The festival attracted over 2500 visitors from across the region and theme members from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Newcastle were among the 300+ staff members and students who hosted over 70 activities, workshops and performances across campus.
On behalf of the Skin Disease, Oral Disease and Immunogenomics theme, representatives from the School of Dental Sciences hosted their activity ‘Train to be a Bugbuster’. Dr Nile and his team educated local families on the role of the oral microbiome in health and disease through interactive activities such as ‘examine your own dental plaque’, ‘the weird and wonderful world of microbial culture’ and ‘craft your own oral microbe’. In addition, members of the Dental School’s award winning ‘Brush up’ team were also on hand to provide oral hygiene advice to members of the public of all ages.
Dr Nile said ‘It was great to see so many people in attendance, we had the chance to chat with some really engaged children and their parents, so it was nice to know what we do is of interest to the general public.’
The ‘Secret Life of the Gut’ exhibition was hosted by Professor Chris Lamb’s team in the Informatics and Precision Care for an Ageing Population theme. The interactive exhibition invited visitors to explore what happens inside the body when someone has inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Cell characters were introduced to explain the different types of cells involved and describe the roles they play. Visitors could then use colour filters on vibrant flow cytometry images of tissue, helping them discover how these cells behave during IBD and how scientists use these images to understand disease.