28 January 2025
Inspiring Science trip to Sanger Institute
A trip to a world-leading genomics research centre proved an inspiring experience for a group of our pupils.
A mixture of Y13 biologists and Y8 and Y9 academic scholars recently visited the Sanger Institute in Cambridge.
The students discovered how work at the facility is changing lives, from eradicating malaria to generating vaccines for cancer.
They also learned about machines that rapidly sequence the genome of a brain tumour to inform doctors how to best treat it during surgery.
Ryde School teacher Dr Marie Pointer said:
“The trip demonstrated how our Biology department has the capability to collaborate with world leading geneticists.
“The students had the chance to interview the scientists to learn about their career progression and to gain advice on a career in the industry.
“We are very thankful to the staff of the Sanger Institute for all of the time and effort they put into making our day so interesting.”
Samples generated from our Molecular Biology Day at school were left with the scientists to sequence and identify the invertebrates we discovered in our school grounds.
The information will be helping the Tree of Life project, which aims to sequence the genome of every organism on Earth.
The group also made DNA sequence bracelets, where each bead represented a base pair of DNA within the genetic code of a specific organism, including a flesh eating bacteria, a butterfly and a human.