On September 23, the SRUK Scottish constituency participated in the Bang Goes the Borders Festival with the public engagement activity The Journey of the DNA.
Some of our members – Natalia Trrea, Alba Abad, Susana de Lucas and Mario Gonzalez – used some printouts and a felt model to explain how DNA gets packed into chromosomes inside the cells and why this process is important for cell division.
Among the activities carried out in the workshop:
- After showing the felt model of DNA packing, they employed headphones and pompons/pipecleaners to show the children how DNA packing works.
- A mitosis puzzle was used to explain why DNA packing is important for cell division.
- Finally, children took part in a game in which they had to separate packed and unpacked DNA from the mother cell.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust Centre for cell biology.
