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Public Science Evenings

A series of Public Science evenings took place this term, which showcased research in the School of Life Sciences (SLS) and offered the public an opportunity to engage with our academics, students and campus. The informal 2-hour sessions are designed to highlight the importance of our work, how we benefit the local community, and inform our alumni of our national and international impact. We have held three events which have been well received and are planning further events for the new year including 'Food Security, keeping plant pathogens at bay' and 'The Microbiome'.

A Healthy Brain for a Healthy Life - October 2016

Members of the public were given the chance to find out about the cutting-edge neuroscience research taking place at Warwick with demonstrations of science in action and tours of our laboratories. Visitors had the opportunity to find out how we can keep our brains in shape as we get older and how to put things right when the brain goes wrong. There was also a demonstration of how our sense of self can be tricked, and a brain Q&A session.

Interesting talks were given by Professor Nicholas Dale, Professor Bruno Frenguelli and Dr Robert Huckstepp about their research.

Brains

Getting to Grips with Antibiotic Resistance

Dr David Roper, Professor Christopher Dowson and Professor Elizabeth Wellington gave a series of talks on issues such as levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria in our rivers and the search for new antibiotics.

Demonstrations on key areas of research into antibiotics here in the School of Life Sciences including using 'electronic noses' to detect infection (showcased by members of Engineering as a part of the INTEGRATE AMR team), how we can use medieval medicine to cure modern infections, how we can use bacterial viruses called Bacteriophage to deal with antibiotic resistance and how/why Tuberculosis (TB) is still killing people today were also presented.

Aerial AMR

The Fly Room

Professor Kevin Moffat led a SLS sponsored screening of the critically acclaimed arthouse film ‘The Fly Room’, which centres around the famous fly room at the University of Columbia. The film mixes science and arts to engage the audience with the scientific story of genetics and also the social story about the relationship between a father and daughter. After the film showing a Q&A with the director Alexis Gambis was held. There was also a poster discussion about current Drosophila research from various West Midlands genetics researchers with representatives from Warwick, Birmingham and Aston universities.

Fly Room