You like biology and you are curious about scientific research? You enjoy experimenting in the lab? You want to hone your programming skills? Join the Scienteens Academy!
Young researchers wanted!
At the end of the summer (6th – 14th September 2018), the Scienteens Lab is organising the first edition of a seven-day interdisciplinary workshop dedicated to high-school students aged 16 and over. The Scienteens Academy will combine biology, mathematics and computer science. It will be a unique opportunity to work in a lab with other students, to learn more about biological processes, develop mathematical models and run computer simulations.
Discover Systems Biology
The Scienteens Academy will focus on Systems Biology, a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study. It aims at understanding the complexity of biological systems such as individual cells, organs and whole organisms. Systems Biology is collaborative by definition, integrating many other scientific disciplines: computer science, engineering, bioinformatics, mathematics, physics and so on.
The goal is to model the complex networks that form the living organisms and predict how they change over time and under varying conditions. Those predictions can help to answer questions such as “what consequences does the virus have on the cell?” or “what side effects do drugs have for the metabolism?”
Programme of the Scienteens Academy
During the seven days the students will spend at the Scienteens Lab, they will analyse the growth behaviour and the enzyme activity of the bacterium Escherichia coli.
First, they will collect data about bacterial growth through practical work in the laboratory, using techniques such as cell culture, spectrophotometry and quantitative analysis of enzymatic reactions.
The second part of the workshop will take the participants out of the lab and in front of the computer, where they will learn to analyse the data they generated, to develop mathematical models and to run computer-based simulations.
To conclude the week, the budding researchers will have to make predictions based on their results and go back to the lab to test their own hypothesis. Then, like real scientists, they will also have to prepare posters explaining their work and to present the whole project in front of an audience during a closing event. This last day will be the occasion to celebrate the Scienteens Lab fifth birthday as well!
Selection process
The number of seat is limited so the Scienteens Lab team will select 14 students out of all the applications they receive. What are we looking for? Highly motivated students who are keen to discover scientific research. Young people who enjoy interdisciplinarity and team work. Rather than very experienced participants, we are looking forward to training enthusiastic learners who are ready to acquire new skills with us. Last but not least, students who contemplate a future in science and want to experience first-hand what a job in that field could look like.
In order to apply for the Scienteens Academy, candidates have to fill in a registration form and to answer a few questions about their motivation and previous experience. The selection will be based on these. The Scienteens Lab team will inform all the candidates about the results.
Join the Scienteens Academy.
Extension of the deadline: apply online before July 15!
Download the flyer (in German)
Practical Information
WHEN and WHERE
From 6th to 14th September 2018.
At the Scienteens Lab of the University of Luxembourg, on Campus Belva, in the House of Biomedicine (Biotech I).
If you arrive by car or coach, take the A4 and keep it until the end, then follow the signs towards “Belval”. On the campus, there are no signs to indicate the way to Biotech I. Please use the map below to find your way. Parking around the building is forbidden. The coach can leave you in front of the Biotech I but cannot stay parked there.
If you arrive by train, the stop is “Belval Université”. Our building is 5 minutes away from the train station by foot. There are also several buses that can be taken to arrive on the campus.
FEES
Early birds (apply before June 15): 80€
Regular price: 100€
LANGUAGE
The Scienteens Academy will be conducted in German.
Origin of the Scienteens Academy
On the basis of a “Systems Biology Camp” that was developed by the XLab in Göttingen (Germany) in 2014, the Joachim Herz Foundation funded the development of the teaching material that is made available to other educational institutions. Based on these, the institutions can then create their own System Biology workshop for interested students. In October 2017, the Scienteens Lab team participated in one of these one-week workshops in Germany. They then brought back the concept to Luxembourg: the Scienteens Academy was born!