We recently hosted two students, Sam and Krishna, from Haberdasher's Boys' School for an outreach day in our lab (see our blog post here). Krishna and Sam were inspired to write about the experience from their point of view:
What an amazing time we had at the Harrison lab! It was fascinating to finally see the topics that we have covered at A-Level in Biology and Chemistry fully contextualised in a research setting, and we truly had an eye-opening experience into the biological and biochemical world. We not only learned about at ground-breaking discoveries such as the glymphatic system, and its potential role in the treatment of e.g. Parkinson’s disease, but also into the analytical techniques that scientists use to interpret their data to test such discoveries such as embedding a specimen (at the Harrison lab this was brains from a mouse model) for slide preparation, and using monoclonal antibodies targeted to specific proteins to observe their presence under a microscope from fluorescence, to using a nanodrop and centrifuge to analyse samples of RNA and electrophoresis - I’m really sorry chromatography but electrophoresis is way cooler than you: as long as you let someone else handle the extremely fragile polyacrylamide gel (poor Sophie).
Not only this, but we got an insight into what life is like as a researcher, the potential career paths one can take in the industry, and how every procedure, including anomalous results, must be recorded in order to maintain the validity of all experiments. We also saw what the general atmosphere is like in a lab - although I feel like this may not be a particularly reproducible result, as you will struggle to find such a kind and welcoming group of people, not just in research, but simply in general. They really made us feel like we were part of the team for the day and made every effort to show us all they could and engage us in their work, even though we were probably more of a hindrance than a help!
If you are considering going to the Harrison lab for an outreach day, and you don’t mind (or are hopefully fascinated in) seeing a few mice and some mice brains, all I can say is: Do it. Do it. Do it!
It really is an experience you will gain so much from, and will cherish for a long time to come. Once again thank you so much to Ian, Sophie, Sheila and Doug for the amazing opportunity you gave to us, I could never emphasise enough how grateful we are. Thank you.
We are delighted to hear the boys' experience was so positive and rewarding, and that they had just as much fun as we did! If you are a student or teacher who is interested in joining us for a lab outreach day, please get in contact with Ian (ian.harrison@ucl.ac.uk).