Inspiring the next generation of researchers: College students in Winchester present their own scientific findings
School and college students, who have been taking part in a unique initiative to carry out genuine academic research projects with the University of Southampton and other leading universities, will come together in their own ‘scientific conference’ to present their work and share best practice.
Supported by a Wellcome Trust Society Award, the scheme enables the teenagers to take part in research projects in their own laboratories under the guidance of skilled university researchers.
Students at Peter Symonds College in Winchester have taken part in the project. Professor Lindy Holden-Dye and other researchers from Southampton's Centre for Biological Studies identified experimental approaches that could readily be transferred to the classroom setting and assembled a portfolio of protocols encompassing invertebrate models such as the nematode worm and the fruit fly, retinal microscopy and a computer-based visual perception study. Students at the sixth form selected from these protocols to study topics including diabetes, alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease and the evolution of the eye. The Southampton project, named Ex-Site, was launched in June 2012.
Schools and universities in Sheffield, Bristol, Canterbury and London have also been involved in the scheme. They will all present their work at the inaugural Authentic Biology Research Symposium on 17 December.
Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust, says: "In the research world, scientific conferences provide the platform for scientists working in different places to present and share their findings. Based on this concept, the inaugural Authentic Biology Research Symposium will give students the opportunity to present their work, as young researchers, learn new skills and experience a formal scientific meeting environment."
Related Staff Member
Professor Lindy Holden-Dye BSc, MSc, PhD, FRSB, FBPhS
Professor Lindy Holden-Dye holds a personal Chair in Neuroscience within Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton. Her interests focus on fundamental processes of neuronal communication and she has established research expertise in invertebrate preparations. Through this interest she has contributed to research relevant to a number of important areas of neuroscience that inform understanding of mental health. Her expertise in invertebrate neuroscience, and in particular nematode neural systems and the model genetic organism Caenorhabditis elegans positions her well to participate in drug discovery and mode of action programmes for novel antiparasitics. For the last two decades she has collaborated with industry to improve prospects for parasitic nematode control. Her research group identified the molecular target for the resistance breaking anthelmintic emodepside showing it acts through a calcium-activated K+ channel SLO-1 to bring about neuromuscular paralysis in nematode worms. This discovery has paved the way for the pursuit of new approaches to the treatment of human filarial disease. The experimental approaches deployed in her research group encompass genetics through to whole animal physiology and incorporate novel methods for tracking animal behaviour and signal processing.
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