By Junming He

The centre and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland collaborated to host a group of 30 year 12 students in January for an engaging and interactive event with scientists from the facility. The event provided students with the opportunity to learn about life science research conducted through CIPPS at IMB.

During the dedicated CIPPS session, students were divided into smaller groups and rotated through three stations. At one station, students were introduced to peptide synthesis by Outreach Ambassadors Yen-Hua Crystal Huang and Yasuko Koda, followed by a presentation on growing therapeutically relevant peptides in plants by Annie Kan and Jack Cobon.Outreach Ambassadors Dani Rojas Azofeifa and Michael Pinter led another station, introducing students to various arachnids and sharing insights into the venom research conducted at CIPPS. At the third station, Huy Hoang introduced participants to the world of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and its applications in scientific research.

The session aimed to inspire curiosity and allow students to see real-world scientific research in action, while highlighting the possible career pathways in molecular bioscience. By engaging directly with researchers, we believe that students can gain valuable insight into the day-to-day operations of a scientist in the laboratory, and the large impact they can have on human and environmental health through research on small molecules.

Through a post-event survey, we know that our participants described the research facility walkthrough as “fun & interactive”, “impressive”, and “informative”. They also emphasized that the lab tour and “explanation of the use of plants to create peptides” were a highlight of the overall event.