25th Science Festival
On September 22-23, 25th Science Festival classes were held at the Department of Plant Genetics and Plant Biotechnology at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.
Two practical laboratory lessons were conducted. The first was entitled “DNA. What’s this? ”, During which 30 students from the 1st class of biochemistry at the T. Kościuszko in Pruszków tried to decode the DNA code and see the DNA he himself isolated from strawberries. These classes were conducted by MSc. Anna Wlazło and Emilia Olechowska, MA.
During the second lesson, Emilia Olechowska explained to 15 students from the 1st general class of the Non-public Montessori High School in Warsaw, “How do plants eat?”. After learning about the photosynthesis process and the role of assimilation pigments, the participants independently extracted chlorophyll from parsley.
On September 23, as part of the scientific conference “Plant application genetics – challenges of the 21st century” organized by the Department of Genetics, Breeding and Plant Biotechnology, a popular science session was held, entitled “Editing of genomes of crops – hopes and fears”, which is also an event taking place as part of the 25th Science Festival. Specialists such as dr Anna Linkiewicz (IHAR, UKSW), prof. Leszek Łyżnik, Dr. Michał Rokicki (IHAR, Poznańska Hodowli Roślin), Dr. Sławomir Sowa (Laboratory of GMO Control) and Marcin Rotkiewicz (author of the book “In the kingdom of Monszatana”) gave speeches aimed at presenting issues related to genome editing, the usefulness of modern biotechnology methods in cultivating crops, as well as putting into use and controlling the use of GMOs. The meeting ended with a discussion during which experts answered questions from the gathered audience and asked in an online chat. The session was organized and conducted by prof. dr hab. Marcin Filipecki, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology and an employee of our Department.
We encourage you to watch the session recording on the SGGW Science channel: EDITION OF CROP GENOMES – HOPES AND CONCERNS.