My name is Brian Mackenwells, and I’m the public engagement officer for the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, based in Headington – we’re a major research unit in the University of Oxford, with over 300 geneticists of different sorts examining the role of genetics in human health.
I’m just dropping you a line to let you know about our work experience programme. It’s a week long, takes place between August 20th and 24th, and is open to any student aged over 16. Students will get the opportunity to extract DNA from saliva samples, use the polymerase chain reaction to amplify this DNA, and perform restriction digestions of the PCR products. There will also be an opportunity to meet lab leaders from throughout the centre, and find out more about the research going on at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics.
There are a dozen slots in this programme, and we’re going to be holding at least four of those slots for students from local schools, so we would encourage your students to apply. You can get a little more information on our page at http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/work-experience - there’s also a link to blogs written by previous participants of our programme, to give students an idea of what it’s like.
The deadline for applications is the 27th of April, and just requires sending a CV and 500 word supporting statement to myself.
