SBI & Breakthrough open-day
As part of the Systems Biology Ireland team, we recently hosted an open-day style public event alongside POI charity partners Breakthrough Cancer Research. The purpose of this event was to give members of the public a behind the scenes look at the work undertaken in a modern research facility.
The centrepiece of the evening was a series of guided lab tours, where attendees were brought on "The Journey of a Sample", following the different stages of analysis that allows researchers to build up a comprehensive digital portrait of a patient's samples. Practical demonstrations and presentations from SBI researchers took attendees on this journey, from initial isolation and testing in the cell culture and benchwork stations, to highly complex mass-spectrometry and bioinformatic analysis.
Left: "Journey of a Sample" tour-map. Right: UCD researchers preparing for a filmed lab-tour
Whilst waiting for their tour slot, attendees had a chance to meet researchers from the SBI and UCD Conway centres in a public poster session, where research results were presented in an accessible and open manner. SBI's engagement programme Let's Chat Medicine was also on display, showing educational content created by a group of Transition Year students in collaboration with teams of artists.
Left: Dr. Kathleen Mitchelson (POI postdoctoral resarcher) and Orla Dolan (Breakthrough CEO) at the poster session. Right: Display of educational content from the Let's Chat Medicine programme, coordinated by SBI.
Left: Event organisation team. Right: Breakthrough information stand
Thanks again to everyone in Breakthrough who helped to organise this wonderful event as well as all UCD researchers who assisted with the lab tours and poster displays, and most importantly of all, the many members of the public who came along on the evening.
