\Balfron High
Trip to the Beatson Research Institute On Wednesday, March 14, eight Balfron High School students visited the Beatson Cancer Research Institute in Bearsden to hear about the latest developments in the fight against cancer as well as experience a tour of the institute’s laboratories. The informative night began with workshops which included extracting DNA from strawberries, learning how our genetic code affects our sense of taste and the use of fruit flies to model the growth of cancer in humans - possibly because we share 70 per cent of the same genes. After the workshops there were four research talks. The first was an evaluation of brain cancer (glibostoma) treatment methods and the survival rates. The second explored the effect of metabolism and diet on cancer progression and how difficult it is to evaluate and control. Talk three further investigated this topic, addressing the harmful effect of oxidants on the body, but how we can control them. The final talk discussed the effectiveness of using mice to model the behaviour of cancers in a complex living body. Afterwards there was a guided tour of the labs which gave an excellent insight into what it’s like to work in medical research. The tour included seeing a mass spectrometer to identify chemicals, a culture lab where cancer cells are grown to evaluate the impact of drug technologies. The tour also highlighted state-of-the art microscope equipment, with one system using lasers to produce a magnification of x 50000, while another microscope used lasers to “cut out” tiny tissue samples for further investigation. The pupils Ross Stevenson, Craig Barr, Freddy Morley, Louise Pacteau, Eva Mailer, Elizabeth Thompson, Amy MacDonald and Grace Donald - all found the experience fulfilling and extremely interesting. They described the night as “a fantastic insight into the world of medical research and the fight against cancer, how different equipment and theories are tested”. They all hope to pursue a career in the world of medicine or medical research and are particularly encouraged to do so after this inspiring event. Equestrian news Katie Henderson came fourth in her first Junior 2 star competition and also won the Junior 2 star pas de deux with Kerri Brylka. The squad did a great job and came a very tight second.