Soapboxing Science in the Sun

Posted on 23 June, 2017 by Kevin

On a bright, sunny day in Newcastle, Soapbox Science took place on 17th June for the third time in Newcastle’s Monument, supported by the Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences Engagement Team, and by the organising team from the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences.

During the event, Grey Street was converted into an area for lively discussion of scientific subjects between researchers and the general public. Inspired by Hyde Park Corner‘s political debates, our scientists stood on soapboxes wearing lab coats and communicated their work to the passing crowds. There were no microphones, PowerPoint presentations, or posters, only materials from everyday life to support the scientific talks.

Two researchers from the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Professor Janet Quinn and postgraduate student Clare Willis, had been selected for a speaker’s role in the event, along with a number of other researchers in diverse scientific fields. Prof. Janet Quinn and her topic “Killer Fungus” grabbed the attention of many younger onlookers by creating Candida, Schizosaccharomyces and other representatives of the fungal Kingdom from colourful Play-Doh in Petri dishes. Clare Willis demonstrated the possibility for survival of a living organism for thousands of years as part of her topic: “Spores: the ultimate survivors”. An air balloon represented the bacterial cell as a target for antibiotics, easily destroyed by a pin, with an unbreakable bacterial spore shown as a much more resilient tennis ball.

A number of volunteers from the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences actively participated in the event. Here, we’ve compiled comments from a few of those who contributed to making the day a success.

Yana performing her duties as part of the evaluation team, gathering data from Soapbox visitors

Yana Wade, researcher in the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology and Soapbox Science volunteer:

“During my stay at Newcastle University, the secondment host for my Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, I had the fantastic opportunity to be involved in the Soapbox Science festival both as a public engagement volunteer and as part of the evaluation team. As an active researcher I understand the importance of communicating with the public to highlight exactly what scientists do behind the doors of the laboratory, and how they tackle issues that are having a major impact in our daily lives.

The challenges given to the speaker’s at this event were: as an outstanding scientist performing cutting edge research, would it be possible to explain the complex scientific topics to a non-expert audience?Would it be realistic to grab the attention of the general public out shopping on a busy central street who are normally put-off by the often challenging ideas presented by science? Could the scientists explain their research that could capture the imagination of primary school children?

Nevertheless, the presenters at Soapbox Science successfully achieved these goals. Instead of a purely academic presentation of their work, they shared their passion about science by demonstrating how exciting, interesting and important science is in solving immediate and longer term problems faced by society. The event also provided an opportunity for the public to interact directly with scientists in an informal and friendly setting.

The other fascinating aspect of the event was the aim to promote women in science. The female speakers, comprising different academic levels from student to professor, demonstrated their accomplishments in state-of-the-art research, and represented an example of a successful career path for budding scientists in academia. These brilliant girls are addressing the gender-related stereotypes in science.

Our Soapbox speakers were delighted with the public response

By participating in this event as a volunteer, it gave me the means to contribute to bringing science to society in an open and understandable way. I was able to question people who took part in the event and gather feedback that will help evaluate the impact and perception of the topics covered and how they think the subjects could help in shaping society, but also, more generally, to improve the event in the future.

Given my experience, I would like to encourage people to support the Soapbox Science by actively participating in the future.”

Rashmi Bhardwaj-Gosling, PhD student in the Institute for Health & Society, and Soapbox speaker:

Rashmi speaks from her Soapbox

“I had a great afternoon speaking at the event. Speaking to the general public was such a novel and refreshing approach for me in comparison to speaking to my usual audience! Soapbox Science is such a great idea where instead of waiting for the public to come to us, we got out there and took our science to the streets. The audience was very engaging and genuinely interested in finding out about my research work on urinary catheters and what can be done to avoid the catheter related infections. It was brilliantly organised event and weather certainly helped to captivate the crowd. So well done to everyone who took part and in organising the event.”

Clare Willis, researcher in CBCB and Soapbox speaker:

“Soapbox Science was a fantastic event. As a speaker I really enjoyed the challenge of having to explain my research in simple easy-to-understand ways, making it accessible, interesting and exciting to a public audience. I got some great questions and I think my talk really got the public thinking. I feel I’ve made Newcastle a little more knowledgeable about my topic, bacterial spores!”

Clare on her Soapbox, presenting her science to the public

Katherine Jacques and Helen Atkinson, Faculty of Medical Sciences Engagement Team and Soapbox organisers:

“We really enjoyed organising Soapbox Science this year and had a great time on the day. The enthusiasm from the speakers and volunteers to engage with the public was fantastic and it was wonderful to see so many people stopping to listen and ask questions.

