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Royal Society Summer Exhibition
From a beach tent, washing line and two Nerf guns, to seven days at one of the biggest science exhibitions in the country – how
RVC academics took their passion for science to the public in a big way!
During Halloween of 2017, members of Sharon Kendall’s research team – Ashley Otter, Amanda Gibson and Valwynne Faulkner created a fun game for visitors to play at a Royal Institution Family Fun Day. It comprised of several ‘genes’ on
a washing line hung within a beach tent, which could be ‘knocked out’ by Nerf guns to create a mutant strain of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which the team study in the lab.
Soon afterwards the team responded to a call from the RVC's Outreach department to design a stall at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition, an incredible week- long public engagement event. Everyone involved in writing the proposal was thrilled to have it accepted, and got to work on the new design for the ‘knock out’ game.
Over nine months the researchers and the Outreach team gathered support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Royal Society, to fund some new structures
and props for this stall, to take it from the concept to a fully formed ‘fairground-style’ game. Brand new banners were designed, a six foot foam tunnel shooting range was constructed, t-shirts were printed and volunteers were signed up.
42 RVC staff and students got involved in the event, which included some public engagement training as tuberculosis (Tb) can be a difficult topic to discuss, and the science behind the game was complex.
The team chose to highlight the current problem of Tb; it is the number one cause of death by a single infectious agent worldwide, and there are around 1.6 million deaths per year due to it. Also, London is a hotspot within Europe with around 2,000 cases per year.
During the exhibition, which we attended
in July this year, we had around six staff hosting the stall each day, with some talking through the gene knockout game and the new strains created, others helping out with the microscope and plastinated specimens. The research team were
on hand with Masters student Kirstie Lucas, as well as Dr Ben Swift and his postdoctoral student Helen Jones; all providing excellent insights into the science behind gene knockouts, as well as the pathology and prevention of Tb.
Dr Ben Swift co-created a bovine Tb test, which won the Royal Dairy Innovation Award earlier this year. This test, which enables the rapid identification of cattle infected with Mycobateria was first developed by Dr Swift as part of his
PhD studies. Since joining the RVC, he has continued to evolve the technology working alongside colleagues at the University of Nottingham. Dr Swift and co-project lead Dr Cath Rees, were presented with the award by HRH the Princess Royal at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The Royal Dairy Innovation Award recognises research and development in the field of dairy farming and is awarded for
the most practical, relevant product or service which is, or likely to be the most significant innovation for the future.
At the exhibition, we had the great opportunity to meet people who knew lots
about Tb (like the chief scientific officer for DEFRA!), people who knew little about the disease, as well as students who are hoping to progress onto STEM careers. We were pleased to showcase the diverse people within the research team and the RVC in general, and got lots of positive comments on our t-shirt designs!
Dr Sharon Kendall said about the event: “It was a great experience for both me and my team. I think public engagement is an important aspect of being a scientist, we are after all a publically funded
group. Talking about Tb with interested school children in the afternoon and with politicians in the evening hit home for me the impact that this kind of activity can really have."
RESEARCH NEWS
Laminitis – new insights
A study led by an RVC doctoral researcher, Danica Pollard, has found that one in ten horses or ponies may develop at least one laminitis episode each year, making it as common as colic.
Read more about it in the
Spring 2019 edition of Clinical Connections, available at: www.rvc.ac.uk/clinical-connections
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