Explorathon
From 2014–2018 researchers from across Europe took part in the European researchers’ night, something that Rheumatosphere, through RACE, were proud to be part of.
These nights of engagement happened all across Europe, and in Scotland events were also held in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St. Andrews. In Glasgow, our main events were held in the Glasgow Science Centre 2014-2016 and in the Riverside museum in 2017.
Rheumatopshere took a team of professors, consultants, scientists and PhD students along to each event in order to raise public awareness about rheumatic diseases and the work that we are doing to better understand and treat these conditions.
We were able to offer the public a range of fun and engaging activities showcasing disease pathology and our lab work that aims to better understand and treat these diseases.
Rheumatosphere’s activities include, ‘ultrasound your hand’, this has been one of our most popular activities, allowing people to look inside their hands and think about how they move. We can also think about the changes that can occur in disease and the consequences of these changes and highlight the impact of restriction in our joints!
We also discuss how we can use biopsies and cells from patients to give us information about the disease, allowing us to expand our understanding of disease progression and new targets for treatment.
In order to explain how we can use cells in the laboratory we show how we can keep cells alive, in culture, with our cell media cocktail activity. We further investigate the cells by making cell biscuits, highlighting what’s inside and how changes to a cell at a genetic level can change the way the cell behaves and could contribute to disease.
Over our years at Explorathon we have engaged with thousands of individuals all looking to hear more about the exciting science that is happening in their home City. We’re proud to be able to share our work and our passion with the public.