We would like to say a big thank you to the speakers, volunteers and our fellow organisers for their contribution and making the day a huge success. We’re already looking forward to another successful Soapbox Science event for next year!”

You can also read a blog post from one of this year’s speakers, Luiza Andrade, on MicrobeBlog from the Society for Applied Microbiology here.

Origins of life in Newcastle

Posted on 2 February, 2017 by Kevin

ICaMB’s Prof Jeff Errington organised and hosted an impromptu symposium on the origins of life at the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology (CBCB) on Wednesday 18^th January 2017. About 80 people attended, hearing 11 talks from a mixture of Newcastle and international speakers, including a number of guests who had travelled over from Japan for the meeting. The program was arranged more or less in “chronological” order, starting with the origins of the solar system 4-6 billion years ago, and ending (still almost 2 billion years in the past) with the emergence of the eukaryotes. The meeting sparked several very lively discussions, perhaps reflecting the difficulty of doing standard hypothetico-deductive experiments on the topic, in the absence of time travel technology! Nevertheless, the day was a great success and is likely to lead to new international collaborations and funding opportunities.

By Jeff Errington

My emerging interest in the subject has two origins. First, through ageing and trying to find a reason for existence before existence disappears! Second, the lab’s work on L-form bacteria (see Box), which has attracted much interest from the origins of life scientific community.

L-form bacteria use a seemingly primitve mechanism of replication.

L-form bacteria use a seemingly primitive mechanism of replication. L-forms are cell wall deficient bacteria, which turn out to replicate by a slightly bizarre, seemingly haphazard mechanism involving membrane blebbing and tubulation. The process provides a model for how primitive life may have proliferated billions of years ago, before the invention of the cell wall.

The latest findings have led to a number of fascinating new scientific contacts, and about a year ago, Prof Shige Maruyama, who heads a major Japanese research institute dedicated to origins of life work called the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), made contact, proposing discussion around possible collaborations. After a series of small meetings in Newcastle and my visit to Tokyo, momentum began to emerge, culminating with the proposal for a major workshop in Newcastle, with half a dozen or so ELSI members planning to attend.

Prof Shige Maruyama, ELSI, Tokyo, Japan

As discussions developed, I identified various experts in Newcastle with complementary expertise and interests in the general area, and the idea for a full blown symposium took shape. There was even time to identify a top class international “guest” speaker, Prof Bill Martin from Dusseldorf, who came over at short notice to give the concluding talk.

This is not the place to go through each talk in detail. However, from my perspective, what I hope people took away from the meeting would have included the following general points.

First, the problem is amazingly multidisciplinary, with important contributions from astrophysicists, geochemists, organic chemists, microbiologists (structure/function, metabolism and physiology) and evolutionary bioinformaticians. Second, we still have a very hazy understanding of many of the early events in the earth’s planetary history, e.g. when did the water arrive and how much? Third, it is clear that microbes were responsible for huge changes in planetary chemistry, particularly oxygenation but also that planetary composition must have reciprocally influenced microbial evolution.

Prof Bill Martin, Dusseldorf, Germany

The day concluded with a very nice dinner at the Jesmond Dene House Hotel, supported by Newcastle University and hosted by Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Nick Wright. I’m sure that the original owner of the house, Lord Armstrong, would have approved of the day (for example, I gather that his company won the contract to build ships for the Japanese Navy 120 or so years ago). I’m also sure that as a Fellow of the Royal Society (elected in 1843) he would have been acquainted with Charles Darwin and perhaps they too had interesting conversations about the origins of life in their own time frame.

Determination is key – Prof Ramakrishnan’s Baddiley Lecture

Posted on 19 May, 2016 by Kevin

By Kevin Waldron.

Last week saw ICaMB host the latest in our series of Baddiley lectures, which commemorates Professor Sir James Baddiley (1918-2008). Baddiley was a distinguished Professor at Newcastle University (1954-81) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (elected 1961) who made numerous important fundamental discoveries in microbiology, not least the discovery of teichoic acids, cell wall components in Gram positive bacteria.

Jeff Errington introduces Venki Ramakrishnan to the ICaMB audience

Baddiley’s work on the fundamental processes of bacteria, including the structure and function of components of the bacterial cell wall, is continued to this day in Newcastle through the work of members of ICaMB’s Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology (CBCB). Although James Baddiley died shortly after the first in ICaMB’s series of Baddiley lectures, we were delighted that the Baddiley family was again represented at this year’s lecture by James’s son, Christopher Baddiley.

