Allergy and the microbiome, a bidirectional influence – a 'science and society' outreach event in Spain

Allergy and the microbiome, a bidirectional influence  – a 'science and society' outreach event in Spain
Like

The Institute of Applied Molecular Medicine (IMMA) of the CEU San Pablo University of Madrid (Spain) hosted a science outreach event on May 23rd 2019 supported by FEBS and promoted by the FEBS Science and Society Committee within the general topic “Healthy microbiome, healthy host”.

The English program is shown below:

The IMMA is a multidisciplinary research center with several projects focused on the study of clinical and experimental immunopathology. Some of their projects are on the microbiome. Its director Dr Domingo Barber was the main organizer of the event.

It was the first time that CEU San Pablo University hosted this important event, which was held in its central campus. It was advertised in Spanish and English and open to the general public. CEU offered school buses for their secondary school students and teachers to attend. The event included several videos recorded by the youngest members of the Barber lab and games addressed principally to teach and attract the attention of secondary school students. 

The FEBS Science and Society Committee member and president elect of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), Prof. Isabel Varela-Nieto, and the dean of the School of Medicine of CEU San Pablo University, Prof. Tomás Chivato, inaugurated the event. Prof. Varela-Nieto introduced FEBS and the FEBS Network to the audience and emphasized the importance of getting basic scientific concepts clear to the general public.

Next, members of the Allergy Network ARADyAL explained to the attendees the growing prevalence of allergy, some of the causes including increased environmental stress as pollution, the importance of collaborative research to tackle the problem and the relationship between health and the microbiome.

This was followed by a practical example to the attendees prepared by Barber´s PhD students who used several home-made videos to explain in simple words what the microbiota is and how a scientific project on microbiota is carried out from the sample to the bioinformatics analysis of data. They explained the most important steps for the success of research projects involving human microbiota.

Finally, there was a colloquium with attendees to answer questions, which was followed by a mobile contest carried out by using the App Mentimeter to test if the attendees had got the concepts right and to reinforce the scientific messages.


For more information (in Spanish) please see: 

YouTube video:

Newsletter CEU Media http://www.ceumedia.es/tv/24513/lasalergias- centran-el-debate-en-la-jornada-de-divulgaci-n-cient-fica-de-la-febs/ 


Top image of post: gwolters/Shutterstock.com

Join the FEBS Network today

Joining the FEBS Network’s molecular life sciences community enables you to access special content on the site, present your profile, 'follow' contributors, 'comment' on and 'like' content, post your own content, and set up a tailored email digest for updates.