On the 20^th February, five members of the School of Chemical Engineering (Ikhlaas Kasli (MIBTP 2013 cohort), Alfred Fernández-Castané, Nurul Asma Hasliza Zulkifly, Charles Moore-Kelly and Stephan Joseph) undertook a day of public engagement at the Thinktank Science Museum in Birmingham.

The exhibition, called ‘Clever Microbes’, sought to understand the public perception of the role microbes play in everyday life. It also generated awareness about how important these microbes are in society, from being used in our food to the production of therapeutics.

Members of the public got involved in experiments growing bakers yeast and capturing the evolved carbon dioxide as the yeast grew and respired, the same process which occurs in bread making. This was then related to the work researched in Chemical Engineering (and also taking place in industry), where these principles are being applied to produce medicines.

The public also saw how these medicines are purified, by running an experiment using thin layer chromatography. They separated out the different coloured dyes from M&Ms using chromatography paper and water.

Finally, there was a microscope, which allowed visitors to see microbes and understand how small they really are.

The exhibit appeared to be enjoyed by the volunteers and museum-visitors alike, with both sets of people engaging in discussion and learning from the interaction.