This year’s guest speaker was Professor Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, distinguished research leader and Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Nobel laureate and newly-elected President of the Royal Society. With all of the demands on his time that come with this new role as President, the large audience that gathered on Friday afternoon were grateful that Venki was able to find time to visit Newcastle to deliver his lecture. As ever, both the lecture and the surrounding celebration was expertly organised and introduced by CBCB Director, Professor Jeff Errington.

Venki illustrates the structure of the yeast mitochondrial ribosome

Venki’s lecture gave a brief history of his atomic-resolution structural studies of the ribosome, the macromolecular nucleoprotein complex that converts the four-letter genetic code in nucleic acid into the twenty-letter amino acid code in proteins. He presented detailed structural models of eukaryotic ribosomes, derived from X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy data accumulated over 30 years of detailed study in his laboratory.

We asked some of ICaMB’s early career researchers to describe their impression of Venki’s lecture:

“Professor Venki Ramakrishnan was kind enough to deliver this year’s Baddiley lecture. It was an honour to meet Venki, who somehow managed to fit us in between Royal Society committee meetings and a chat with the Science minister! He impressed us all with a phenomenal talk discussing how he solved the structure of the mitochondrial ribosome using cryo electron microscopy. Wow – cryo EM has truly moved beyond blob-ology! One thing that really struck me about Venki is how humble he is; despite being so incredibly successful and lauded, there’s not a trace of ego on the guy; something for us all to aspire to.”

Venki illustrates how the ribosome works

Seamus Holden, University Research Fellow

“It was incredibly cool to hear about Venki’s work first hand. The enormity of his achievement became clear when he showed a single slide with the dozens of conformations of the ribosome’s catalytic cycle and indicated that there were structures available for the majority of them! And what was humbling was that Venki did not seem at all interested in dwelling upon his past successes. Rather, he briskly moved past this slide onto his current work regarding mitochondrial ribosomes which was both cutting-edge but also somewhat raw because of its novelty. I found it inspiring to see a scientist of his stature still so driven to continue discovering and learning.”

Post lecture, Venki holds the gift he received from his hosts at ICaMB

Heath Murray, Royal Society URF

“For me Venki’s journey was an excellent advert for never giving up. Often as researchers (particularly at the start of our careers) we are encouraged to know when to call time on a set of experiments that are bogged down and not yielding answers. Pursuit of the next grant and the speed of some of our competitors unfortunately make it risky to continue to spend years and years believing in the same project that fails to show progress relatively quickly. Yet what an example Venki is, many years and many postdocs focusing on the same problem, persistence and belief in himself and his team has more than paid off. Inspirational.”

Suzanne Madgwick, Wellcome Trust Career Re-entry Fellow

Happy 60th birthday, Jeff!

Posted on 12 May, 2016 by Paula

by Prof Jeff Errington

Daunting 60?

I turned 60 on the 3rd of May. The year leading up to that was traumatic for me because, psychologically, it felt like a turning point in life – a long and enjoyable career behind me but a rapidly foreshortening window ahead! Surprisingly, things suddenly looked up when the birthday actually arrived (last Tuesday) – I didn’t really feel any different!

Jeff welcomes everyone as an audience of friends and colleagues gathered for celebrations

And then I had a really exciting science symposium and lab reunion to look forward to, which took place on Friday (mostly science) and Saturday (mostly fun!).

henrique

So many wanted to come!

davidquote2 We wondered how many of the past members of the lab would be able to make it, given that they were scattered to the four corners of the earth and we had no funds to cover their expenses. To my astonishment and delight, over 20 lab alumni agreed to come, and we were able to fill all of the 16 speaker slots with alumni from outside Newcastle.

Alumni came from far and wide to join the celebrations.

The speakers came from 4 different continents, and though most were high powered talks on bacterial cell biology, other topics extended through yeast and worms to bat wing development!

wilfried

Meriem El Karoui explaining the mathematical model
used in her work on DNA repair

nicolaquote

Nicola explains how her group collects bats for their developmental biology research.

Bat collection methods by Nicola

A day of great science – and warm friendship

Fun trip down memory lane

dennis

I was overwhelmed by the experience: seeing so many old friends again, the fantastic quality and quantity of science, and the showering of gifts and kind words.

jan

“Looking back at the pictures from my time in Newcastle, it seems we were always doing fun stuff together, something really only possible because Jeff is such a great guy!” Jan-Willem

I was of course obliged to attempt some profound words at the closing. What struck me was that I could not work out what it was that I had done which had resulted in such an amazing scientific legacy.

philippe The only thing that I can think of is that if you can once assemble a critical mass of good scientists, which includes a few very good people, the culture or ecology of the lab becomes self sustaining. New people coming into the lab are well trained and inspired by the existing members, and they in turn go on to succeed in their own right. My job mainly becomes one of trying to make sure that the environment and infrastructure of the lab is capable of enabling good scientists to achieve their potential.

adele

heath

We all agreed that it had been a great idea to get everyone back together again and we plan to have another reunion (outside of any special birthday) again in a few years’ time.

