Nieuws

Valorisation award for Mobile DNA courses

article_published_on_label
28 november 2011

The annual Valorisation Award of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI) has been given to the Centre for Biosystems Genomics (CBSG). In recognition of their founding role of the DNA labs, their ongoing support and generous acknowledgement of the critical contribution of the other centres, this year’s award goes to the Centre for BioSystems Genomics’, states the jury, consisting of the members of NGI’s Valorisation Board.

The mobile DNA courses have a long history and have with the efforts of many people developed into a massive outreach activity to high schools. The mobile labs started at a small scale with the isolation of DNA from tomatoes within the science group AFSG, and later on within VWO campus.

In 2003 the mobile DNA courses were adopted by CBSG as a project lead by Arjen Schots and Jaap Bakker. Arjen Schots and Sven van den Elsen were the major forces behind the success of the mobile DNA courses. Sven renewed the course and made it possible for high school students to carry out a DNA isolation, PCR reaction and separation of DNA in only two hours. This highly advanced course was rolled out by Arjen at a massive scale to high schools. In cooperation with other NGI centres and universities coming December the courses will have reached 100.000 students!

The mobile courses have gradually become an integral part of the Laboratory of Nematology with many people involved (Liestbeth Bouwman, Bram Lokker, Hans Helder, Rikus Pomp, Lisette Groeneveld), all in some way involved in training of students and organizing the mobile labs.