Programme
Photos

The teachers workshop "From DNA to Protein" was the result of a series of contacts between the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology [IBMC], the Faculty of Science from the University of Porto [FCUP] and the ELLS/EMBL, which started in October 2003.

The course, held in the northern industrial city of Porto, included morning lectures by several scientists from both IBMC and FCUP, followed by afternoon laboratory sessions.

The lectures covered several topics from basic molecular biology to biotechnology, molecular pathology and bioethics. Several lecture themes were strongly embedded in a Portuguese socio-environmental context, in particular, "Structure and function of protein in health and in disease" which focused on Familial Amyloidosis [ATTR], a genetic degenerative disease prevalent in the north of Portugal.

After lunch, the 24 participants from the north of Portugal, but also from the Azores islands, the Algarve and the Alentejo, split into 4 groups to perform hands-on activities, which focused on:

Group1: Bacterial transformation, protein purification and protein chromatography

Group 2: Plant tissue culture and detection of peroxidase activity in plant tissue

Group 3: Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model to study genetics

Group 4: [led by ELLS]: Gene expression analysis

		small scale: in situ hybridization [chick embryos] [Alexandra Manaia, ELLS Science Education Officer]
		large scale expression: the Virtual DNA Microarray [Anastasios Koutsos, EMBL PhD student; Julia Willingale-Theune, ELLS Science Education Officer]

Dr. Andrew Moore, EMBO Science & Society Programme Manager, gave an overview of the "Continuing education for European Science teachers [CEEBT]" project followed by a very interesting lecture entitled "From GMOs to Nanotechnology and beyond – learning from the past, looking to the future".

Before the end of the course, each Group presented their experimental activities and results to the other participants. This was an excellent opportunity to check if the concepts had been fully integrated, to clarify protocol details, etc. The teachers returned to their schools with plenty of new ideas and classroom materials. But perhaps most importantly, they had established links to a network of scientists who are keen to work together with them to improve science education!

The success of workshop was very much due to the wonderful work of the National organisers: Julio Borlido Santos from IBMC and Prof. Susana Pereira, Prof. Jose Pissara and Jorge Lima from the FCUP.

The workshop has been so well received that the Ministry of Science has provided funding to run a re-edition of the course in 2005.

Layout by: Stefanie Wollenberg