Happy birthday, Jeff!

Congratulations, Prof Gilbert, FRS!

Posted on 5 May, 2016 by Paula

by Prof. Harry Gilbert, FRS, FMedSci

I was asked to write a blog about my election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. I start by apologising for my ineptitude compared to the “professional” social media people in the Institute. So, what to say? Well, maybe the process might be of interest.

How do you get elected as an FRS?

ICaMB’s FRS: Prof Jeff Errington and Prof Harry Gilbert

You need to be proposed and seconded by current FRS’s. Jeff tried twice to propose me before I went to the USA and a third time (September 2012) upon my return, at which point I said OK. I had to generate a full CV, list 20 papers and include PDF versions of these articles, and the proposers were required to write a three page narrative on my research.

Every year material is updated. The first year I wondered what feedback I might get but I soon realized that no one says anything to you. I rapidly put the issue to one side and did not give it any thought.

‘Wrong Direction’ – Prof Gilbert forms a karaoke boyband with other eminent scientists at a conference in Japan

Looking back on my research it’s evident that most of my science was done with collaborators who are much smarter than me. So, I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have worked with these people.

The talented people currently working in the Gilbert/Bolam labs

Bernard_quote

Finally, the election

In late March of this year, I received a letter from the Royal Society marked “In strictest confidence“. I assumed it was yet another reference for someone applying for a grant to the Royal Society and I thought “another job to do”. I read the letter several times and the words “you are on the list of candidates submitted to become an FRS” was hard to digest. When it said you needed 2/3 of the votes to be elected, I became dubious about my chances. On speaking to Jeff, he explained that only one person in the last 150 years has failed to become an FRS at this stage. I was thus confident that not even I could screw this up.

Fun celebrations!

However, keeping it secret for a month before the election took place was extremely hard as I don’t do secrets. I did, however, tell Rosie, my wife, who initially shared my excitement of the news. Her enthusiasm waned somewhat as I kept on about it at home for a day or two. At this point, Rosie said “I hope you don’t become too grand” which ceased any talk about the FRS. I am pleased to say that Rosie’s excitement was rekindled when she realised that she will likely get the opportunity to meet Brian Cox (who also became an FRS this year) who she rates as “very dishy, particularly for a scientist”.

How does it feel to be an FRS?

What are my thoughts about being an FRS? Well, shocked but also excited, although I feel a complete fraud.

Prof Gilbert’s speech to his colleagues at ICaMB

I was very pleased that so many people were able to come and celebrate with me on Friday, I would like to thank you all for coming. I also hope that people will think that “if Harry can become an FRS then the bar is not so high”, and that this will result in other people becoming Fellows in the next few years. In 30 years at Newcastle, I have never worked in a place with so many talented people, and it is clear that ICaMB merits more than two Fellows of the Royal Society.

bobquote2

Another Cell-ebration

Posted on 3 September, 2015 by Kevin

Last year we brought you details of the inaugural CBCB Symposium. In July the second CBCB symposium was held, and today we hear from the organisers, Kevin Waldron and Heath Murray, about this latest successful event.

The idea for an annual Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology (CBCB) symposium was originally conceived in 2013, and aimed to showcase both the high quality and the immense breadth of research activity that goes on in this unique Centre. It would also be an excellent opportunity to bring together the CBCB research community based in both the Medical School and in the Baddiley-Clark building to discuss their work and build future collaborations.

It wasn’t long after our 2014 Symposium was over when the organising team (Bernie Shaw, Heath Murray, Kevin Waldron and Jeff Errington) began planning for this year’s second event. Obviously we were delighted with the success of that first meeting, but of course it also applied a little pressure on us as organisers; this year’s event had to achieve a similar level of success. Fortunately, the feedback we had received from the 2014 event included a number of constructive suggestions from the CBCB community about how we might be able to improve the Symposium, and we tried to incorporate as many of these ideas as possible.

