Southampton team head to Great British Bioscience Festival
A team of researchers from Southampton University will be heading to east London to bring you the best of British Bioscience. The Great British Bioscience Festival is the culmination of a yearlong tour, enabling visitors to explore the fascinating world of biology through interactive science exhibits from real scientists.
Professor Oreffo and his team will be showcasing their exhibit ‘Scaffolds and cells’ at the festival between 14 – 16 November in Museum Gardens, Bethnal Green, London.
The science behind the exhibit: Medical advances have led to a welcome increase in life expectancy but with this comes problems associated with tissue loss and a need for replacement tissues.
We are using stem cells isolated from adult tissues such as the bone marrow, and engineered materials as scaffolds, to develop pieces of bone and cartilage tissue in the lab. We are also interested in finding ways of coaxing the body to regenerate itself with drugs and chemicals and to harness the repair capacity of our bodies. Our ultimate aim is to deliver stem cells together with the right scaffolds and factors to generate and repair damaged or diseased tissue for patient use.
“On 14-16 November, our exhibit will be to be showcased at BBSRC’s Great British Bioscience Festival. Visitors will be able to play stem cell cascade pinball, take a journey through bone and skin, engineer their own cartilage implant (made by casting 'stem cells' in a moulded gel), get hands-on with biomaterial prostheses (hip implants, artificial joints) and see a range of 3D printed bone and cartilage constructs, interactive computer displays and large (dual 47" monitor) 3D images (with glasses)” comments Professor Oreffo.
This free festival is suitable for all the family, with over 20 exciting and interactive displays on offer.
Professor Jackie Hunter, BBSRC Chief Executive: “The Great British Bioscience Festival will be a unique chance for BBSRC and our scientists to bring awe-inspiring bioscience research to east London. A variety of entertaining and engaging exhibitions will be on offer, highlighting the best of BBSRC-sponsored world-leading bioscience. “
For more information on all the exhibits heading to the Great British Bioscience Festival visit: www.bbsrc.ac.uk/gbbioscifest.
The Great British Bioscience festival is brought to you by BBSRC in partnership with LND Science Festival.
Keep up to date with the latest festival news on Twitter using the hashtags #GBbioscifest and #LSF14.