Biology

Part 1 - Crops for our Future - Global food challenges faced by the ever increasing world population and the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels are just two reasons to try to understand how plants detect and respond to their available space and the presence of neighbouring plants. Discover more about how plants communicate with each other and how we can reduce the need for fertilisers through better understanding of these mechanisms.

With Cara Wheeldon, PhD researcher in Plant Developmental Biology at the University of Leeds

Part 2 - Ecology and Conservation - moving on from plants, we'll discover how important insects are for the environment, how climate change might affect insect communities worldwide and how we can use this information to help the natural world. We’ll also learn how freshwater shrimp are affected by climate change, and how we can conduct these experiments in our labs here at Leeds.

With Briony Vickers, Education Outreach Fellow at the University of Leeds

Biomedical Sciences

Part 1 - Introduction to Neuroscience: Solving a Patient Case Study – A case study is a story about a patient’s journey from diagnosis to treatment. In this first session, you will be guided through a case study and provided with all the background information you need to be able to solve it!

Part 2 - How Biomedical Science Saves Lives – Biomedical Sciences informs the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. In our second session, you will explore how our case study patient might be treated, and how to inform the public about the risks of the disease. Now you’re the expert - can you create a public health campaign to share what you have learned?

With Dr Clare Tweedy, Teaching Fellow in Neuroscience in the School of Biomedical Sciences. Following Clare's sessions, participants can find details of their optional mini project here.

Molecular & Cellular Biology – Infectious Disease and Medical Microbiology 

Part 1 - Bacteriology - a branch of microbiology which studies bacteria – is a wide field where bacteriologists study and learn more about the characteristics of bacteria like their structure, genetics, biochemistry and ecology. Although not all bacteria cause disease, we put it in a medical context with the mechanisms through which they cause diseases in humans and animals taking centre stage.

This session will cover basic bacteriology and then apply that knowledge to a series of medical case studies. Will we be successful in our diagnosis?

Part 2 - Virology - a branch of microbiology which studies viruses – is a changing field where virologists investigate the characteristics of viruses like their structure, genetics, biochemistry and interactions with hosts. The study of viruses often focuses on the mechanisms by which they cause disease as they are obligate intercellular parasites which need to hijack a host in order to survive.

This session will cover basic virology and then apply that knowledge to a series of medical case studies. Will we be successful in our diagnosis?

With Dr Vikki Easton, Research and Teaching Fellow in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology