Our Year 10 Biology students attended a bacterial evolution workshop at the Royal Institution in central London.

This workshop looked closely at the evolutionary arms race between bacteria and the host immune system and how different strains of bacterial species evolve over time.

Students investigated four fictional bacterial outbreaks by performing restriction enzyme digests on DNA samples isolated from each of the scenes. Using gel electrophoresis, they then compared the banding patterns to reference samples of known strains. Students then had to decide what advice to give their colleagues at the scene of the outbreaks or whether the samples needed further investigation. The event allowed students to gain valuable hands on experience of working in a laboratory, and the opportunity to use molecular biology techniques not available to them in a school environment.

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