School pupils see life in the lab

PA 347/10 Most A-level students have to rely on textbooks and theory to learn about sophisticated molecular biology laboratory techniques. But one group of enthusiastic students will be given the chance to put their knowledge into practice by trying their hand at tricky experiments including gel electrophoresis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) when they visit The University of Nottingham later this month. Around 30 second-year A-level students from Arnold Hill School in Nottinghamshire will spend their school day at the University on Friday December 10 with scientists and researchers to see what life in a lab is really like. They will hear how the techniques are being used in world-leading research at the University before working alongside experts in the genetics of muscular dystrophy and brain tumours in a two and a half hour practical lab session in the School of Biology. In the afternoon, the students will move to the University's Medical School at the Queen's Medical Centre to take a tour of specialist laboratory facilities and hear a talk by lecturer Dr Matt Loose. The day has been planned as part of the University's Science Outreach Project, which aims to promote science as a potential higher education and career choice to young people, while helping young researchers to develop a new set of transferable skills. Sarah Pierce, Science Outreach Project coordinator in the School of Biology, said: "Polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis are genetic molecular biology techniques that are on the second-year A-level biology curriculum.