Local Brownies Unit Community Visit

  • Weise, N. (Co-Organiser)
  • Hazel Girvan (Co-Organiser)

    Activity: Participating in or organising event(s)Organising a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etcResearch

    Description

    On 13th May 2019, Dr. Hazel Girvan, a research associate at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology was invited to engage with a local Brownie unit. The Brownies are a community group that caters for girls aged 7-10 with units across the UK. Hazel used experiments such as extracting DNA from strawberries to introduce the concept that DNA is in all living things. She then helped the girls make their very own piece of circular DNA out of beads and pipe cleaners, helping them to understand the structure of DNA and how it can be transferred between different organisms in the laboratory. The final activity was the use of a haeme-containing enzyme (similar to those Hazel uses in her own research) to cause a colour change reaction, thus demonstrating how researchers can detect the activity of different enzymes experimentally.
    Period13 May 2019
    Event typeOther
    Degree of RecognitionLocal

    Keywords

    • Outreach
    • Science Communication
    • Community Engagement
    • Public Engagement

    Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

    • Biotechnology
    • Manchester Institute of Biotechnology