The week will involve guided research to produce, purify and characterise proteins of biological and clinical significance, providing key practical and technical skills in the biological sciences. This training opportunity aims to provide a weeklong experience of laboratory research, in which Year 12 students will go through the complete workflow of analysing a gene and isolating it as its encoded protein. This will include key molecular biology skills, cloning and recombinant protein production and purification.
We will provide students with a first-hand experience of working in a laboratory. In addition, we will hold short seminars from some of our world-leading researchers to support experimental studies with sound scientific theory. There will also be sessions on presenting scientific data, the university admissions process and preparing personal statements from our admissions experts.
During the week we will hold an agar art competition. We use cultures of microorganisms (bacteria which make fluorescent coloured protein) to essentially paint on a growth medium in a petri dish, and this is known as microbial art. Agar plates (medium provides nutrients required for bacterial growth and solidified with agar) are provided as the ‘canvas’ and different strains of bacteria (coloured red, yellow and green) are used as the ‘paint’. The bacteria are streaked onto the plate to make a picture.
The event will close with a social event in an informal symposium to which the students present their work in the form of a scientific poster to friends and family (support and guidance will be provided in producing this.) We invite a maximum of 2 parents or other guests to attend the social event to see the work completed and to visit the work environment.
The Biosciences Work Experience Week will be taking place from Monday the 1st of August to Friday the 5th of August and is free to attend. This project is suitable for Year 12 or Level 3 Year 1 students who are studying A level Biology or an equivalent Level 3 Qualification (e.g. BTEC in Applied Science).
If you are interested in attending, follow the below link to view, fill out and submit your application form. The application deadline is midnight on Friday the 20th of May.
Please keep in mind that that will you need to be able to commit to attending the work experience week in its entirety – in other words, five full days on the dates listed above.
Priority will be given to students who meet our outreach and widening participation criteria, and those selected to attend the work experience week will be notified by the end of May.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to natsoutreach@kent.ac.uk