Let’s Glow Crazy: Lab skills for beginners

If you’re passionate about science solutions to real-world environmental challenges, this half-day, hands-on workshop is for you - no prior lab experience is required!

Join us in our civic science lab where you’ll learn how to harness glowing biological proteins (GFP) to help make a cleaner, greener planet.

Who should attend? This workshop is tailored for beginners and guided by experienced instructors who will walk you through step-by-step. Suitable for people new to molecular biology or those looking to expand their toolkit.

How can techniques using glowing proteins like green fluorescent protein (GFP) help the environment? Fluorescent biological molecules like GFP can be used as a rapid, visual read-out of the presence of contaminants in the soil and waterways. You’ll learn lab techniques to develop living, glowing indicators that help communities track pollution, see if remediation efforts are working, and safeguard ecosystems.

What will you learn? In this workshop, you will:

• Use biological fluorescence for real-world impact: Explore how GFP-based sensors can detect heavy metals, pollutants, or nutrient levels in soil and water—laying the groundwork for environmental monitoring tools that can be used in the field.
• Learn DNA and bacteria handling for synthetic biology: Mix growth media from scratch, grow healthy bacterial cultures for environmental biosensing, introduce plasmid DNA into bacteria transforming them with the genetic switch to be a biosensor.
• Build and refine core lab practices: Pipetting small volumes with precision, aseptic and technique and sterile handling, setting up your electronic lab notebook for professional record-keeping.

On the day, we will provide all lab consumables, equipment, safety induction, protocols and expert instructors. Just bring yourself!

While we're working towards and absolutely excited about the prospect of working with young people, for this event we are requiring participants to be 18 or older.