Institutes provide valuable experience for students

July 2009

Schoolchildren from across Norfolk have been gaining valuable work experience at the Norwich BioScience Institutes, giving them an idea of what it is like to work at a leading science campus. The 14 and 15 year-olds have been working in a variety of different laboratory environments, looking at things such as analysing genome sequences, extracting DNA from bacteria, and crystallising proteins.

The students were also given the chance to look around the University of East Anglia, to get a flavour of what studying science after leaving school would be like.

A new trial scheme gave the students the chance to spend a few days in each of several different laboratories, introducing them to the breadth of research areas at the Norwich BioScience Institutes. Fiona Corke, who came up with the idea of rotating work experience students amongst labs, said “In the past we have occasionally had work experience students in the lab, but it can be difficult to keep them occupied with tasks which they can safely perform for two weeks, whilst not interfering with the ongoing science.”

“It has proved a rewarding experience for the students and the scientists. They are keenly interested in what they are shown and have been able to extract plant DNA, help with glasshouse work, learn about how GM plants are generated and try their hand at flower dissection under the microscope. I found they were keen to link what they saw with their school science curriculum.”

Lynda Turner has been showing students how to extract DNA from peas. “I offered to host a student partly because I have a daughter in year ten and realise how hard it can be to get placements for work experience,” she said.

Emma Sherwood is a post-graduate student, working in the Molecular Microbiology Department at the John Innes Centre. “I wanted to host a student because I know that I would have liked the opportunity to do work experience in a science lab when I was at school” she said.

Mark Philo from the Institute of Food Research showed his students how mass spectrometry works, and they used this technique to measure the different amounts of caffeine in tea, coffee and energy drinks. Yeast genetics, atomic force microscopy and computational biology were also on the menu for the students getting work experience at the IFR.

The JIC’s Sarah Tolland, with Dave Hart at the IFR, coordinated the work experience scheme. “We have been delighted with the positive response to the scheme. We are keen to encourage students to study science, but we understand that it can be difficult to see how what you learn in science lessons can be translated into a career.” Sarah said.

“We hope that in their time here the students have learnt how studying science at school and university can lead to groundbreaking discoveries, and that this is all happening on their doorsteps. I would like to thank all the scientists involved for taking the time to give the students this fantastic opportunity.”

Following the success of the visits this year, Sarah will be writing to schools to invite them to submit candidates for work experience visits next year, and is also looking for more scientists to volunteer to host students to expand the scheme further.