For another year, IDIBAPS is taking its laboratories out onto the street and is organizing practical workshops to show school-leaving and higher-education students some examples of the research it conducts. This year, the workshops are centered around SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.
The activities will be carried out in the gardens inside the Beatriu de Pinós block (c. Rosselló 149-153, Barcelona), the inner courtyard behind the Esther Koplowitz Center, the IDIBAPS headquarters. The nearly 250 students from 10 different Catalan education centers who will take part, will also visit the center’s biobank, the scientific platform that takes in and processes biological samples for research.
Generació Ciència receives support from Barcelona City Council and from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). In 2018 and 2019, IDIBAPS organized the first and second editions of the activity.
Workshops
How does PCR work? The students simulate the different stages of DNA amplification and carry out electrophoresis to view the results. They also learn about the difference between PCR and other methods used to diagnose COVID-19. The goal of the workshop is to familiarize the students with the basics of this common and essential technique in biomedical research, which has been key to monitoring and managing the pandemic.
Escape room: Emergency in the COVIDBANK: The students become scientists, who compete to process a blood sample and find out which patient it belongs to. To do this, they must overcome obstacles by solving problems related to the virus. The goal of the workshop is to teach the students how the COVIDBANK works (the bank of samples from patients with COVID-19) and in which studies on SARS-CoV-2 it is involved.
