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Just try!
In July, EMBL-EBI welcomed a group of 45 pupils from Saarland, Germany who were visiting England to explore a new culture and learn about different career options
Hosted by Hannah Meyer, a student in the EMBL International PhD Programme, the 18-year-olds were treated to a tour of the campus and its facilities – sequencing centre, data centre, training suite, conference centre – by the Wellcome Genome Campus Public Engagement team.
But first, Hannah presented her bioinformatics research, talking about how she uses computer science to understand the workings of the human heart, and fielding questions about what life is like for students in Cambridge.
We got a real sense of the institute’s supportive spirit as we walked around.
“We got a real sense of the institute’s supportive spirit as we walked around. We saw lots of scientists sitting together, cooperating and discussing charts and tables,” said visitor Linda Lies. “Hannah told us about what it’s like to be a university student at EMBL-EBI, how they bring creative, joined-up thinking to this type of science and that was very interesting.”
One thing that stood out for the young visitors was how positive Meyer was about staying in science. “When someone asked about acceptance rates at the university and EMBL, Hannah answered, ‘Just try!’ – that was really encouraging for us,” said Lies.
The Wellcome Genome Campus Public Engagement team is a resource for EMBL-EBI and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and maintains www.yourgenome.org
