Day of Immunology 2017 Wrap Up
The World Day of Immunology for 2017 fell on the 28th April this year, so we celebrated the progress of our understanding of the immune system with 2 days of activities all about the immune system.
On the 27th we started with a SPARQed program for grade 11 & 12 students who heard from researchers including TRI's founding immunotherapy researcher Professor Ian Frazer and TRI's microscopy manager Dr Sandrine Roy.
The evening of the 27th was a forum, open to the public, with guest speakers Professor Ranjeny Thomas updating us on the progress of a vaccine for those susceptible to arthritis and Prof Daniel Chambers with his Patient Mr. Meyers talking about the importance of the immune system after lung transplant.
In addition to these guest speakers, 6 postgrad students presented 3 minute summary presentations with only 1 slide allowed to explain their research work to the audience. 2 winners were voted by the audience, winning $200 each and a 1 year membership to ASI.
On the 28th, a first ever at SPARQed saw a group of year 5 & 6 students spend a day learning about the immune system and science. Their hand washing experiment started off the day with some fun despite some finding it hard to reach the taps!
Find out more about the Day of Immunology 2017 events at TRI below.
The Presentations
Students participating in the hand washing experiment in the SPARQed program
Award Winners
The winners of the 3 minute presentation competition were voted by the audience based on the clarity of the material and how well it was communicated in the short time allowed. Each won $200 and an annual ASI membership. Congratulations to the winners!
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PostDoc Award Dr Kelly-Anne Masterman Left: Australasian Society of Immunology (ASI) representative, MC and Griffith researcher Dr. Danielle Stanisic presents Dr Kelly Masterman with an award at the Day of Immunology Public Forum at TRI on the 27th April 2017. |
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PhD Candidate Award Jeremy Brooks Left: Australasian Society of Immunology (ASI) representative, MC and Griffith researcher Dr. Danielle Stanisic presents Jeremy Brooks with an award at the Day of Immunology Public Forum at TRI on the 27th April 2017. |
Hand Washing Experiment
So how long do you really need to wash your hands for? In science, we don't guess as these year 5 & 6 students got to experience first hand in one of the first SPARQed programs for this age group.
The students started with a quick classroom lesson about methodology and the graphing they would do at the end. They would work in groups of 5. All but 1, the control subject, would put a cream on their hands to represent bacteria.
Each person would wash their hands for a specific amount of time (5, 10, 15 & 30 seconds) while the control subject used a timer to keep track.
The hands were then inspected under a torch and rated. The results were then plotted on a graph to show the optimal hand washing time.
