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LearningLAB |
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EMBL Monterotondo, 6-8 December 2004 |
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Stem cells: promises and challenges
Programme
Photos
Behind the scenes
In May 2004, Silke Schumacher and Alexandra Manaia met with the EMBL Monterotondo scientists to discuss the possibility of organising a LearningLAB there for Italian high school science teachers.
Everyone agreed that the theme of the course should reflect the research topics at Monterotondo. Stem cells and stem cell technology applications came up as an interesting and unifying topic that presented evident links to the school curriculum.
An organisation committee formed by EMBL Group leaders Cornelius Gross, Liliana Minichiello, Walter Witke and PhD students Daniela Ruffell and Rossana De Lorenzi was assigned to mobilise the Monterotondo scientific community and to liaise with ELLS about planning the various aspects of the course.
The course programme was designed in collaboration between the Monterotondo organisation committee and ELLS. Giovanni Frazetto, who completed his PhD at EMBL Heidelberg and is currently a Society-in-Science Branco Weiss Fellow conducting research in Cornelius Gross' lab, was assigned with the organisation of an activity on the bioethical implications of stem cell technologies.
The course
The course was finally entitled "Stems cells: promises and challenges" and took place at EMBL Monterotondo on 6-8 December 2004. The 12 participant teachers came from all over Italy.
The programme included a general introduction to the research areas at EMBL Monterotondo and an overview of the course by Cornelius Gross. The Head of the Outstation, Nadia Rosenthal, gave an outstanding presentation on stem cells and their applications, followed by a very dynamic question-break where the participants had the chance to ask Nadia about everything they wanted to know about stem cells and had never had the chance to ask.
Group Leader Walter Witke had selected very interesting protocols on how to produce embryoid bodies and on how to turn stem cells into differentiated cell types, which were adapted by Rossana De Lorenzi and Daniela Ruffell to be conducted by the teachers. Daniela, Rossana, and colleagues, Arianna Nenci and Carla Sciaretta, conducted the exciting experimental activities with the teachers.
The teachers attended a very informative talk on transgenics by Jose Gonzalez. They also had the opportunity to visit the Transgenic Facility to observe blastocyst injection procedures.
Alexandra introduced the participants to classroom activities produced by the National Centre for Biotechnology Education [NCBE]. The teachers performed the "Lambda DNA protocol": they digested lambda phage DNA with different restriction enzymes, ran the resulting DNA fragments in an agarose gel and made a restriction map.
The teachers also had fun playing the Stem cell game. A board-based game devised by ELLS that can be used to introduce stem cell related topics to students.
Finally, the teachers attended an excellent talk by EMBL Alumno and Society-in-Science Branco Weiss Fellow Giuseppe Testa on legal and ethical issues arising from cloning and stem cell technology. They then played a role-play game about ethical and societal implications of medically assisted reproduction devised by Giovanno Frazetto.
The LearningLAB was a great success thanks to the excellent contributions from the EMBL Monterotondo scientists! |
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