GIBH Held Public Science Day

Be around the adorable lab mice, wear the scientist’s white gown and get to know the miraculous stem cell, observe colourful adenosis in the dark room ... On May 18^th, the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health (GIBH), Chinese Academy of Sciences, held a Public Science Day themed as “Have fun with science! Love biology and change the world”. This event was marked by multiple activities including a popular science seminar, lab opening, interactive lab and a scientific tour on the campus. 

Hou Hongming, deputy party secretary of GIBH, delivered the opening remarks for this event and made a general introduction about GIBH to students from primary and middle schools as well as universities. In the popular science seminar, the “swine breeder” - principal investigator Dr. Lai Liangxue made a wonderful speech on the gene-editing clone animals and human health. Research assistant Luo Jia who deals with viruses every day led the children into the “viruses’ tiny world”. what’s more, postgraduates Gao Xiang and Wei Yuanjie made wonderful speeches respectively named “Parasite - how should I love you” and “Miraculous Stem Cell”. They converted fancy scientific knowledge into children-friendly popular words. A student in grade 2 exclaimed: “So that’s what you scientists are like!” 

Explore the home of lab mice, monitor the colourful adenoviridae, observe the whole process of urine cell extraction ... The seemingly mysterious and aloof labs are all opened to public. Alcohol lamp can be ignited without lighter, which was deemed as a magic show by little kids who couldn’t help shouting a barrage of “vow”. That’s when science volunteer Hu Weiming was explaining that potassium permanganate and concentrated sulfuric acid are strong oxidants and mixing them together will generate strong chemical reactions. During the scientific tour on the campus, children were mesmerized by stalls staging cell slice observation through microscope, preliminary extraction of strawberry DNA and various shapes of bird nest. 

This event has received more than 300 public visitors including those from kindergartens, primary and middle schools as well as universities. The inspiring activities have broadly won praise from those students. 

Picture 1: Hou Hongming, deputy party secretary, made general introduction of GIBH 

Picture 2: “Swine breeder” PI Dr. Lai Liangxue delivered a popular science speech 

Picture 3: Magical chemical experiment 

Picture 4: Queuing for observation with cool scientist’s outfit 

Picture 5: Getting to know brain structure and neural stem cell