Ready for microscopy – Let’s look inside the human body
A day for junior researchers of the Med Uni Graz KinderCAMPUS organized by BBMRI.at and pathologists
With great enthusiasm and dedication, more than 40 children of the Med Uni Graz KinderCAMPUS attended the junior researchers’ day organized by BBMRI.at in cooperation with the Austrian Society of Pathology and the Institute of Pathology (Medical University of Graz).
Children were able to perform some lab work themselves that is usually done in pathology departments and biobanks: They could pipette blood (raspberry juice) and “freeze it in a biobank”. They stained real paraffin tissue sections with H&E and viewed them under the microscope. Snap-freezing of tissue and paraffin embedding of pieces of tissue (sausage) were the most exciting parts for the young researchers. In addition, the children learned about the major organs in the body and the blood components and their tasks.
The aim of this project is to familiarize children with the work and the relevance of pathology and biobanking for diagnostic and research purposes, respectively, and to inspire the children’s interest in these areas.
Iva and Luka Brcic (Institute of Pathology, Med Uni Graz) and Cornelia Stumptner (BBMRI.at) were very satisfied with this researchers’ day: “It was a pleasure to see the enthusiasm of the children and that they had a nice time and asked many questions.”
Due to the success, it is planned as a next step to organize a junior researchers’ day for primary school children.
