L’Oreal Young Scientist Centre – The Royal Institution

Mrs Jermutus recently took Year 9 and 10 pupils to the L’Oreal Young Scientist Centre where they took part in a hands on workshop in the laboratory as clinical bacteriologists. The L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre (LYSC) is an imaginative laboratory space for young people and their teachers to experiment and explore science and technology outside the classroom.

The pupils used restriction enzyme digests and gel electrophoresis to analyse bacterial DNA and additional activities were included to reinforce learning about DNA, restriction enzymes and evolution. At the end of the workshop pupils looked at the DNA evidence, decided what advice to give their colleagues at the scene of the outbreak and whether their outbreak samples needed further investigation.