One of our postdoctoral researcher speakers, Yoshi Kawai, addresses the Symposium audience on the subject of L-forms

One suggestion was to include a number of more junior speakers in the Symposium Programme as well as PIs, and we are grateful to those postdocs who volunteered to present their work to the CBCB audience. Alexander Egan told us about his research in the Vollmer lab on the proteins that coordinate biosynthesis of the cell envelope during growth and division. Yoshi Kawai of the Errington lab explained how L-forms, bacteria that lack their cell wall, can be produced in the lab and how they propagate in a manner independent from the known bacterial cell division machinery, as well as speculating on their implications for early life forms on Earth. Marcin Dembek of the Salgado lab contrasted the mechanisms that govern sporulation in Clostridium difficile, a pathogen that primarily causes infections via spores, and the model organism Bacillus subtilis. Finally Didier Ndeh described his research in the Gilbert lab on how gut bacteria degrade the most structurally complex dietary polysaccharide known, rhamnogalacturonan II. PI speakers covered further topics relating to antibiotic discovery and their mechanisms of action and synthetic biology.

In addition to our CBCB researchers, we also again invited two high-profile external speakers. The day started with Mark Leake (University of York) who told us about his research using state-of-the-art microscopy for in vivo imaging of single molecules within the bacterial cell. And the Symposium was concluded by John Helmann (Cornell University) on the subject of transcriptional stress responses in one of CBCB researchers’ favourite model organisms, Bacillus subtilis.

Poster prize winner Lauren Drage

Another of the suggestions that we incorporated into the Symposium schedule this year was a poster session, which was accompanied by light refreshments (of course!) immediately after the day’s talks. We had a great turnout, with more than 20 posters on display, and the session generated a lot of lively scientific discussion. Again the Symposium organisers are very grateful to all those members of CBCB who participated in the poster session. We awarded three poster prizes, with congratulations to winner Lauren Drage for her excellent poster describing her research in the Aldridge lab looking for biomarkers for diagnosis of urinary tract infections, and to our two runners-up, Martin Sim (Wipat lab) and Clare Wilson (Errington lab); and of course thanks to our poster judges, Lucy Eland and Yulia Yuzenkova.

Finally, we all got to enjoy an informal barbecue dinner and drinks, where the science discussions could continue into the evening.

Jeff Errington and John Helmann in post-symposium discussions

Planning has already begun for next year’s Symposium, which will be held on the 8^th July 2016, and will feature two more external keynote speakers, Christine Jacobs-Wagner (Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University) and Prof. Tracy Palmer (Molecular Microbiology, University of Dundee). We welcome your feedback too, so if you attended this year’s Symposium and you have any suggestions about how we might improve next year, please let us know.

Volunteering at Soapbox Science

Posted on 16 July, 2015 by Paula

By Hannah Somers, University of Nottingham

Playing close attention to Jasmine’s explanations

I volunteered to take part in Soapbox Science for two reasons; firstly I think public engagement with science is key to moving research forward and applying discoveries to the real world. The more people understand, the more likely they are to accept, and even welcome changes and developments in healthcare and environmentalism. Secondly, as a female PhD student I see the problems women currently face whilst maintaining academic careers and finding their way to being top class researchers. I think that the STEM fields need more female role models and trailblazers who can change the stereotype of scientists from “old male professor”, to “anyone”. Soapbox Science is a great way to show the public that women do exist in scientific communities, and that they are excelling in their fields.
The glorious weather on Saturday, 27th June, helped us engage a lot of people out enjoying the sunshine. Over the course of three hours, many came to investigate Soapbox Science (we even broke a record!) and listen to female scientists talk about the research being carried out all over the country.

What is a “fish detective”? Jessica Duffil Telsnig from Newcastle University explains.

From understanding the physics of everyday things, to the wondrous world of soil and its ecosystems or what is a fish detective visitors were encouraged to take part in demonstrations and ask questions of the experts on their soapboxes. Despite the many other events going on around us, the scientists held their own, standing out to huge numbers of people and encouraging everyone to get involved.

Cait MacPhee, from the University of Edinburgh, inspiring the next generation of female scientists.

One speaker was told by a visitor that “my daughter saw a female scientist for the first time at your event”. This experience will hopefully encourage this girl to pursue any career of her choice, and shows the importance of Soapbox Science events. We need to show the world that women are working hard in STEM and that these subjects can be pursued by anyone, regardless of gender.

It’s all about soil and sustainability!

I had a brilliant time volunteering with the Soapboxers. I was fortunate enough to be assisting Jasmine Black (a Dr once her corrections are complete!), learning about soil composition and the importance of sustainable farming in continual crop growth. As a molecular microbiologist, this work was new to me, but it was great to see Jasmine’s passion for her subject and how she shared that passion with the public.

