Submitted by Sophie Milbourne on Wed, 27/03/2024 - 12:54
Researchers from the MRC Toxicology Unit were involved in the Cambridge Festival 2024 last weekend to engage families with our research.
The Cambridge Festival is an annual event coordinated by the University of Cambridge’s Public Engagement team. It is a multi-disciplinary festival with a mixture of online, on-demand and in-person events covering all aspects of the world-leading research happening in Cambridge.
The Unit ran three activities that enabled visitors to explore the vital science that our researchers are doing and to inspire the next generation of toxicologists. Families were able to get hands-on and build microbiome bracelets that show how we need diverse microbes to have a healthy microbiome. Our Tattoo My Science project also made another appearance where visitors could get a temporary tattoo designed by our scientists based on the research they do. We chatted to lots of visitors about toxicology, DNA damage, RNA, antibodies and more.
Our final activity was on-demand and is a series of videos that our staff and students have made showing what a typical day in their lives may look like. These are not just for the Festival so you can access them on our YouTube channel anytime.
It was fantastic to be able to meet so many visitors over the two days and share our gut microbiome research with you.
Thank you to our volunteers on the day who made our tattoos and research come to life; Kirsti, Hashim, Odara, Leah, Andres, Simone, Emma, Sonja, Kadri, Noni, Juan, Rebecca, Gemma, Aditi, Arianna, Joanna, Sophie, Daniela, Beth and Vita.
