‘Pathology goes back to school’
As part of National Pathology week 2009, the Wales Cancer Bank took a pathology roadshow to the year 11 pupils of Howell’s School, Llandaff in Cardiff to demystify the discipline of pathology and encourage the students to consider science, medicine and especially pathology, as future career options. The students had the opportunity to meet, listen and talk to a pathologist, Dr Meleri Morgan from Llandough hospital, hear about the role of the Biomedical scientist and discover, from Professor Geraldine Thomas from Imperial College, a little of what molecular pathology research was doing to help inform treatment pathways in breast cancer. The girls had a chance to play detective and, using microscopes and the information given by Dr Morgan, matched three different liver slides to the correct medical history and diagnosis. Most fun (and noise) came from the laboratory where the students were extracting DNA from kiwi fruit. All students seemed to enjoy mashing the fruit and all were successful in extracting and hooking out some DNA.
At the end of the school day a debate on organ donation was also arranged for the College (year 12 and 13) students. Twenty two students participated and gave some very insightful and interesting arguments when tackling the two scenarios given for discussion. The topics of; whether a teenager has the right to refuse a life prolonging transplant, and which of two candidates for an organ transplant should receive it, provided a thought provoking debate that challenged the students to think more deeply about the issues and decisions taken during transplantation.
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‘Identifying the liver diseases was fun’
Year 11 student |
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Mrs Churchman, Head of Science, commented, ‘Thank you very much for a brilliant day; the students have said how much they enjoyed it and also how useful the debate was for university interviews - so it was worth all the hard work’. The following day Miss Jenkins, Head of Biology added, ‘The students I've seen so far this morning have been inspired!!! They thought the sessions were fun and it was nice to have some 'real' scientists in just at a time when they're choosing their A level options’.
The Wales Cancer Bank would like to thank the Royal College of Pathologists for the support and promotional items it supplied for the students, the microscopy division of Carl Zeiss Ltd for supplying microscopes, Howell’s school science department and staff and all the students who participated and helped make the day a success. |
‘I loved extracting the DNA from the kiwi’
Year 11 student |
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‘I enjoyed the breast cancer talk and hearing about different methods
of treatment being developed’ Year 11 student |
‘I really enjoyed the Disease Detectives section and learnt a lot about medicine in general.
It was really interesting!’ Year 11 student |
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