Due to the COVID pandemic we had to organise the 2021 edition of the annual CRISPR meeting online. Although it was such a shame not to be able to catch up with our CRISPR friends from around the globe, the virtual meeting was a great success! Check out our CRISPR2021 website here.
May 2021: new review out!
Stineke recently wrote a review for Cell Host & Microbe together with the Westra lab and Raymond Staals & Jurre Steens from Wageningen University on phage-CRISPR co-evolutionary interactions.
Royal Cornwall Show
From the 6th-8th of June, we were active at the Royal Cornwall Show with an activity stand teaching families about bacteria, phages, and antibiotic resistance.
David and Ellie teamed up with the Westra lab to talk to countless children and their parents over these three days and got them enthusiastic about bacteria, bringing across why antibiotic resistance is a problem and what else we can do against resistant infections. The visitors to the stall enjoyed emptying different beads from petri dishes, and younger kids got creative making their own play-doh bacteria and phage!
July 2018 – AccessLab
David took part in this event, set up by FoAM Kernow in collaboration with NERC and the British Science Association. By pairing researchers with members of the public, AccessLab aims to increase accessibility of research, to introduce members of the public to finding and judging scientific information, as well as to make scientists aware of the limited impact research can have if it is locked behind paywalls or otherwise inaccessible.
December 2017 – The Science of Christmas
In this event held by the University of Exeter, David was one of the scientists presenting their Christmas-themed research to a family audience, aimed at children from 7-12. Comparing CRISPR to elves, Santa’s little helpers, and conjugative plasmid spread to presents being passed around, he themed his presentation around sorting naughty (antibiotic resistant) bacteria from the nice.
van Houte Lab 