Young Pharmas is an exciting annual outreach scheme headed by Professor Graham Ladd's lab, with support from throughout the Department, in which several hands-on practical sessions give students currently studying biology and chemistry the opportunity to experience what a career in science might be like. We highlight the importance of making accurate scientific measurements and introducing modern techniques such as fluorescence microscopy.
As well as aiding in the understanding of current A-level subjects, the aim of Young Pharmas is to get students thinking about science in a wider context beyond the classroom and give a taster of what life as a University of Cambridge student might be like.
An archive of previous events can be found here.
We are proud to announce that Young Pharmas is now up and running for 2023, after Covid-related disruption!
Further information can be obtained from Dr Emily Taylor.
Young Pharmas 2023
This year's Young Pharmas outreach program is now on! We are currently hosting 17 students this year.
Recently, the group quantified the cell numbers of HEK293 cells, following which they ran cell lysis and protein quantification protocols of said cells via a Qbit protein assay.
In March, the group will be heading to the Pharmacology Masterclass. This whole day Masterclass will be focusing
Images from the day:
Young Pharmas 2019
Over the past three months, sixteen bright sixth formers from Netherhall, Long Road, Hills Road and Comberton have been busy carrying out scientific experiments and investigating key concepts in pharmacology.
During a day-long Pharmacology Masterclass, students were given an undergraduate-style lecture on the structure and function of muscle, and how diseases can be treated by targeting receptor proteins with drugs that influence tissue function.
In small groups, students then got to tackle two practical experiments - an ileum preparation and a Langendorff heart preparation - which demonstrated the effects of various drugs on muscle tissue.
These budding scientists weren’t afraid to ask some seriously insightful questions to the post-doctoral staff and PhD students from the department either!
A final presentation evening was held at Corpus Christi College where students had to present their findings in the form of a poster - congratulations to Ellen Chaplin from Hills Road for winning the prize for best poster!
Prof. Alasdair Coles from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences then delivered an engaging talk about the trials and tribulations of getting the immunotherapy drug alemtuzumab, also known as Campath-1H, into the clinic to treat patients with multiple sclerosis and other immunological illnesses.
Hopefully the department will see some of these Young Pharmas return for their university studies in the future!
Young Pharmas 2018
Tuesday 20th March saw the culmination of the 2018 Young Pharmas course. Students from Hills Road, Long Road and Netherhall 6th form colleges completed two evenings of hands on experiments, followed by a 1-day masterclass where they were really able to get to grip with drug-receptor aspects of pharmacology.
On the final evening of the week, students had to present a poster on some aspect of their work and this year’s winner was Harry Hurst from Long Road - congratulations!
Before presentation of the poster prize, students, parents and staff were given an exciting talk by Dr Amy Milton from the Department of Psychology about the science of drug addiction, a talk that sparked a lot of questions from the audience.