Libby Gibson from Newcastle University, enthusiastically engaging the crowds with DIY solar cells!

Every speaker gave accessible, exciting talks and left people enthused and informed, completely fulfilling the aim of the day. Personally I got to see some incredible women at work, encouraging the next generation of female STEM researchers – very much outreach in action!

You might wonder why I specifically volunteered to join Soapbox Science in Newcastle. Firstly, it was one of the closest events to me and I really wanted to get involved with the project. Secondly, I did my undergraduate degree at Newcastle University, studying Medical Microbiology with Immunology. It is my favourite city, I think the people are the friendliest in the UK and I am always excited to travel back! The way many of them join in our Soapbox Science event shows that I was right, everyone was really friendly! I’m glad I took part and I’m sure I’ll take part in the future. Hope I’ve inspired you to join in as well!

Standing on the soapbox for Science!

Posted on 15 July, 2015 by Paula

In the second in our series on the recent Soapbox Science event in Newcastle, we have a guest post from Cathleen Thomas, who was a speaker at the event. She tells us about her work at the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and why Soapbox Science is both important AND enjoyable.

By Cathleen Thomas, Northumberland Wildlife Trust

A soapbox, a paddling pool and the passing crowd: recipe for science communication!

On Saturday, 27th June, I stood on a soapbox by Grey’s Monument in the centre of Newcastle to talk about my scientific work to the passing public, and as it turned out, there were a lot of people around that day. We got the best turn out for a Soapbox Science event yet and best of all these were people that were out doing their shopping and wouldn’t necessarily choose to engage with science. This was what drew me to speak at Soapbox Science – the chance to engage with a new audience – because as scientists we spend a lot of time discussing our science with other scientists, but it’s difficult to converse with the wider public. We publish results of our experiments in scientific journals that require an expensive subscription for access and often use very technical language. When science is made available in newspapers or online news sites, it is written by journalists and often has emotive, attention grabbing headlines that may not represent the real science underlying the story. So, here we were, in Newcastle, unedited and unabridged – just us and the public.

I was the only speaker at Soapbox Science who wasn’t from a university, so I wanted to spread the message that science isn’t just done by grey haired old men in lab coats with expensive lab equipment. It can be done by everyone. British people have a long history of collecting species and recording the wildlife they see, so natural history, or citizen science as it now seems to be called, has a long tradition. We need to get new generations to recognise its value and convince them to be part of it otherwise in the future no one will appreciate our wildlife or protect it and it will all be lost. However, it isn’t just a matter of continuing tradition. For the Northumberland Wildlife Trust but also for the person on the street, learning what wildlife lives around our homes is important for another reason.

Cathleentext4 It’s important to note that not all introduced species become invasive. For example, people were surprised to learn that the feral pigeon, which is a common sight around Newcastle, is not a native species. However, it doesn’t really cause any problems for other wildlife because it has learnt to exploit urban areas and thrives in the centre of the city where few other species dare to tread, at least in daylight.

By being vigilant, getting out and about in nature and protecting wildlife and our wild places we can conserve it for future generations.

Japanese Knotweed (Photo by KENPEI, licensed under CC BY via Wikimedia)

My street theatre debut at Soapbox Science started by showing people the figure £1,288,262,000 and asking them what they thought the government spent this on. After guesses including NHS spending or benefits, people were quite shocked when I revealed that this money was spent last year on eradicating invasive species. This doesn’t include money spent by other organisations such as Wildlife Trusts or individuals having to remove Japanese Knotweed from their garden before they can sell their house, so the UK-wide figure is probably much higher. Invasive species have a massive economic cost, as well as being one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss.

Me and a lovely little girl from the crowd got in the pool to demonstrate good welly washing practice and have a bit of a splash about!

To really demonstrate the impact of invasive species, I had some of demonstrations, ably assisted by my volunteer for the day, Ruth Nottingham. My pink paddling pool was filled with representations of invasive species and was a real draw for the children. It was quite warm on the day, so the kids were looking to cool off in my paddling pool. This gave me the opportunity to explain that when we work on different nature reserves we have to wash our wellies between visits so as not to transfer species from one place to another. This could be any small pond creatures as well as bacteria or fungi that could be carried in water droplets on our wellies.

Catching “invasive species” can be hard! One smart kid even tries blocking them at source, but that has problems too…

I was asked why we couldn’t just get rid of invasive species, but I had come prepared. I switched on my bubble machine and asked people to imagine that this was a flying, invasive insect, such as the harlequin ladybird. Then were then challenged to try to catch and ‘eradicate’ all of the ladybirds. With a bit of a tailwind blowing down Grey Street this was harder than they imagined and as some of the bubbles floated off into the ether.

One of the children then had the idea to cut them off at source and stood in front of the bubble machine and was applauded by other audience members who marvelled at his ingenuity. However, I explained that often we don’t know exactly where the invasive species are coming from, so I picked up the bubble machine and started to move it around so the bubbles were coming from lots of different directions. The sound of understanding was audible as people exclaimed and realised why invasive species often present a complex challenge.

My taxidermied specimens, showcased by my fantastic volunteer Ruth, meant that people could get up close and compare red and grey squirrels. That helped people to understand why our native reds are declining so rapidly.

I was then able to talk to people about squirrels, a subject which is always on our minds here at Northumberland Wildlife Trust as we have a team of around 20 people working to help our native red squirrel. I was able to answer questions about why grey squirrels are so invasive, what the pox thing is that they carry and whether they steal red squirrels food. However, I was able to share some good news in that we are finding that on some sites where we are controlling grey squirrels we are starting to find red squirrel numbers are on the increase. The battle isn’t won yet, not by a long way, but there are small signs of hope.

I hope I left people with a better understanding of wildlife and why it’s important to know what you lives around you and I left feeling hopeful that people understood our sometimes contentious work and was pleased to see that we had lots of support from the people of Newcastle.

Organising Soapbox Science Newcastle

Posted on 14 July, 2015 by Paula

Soapbox Science Newcastle Organising team ready to go!

Our team of Soapbox Science organisers – Dianne Ford, Paula Salgado, Nancy Rios, Kevin Waldron, Lis Lowe and Joanna Keith – are definitely doing it again! It was fun and rewarding!

On the 27 of June 2015, Soapbox Science, a team from Newcastle University and a fantastic group of speakers and volunteers helped transform the Monument area in Newcastle City Centre into a hub for science and discovery. As female scientists from across the region – and beyond it – took to the streets, got on a soapbox and showcased their science to the public, the aim was simple: bring science and the women doing it to the attention of the general public. Founded five years ago by Dr Seirian Sumner (University of Bristol) and Dr Nathalie Pettorelli (Zoological Society of London, ZSL), Soapbox Science has grown exponentially and this year there were seven events taking place in Bristol, London, Exeter, Swansea, Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast, with over 90 female scientists participating.
For the Newcastle event, it all started when Prof Hilary Lappin-Scott, Vice Chancellor at Swansea University, visited in the summer of 2014 to speak at ICaMB‘s Equality in Academia day. Having just run Soapbox Science for the first time in Swansea, Hilary set us the challenge of doing the same this year in Newcastle. A few early indications of acquiescence and some tentative enquiries resulted in little immediate progress, but then Nancy discovered that it was her old friend, Seirian Summer that, together with Natalie Pettorrelli, was responsible for coordinating the whole operation nationally (and are branching out now globally). With Nancy, on board we began to motor ahead.

Our soapboxes getting final touches in ICaMB’s workshop

Potential speakers and volunteers responded enthusiastically to our call and it was tough to decide who should make up the final bill of inspirational women scientists speaking on diverse and engaging topics. Soapboxes were ‘commissioned’ (huge thanks to Newcastle Wood Recycling for their generosity and time and ICaMB’s workshop team for their inventive solutions!) and the go-ahead was given to set up at the Monument on our chosen Saturday afternoon. We were assured that the Morris dancers would be finished (they were, and only one of them then heckled us).

That bit of meteorite used by Christina McQuirk was heavy!

Even the potentially tedious jobs such as completing a risk assessment provided some amusement, courtesy of an email thread with the subject line ‘meteorite risk assessment’.

Newcastle Central MP, Chi Onwurah, joined the crowd to listen to our scientists

We drew up a press release and got some media interest, including interviews on BBC Radio Newcastle. Nancy even found a small team of filmmakers from the Tyneside Cinema to record the highlights and interview the speakers, volunteers and spectators, including local MP Chi Onwurah who came by to offer support.

We were grateful for great weather on the day. Three rounds of four speakers engaged the public with accessible descriptions of their science, hands-on participation and range of imaginative props, from baby dolls to boxes and even weirder objects:

Lis Lowe from ICaMB explaining to some “passers-by” how babies acquire gut bacteria

Rachel Williams, from Newcastle University used a range of striking props to explain inflammation

Kathy Romer from University of Sussex using stacks of boxes and fluff balls to talk about Dark energy

One of our volunteers, Kirsty Steed from Newcastle University, gathers the crowds with a passing comet

In our matching Soapbox Science T-shirts, we were (as was overheard) mistaken for a hen party! Not quite, sir!

Matching t-shirts – what could it be?

After a massively busy, fun and frantic three hours, speakers and volunteers assembled in the Tyneside Bar Café for come food and refreshments. We were delighted to learn that with more than 19,000 people passing through our Soapbox Science site, we had smashed all previous records. We are proud that we showcased great scientists and great science to so many. As one little girl told us “The problem now is choosing which science I want, there’s so much to choose from!”

We learnt a lot (there were mistakes!) and look forward to putting on an even better event next year. See you next summer, for Soapbox Science Newcastle 2016!

Discovery at the Discovery Museum

Aside

Great Hall

Ready to replicate the success of last year’s Away Day, it was en masse outing time for ICaMB again! Time to find out who all the new faces are, and to find out exactly what that person you have a ‘hello and a nod in the corridor’ relationship with actually does at the bench all day. This year we headed to the Great Hall of the Discovery Museum. Despite the leaking roof caused by the downpour outside and the sometimes dodgy acoustics the day was still a success.

Serious faces, this is science

ICaMB is a fast paced, constantly evolving institute. Everybody is busy with their own research, making a break and a get-together once in a while a vital part of reminding ourselves of the vast range of expertise and diverse set of interests beavering away in our labs and offices. The answer to that tricky problem or that elusive technique is quite possibly just a few yards away.

But also fun!

With that in mind, this year’s Away Day felt particularly important as we welcomed 8 new academic groups to ICaMB from CAV (Campus for Aging and Vitality) as well new IRES fellows and a list of other recent recruits. Drs Victor Korolchuk and Gabi Saretzki from the CAV both spoke at the away day about their interests in neurodegenerative diseases and the role of oxidative stress in the ageing process.

As ever the day was kicked off by the Institute director, Bob (Professor Robert Lightowlers), who gave us a taster of ICaMB’s growth and success stories over the past year. Without breaking into the tune of that well known Christmas song; 7 Vacation Studentships, 6 BBSRC awards, 5 MRC awards, 2 Wolfson awards, 2 Senior Investigator awards and 1 Henry Dale ………. Not to mention all the promotions, outstanding research papers and commercial contracts = 1 happy Bob.

A cell-tastic morning then ensued: the completely dispensable nature of bacterial cell walls (Professor Jeff Errington); the role of NF-kB in the pathogenesis of lymphoma (Dr Jill Hunter); and the cell death independent functions of inhibitors of apoptosis (new IRES recruit Dr Niall Kenneth). The session was wrapped up by Dr Paula Salgado summarising 3.5 years of structural C. difficile research in 15min. Some feat Paula!

Of course just as last year, an absolute highlight of the day were the six, animated, three minute thesis presentations by our brave PhD students …….. Soon to be followed by the look of horror on several Professorial faces when it was suggested by PAN!C that at next year’s Away Day we have a session of 3 minute PI pitches! We can’t ignore the demands of our PhD students now can we? And congratulations to Mandeep Atwal from the Cowell/Austin lab who against steep competition was awarded the prize for best three minute thesis.

The possibilities of alginate bread?

A spot of oxidative stress and the evolution of peroxidases by Dr Alison Day, and some lunch completed the morning’s discovery. Though half an hour later and Dr Peter Chater had us all wishing we’d had an alginate packed lunch (and a go with the model gut!). Perhaps the Pearson lab can cater next year’s event? If it’s good enough for the One Show it’s good enough for the ICaMB Away Day.

A major focus of the Away Day is not just to learn about the breadth of exciting research carried out in our institute, but also to learn all about the very latest techniques and expertise ripe for exploitation. This year the focal point of new techniques came from Dr Alex Laude and the Bio-Imaging facility, with some beautiful images and super resolution microscopy techniques, which again left a number of the audience wanting a turn!

An afternoon transcribing and translating with Dr Danny Castro-Roa; learning about how the crucial nature of cell polarity means we really don’t mix up our arse from our elbow (thank you new IRES recruit Dr Josana Rodriguez); and last but by no means least, how on earth all that DNA manages to faithfully copy and repackage itself time after time from yet another new recruit, Professor Jonathan Higgins.

This completes our diverse and entertaining line-up, just leaving enough time for complementary wine, and the amusement as speakers and audience alike embarrass themselves at the ICaMB quiz (and I hear also in the pub afterwards).

ICaMB – Inside Cells and Molecules Blog

Category Archives: Events