and getting.
MRC Festival 2016 As part of the MRC’s inaugural Festival of Medical Research, both of our units at MRC Harwell opened their doors to the general public on Saturday 18th June for a ‘Your genes and you’ open day. “I have enjoyed expanding my knowledge on genes and getting involved with hands on activities” – just one of the comments we received at our first MRC Festival. The rain just about held off for a jam packed day of activities and tours. Members of staff from all areas of our institution got involved on the day and ran activities. Visitors had the opportunity to use complex microscopes, extract DNA from a strawberry, watch a laser in action, learn about the latest research at MRC Harwell, and much more! The Mary Lyon Centre (MLC) ran tours of its world-class animal facility throughout the day giving visitors a rare chance to see how an animal facility is run. MLC staff also showcased a range of phenotyping equipment to visitors and talked to them in more detail about mouse welfare. Visitors were able to learn about the techniques and procedures used to analyse genes and proteins during tours of our working laboratories, as well as speak to scientists in our histology and clinical chemistry laboratories. Our colleagues from the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH) joined us with some very sophisticated equipment, including a 3D printer. Visitors had a go at protein crystallisation and mapping the positions of molecules in a cell using super-resolution. We were lucky to have some VIP guests attend, including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Didcot Steve Connel and Jackie Billington and the Didcot and Wantage MP Ed Vaizey. It was fantastic to have them attend and engage with them about the important research we are doing at MRC Harwell. In addition, Agnes Jawara from the organisation Understanding Animal Research attended, Agnes interviewed people before and after their tour of the MLC to see what their opinions of animal research were. Watch this video to see some of the action from the day! Cross word answers for lab book:
