Overview

The European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS) invites Maltese and European secondary school science teachers to apply for the ELLS LearningLAB “Genes, Research and Disease: Discovering Genomics for the Classroom”, taking place in Malta between 12 and 14 September 2018. The course which is free of charge has a limited number of places: 24 (15 for Maltese, 9 for European teachers). The course language is English. The course is organised by EMBL-ELLS in collaboration with the Ministry for Education and Employment of Malta, the Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, and the Esplora Interactive Science Centre and will be hosted in Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta.

The 2.5-day professional training course for Maltese and European secondary school science teachers will consist of a mix of seminars by scientists from EMBL and the University of Malta, lab experiments, presentation of teaching resources and visits to the Esplora Interactive Science Centre and the research facilities of the Malta Life Sciences Park. The course will focus on cutting-edge topics in genomics such as the latest developments in genetic engineering and sequencing technologies and its role in understanding health and disease. The practical part of the course trains teachers in the use of basic molecular biology techniques such as polymerase chain reaction, restriction digest and gel electrophoresis and illustrates how these techniques can be integrated into school lessons.

The course will:

• Introduce you to current topics in genomic sciences including genome engineering and genome sequencing and its role in understanding health and disease
• Provide hands-on training in basic molecular biology techniques
• Update your knowledge on current biological research and get you in touch with research scientists
• Illustrate a range of classroom activities and experiments, and equip you to use the presented resources to support your teaching of biology
• Include guided visits to the Esplora Interactive Science Centre and the research facilities of the Malta Life Sciences Park
• Provide a platform to network and share your experiences with colleagues from Malta and Europe

The training course is organised by the European Learning Laboratory of EMBL (EMBL-ELLS) in collaboration with the Ministry for Education and Employment of Malta, the Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, and the Esplora Interactive Science Centre.

Location/Travel

Course location: the course will take place at the Mater Dei Hospital, Msida, Malta.

Travel to Malta: Malta has an international airport. Information about flights, airlines and how to get to/from the airport can be accessed via the Airport website.

Travel on Malta: information about public transport in Malta and a journey planner can be found on the Malta Public Transport website.

Travel to Mater Dei Hospital

There are buses that leave from different locations around Malta to Mater Dei Hospital. The University of Malta is next to the Mater Dei Hospital, so you caan also take a bus to University of Malta. The closest bus stop is “Mater Dei 2”, however, the “Mater Dei main entrance” bus stop and the “University 2” bus stop are close by too. The easiest route to reach the training facilities is to walk around the outside of Mater Dei hospital and enter the building from the side entrance as indicated on this map.

Accommodation

Participants who do not reside in Malta will be provided with single-room accommodation free of charge for 2 nights (12^th to 14^th September, i.e. Wednesday to Friday). If you require accommodation, please indicate this in the application form. Please note that we cannot book accommodation for you if you have not indicated this when you apply.

If you require accommodation for additional nights, please arrange this directly with the hotel at your own cost.

Hotel contact details:
Plaza Hotels
248 Tower Road, Sliema, SLM 1600 Malta
Tel: +356 2134 1295
E-mail: info@plazahotelsmalta.com
Website: http://www.plazahotelsmalta.com

Application

To apply, please fill in the following application form: Application Form

Please ensure that you have read all course information and are confident that you can attend if your application is successful. Application deadline: Monday, 21^st May 2018.
 Following your course application, you will receive an email between 22^nd and 30^th May 2018 notifying you whether your application has been successful. If successful, you will then be asked to confirm your attendance by completing our registration process within a couple of days, so please ensure you will have access to email between these dates. Maximum number of participants: 24; minimum number of participants: 14.

Attendance and Cancellations

As we anticipate the ELLS LearningLAB to be very popular, we ask participants to only apply if they are certain that they can attend for the whole duration of the course. In case you need to cancel your attendance after having confirmed your participation, please notify us as soon as possible by  email, so we can give your place to somebody on our waiting list.

Please note that cancellations and non-attendance might jeopardise the viability of the course for other participants, and we may charge a cancellation fee.

Course programme

The preliminary programme may be downloaded here: