Great Exhibition of the North was an event that held for six weeks across Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, next year. The exhibition was a celebration of the art, design and innovation that has originated from the region and has influenced the wider world. The main exhibition was housed in the Great North Museum Hancock and included a display of ‘wow’ objects that have been loaned from national and international sources. The work of the Institute of Genetic Medicine was one of the stories at the exhibition. We were there on Saturday the 28th of July 11am-3pm showing simple experiments, share interesting stories that make you go ‘wow’.

We had 100-150 visitors and lots of interesting discussions. We thoroughly enjoyed the “Meet the scientist” dayand hope that our visitors did too!

Here are some photos from the day:

Big thank you to Alan from Roots and Wings for producing the video.

If you’d like to know more about the IGM and the work that we do, please come see us at the Great North Museum on the 28th of July!

The full TEDMED talk can be seen here:

Fertility expert Mary Herbert and her team are preventing the transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease using nuclear transplantation. This cutting edge mechanism, commonly referred to as three-person IVF, has the potential to prevent transmission of devastating disease from mother to child. Mary’s work has also been critical in the development of a UK law change that permits these new techniques to be offered in clinical treatment. In addition to mitochondrial disease, Mary’s research focuses on the underlying causes of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects in older women. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and a member of the scientific advisory board for the Association of Clinical Embryologists in the UK. Mary is currently a Professor of Reproductive Biology at Newcastle University, and Scientific Director at Newcastle Fertility Centre.

IGM and ICM scientists involved in the MRC funded CIMA (Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing) project have organised an informative public engagement afternoon on Wednesday the 20th of June 2018 to chat to the members of the public about joints in health and disease, joint diseases and the impact of diet and exercise on joints’ health. The attendance is FREE, full programme attached below:

Newcastle University is hosting Soapbox Science for a fourth year this year with inspirational female Scientists from Newcastle taking to their soapboxes and wowing the local community with their cutting edge science! We will be commandeering Grey’s monument in the City Centre on Saturday 16th June 2018 from 12pm- 3pm and our very own Dr Dorota Badowska will be there talking about rare disease research and living with rare diseases. The event is free and a fantastic opportunity to meet and interact with local Scientists!

Are you passionate about science? Do you love talking to the public about science? If so, you’ve got the makings of a Soapbox Science Volunteer!

We are currently looking for volunteers for the Newcastle 2018 event on Saturday 16 June 2018, 12pm-3pm, at Grey’s monument – http://soapboxscience.org/soapbox-science-2018-newcastle/

Soapbox Science is not just about the speakers. Without a support team of committed, enthusiastic people, a Soapbox Science event simply cannot happen. Each event relies on an animated team of up to 20 volunteers. Volunteers play a crucial role in rounding up the public, chatting to the public informally about being a scientist and the science that interests you, supporting the speakers by managing props, as well as handing out Soapbox goodies to lucky audience members! But perhaps the most important role of the volunteers is in gathering data so we can monitor effectively the success of the event: the volunteers carry out the bulk of our streamlined, centralised evaluation process, through interviews, observations, counting footfall and advertising our post-event online surveys.

If you would like to be involved please complete the following form: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SoapboxScienceNCLVolunteers

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the event this year, and everyone who attended. If you couldn’t be with us this time, hopefully this video will inspire you to come next year!