From classrooms to labs: 26 students experience the thrill of research at CSIR-CCMB

About 26 students of 8-10^th grades from Hyderabad, Peddapalli and Hanamkonda had the opportunity to spend a week and observe the scientists at work in the labs of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, as part of the flagship outreach programme for high school students – Young Innovators Program, from December 23 to January 2.

“Every year we select 25-30 high school students through a competitive exam and allow them to spend time in our labs to see how different research tools are used. But this year, they actually were taught and asked to clone a gene under supervision of our PhD students,” said programme coordinator Aditya Undru.

“These are the kinds of experiments that most students don’t even get to do in their post-graduate studies. Otherwise students only study these theoretically and don’t have much avenues to practically experience it,” pointed out Vasudha Ramireddy, biology teacher of St Andrews High School – Suchitra, Bowenpally, Secunderabad.

It is a chance for scientists to show that younger people can now start thinking about and doing molecular biology experiments, given the appropriate guidance and resources. In the current world, where biotech is all around us, it is time that more and more people actually start understanding the working of these tools, said Somdatta Karak, CCMB head, science communication and public outreach.

“We want to start doing similar workshops for teachers and journalists too in our pursuit to make a more biotech-aware society,” she added. The programme was supported by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s ‘Jigyasa’ programme, said a press release on Saturday.