Students at the Secondary School Angeleta Ferrer in Barcelona had the occasion to know the B-BRIGHTER project and learn about 3D bioprinting and in vitro models.
In the context of a collaboration between the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Secondary School Angeleta Ferrer in Barcelona, Núria Torras and Marcel Sorribas, participated in this educational activity and worked side by side with a group of 6 students, introducing them to the subject of 3D bioprinting and the development of tissue models with complex structures, like the intestine or skin, using a light-based bioprinter. Núria and Marcel are both B-BRIGHTER researchers at the Biomimetic Systems for Cell Engineering group at IBEC.
During February and March, the group of 12-year-old students from the Institut Angeleta Ferrer School worked closely with Núria and Marcel, developing a scientific project. Using the B-BRIGHTER project as a starting point, the students learned about the scientific method and how researchers organize their ideas and practical experiments to reach a scientifically relevant conclusion. Also, they discovered that the tissue models being developed in B-BRIGHTER project have the final aim of replacing animal testing for drug development and disease studies.
Afterwards, they applied this knowledge to different scientific topics they were studying at school, related to plant germination and how plants get the energy they need to live. Students developed a hypothesis, designed experiments to test it, obtained results, and drew some conclusions. All this work was done in close collaboration with Núria and Marcel, who went to the school and met the students online several times to fine-tune the details of their projects.
At the end of the activity, the projects were presented as scientific posters in a “mini congress,” attended by teachers, family, and friends. In addition to gaining scientific knowledge, the students had the opportunity to meet two researchers up close and learn about their careers and the day-to-day life of someone dedicated to experimental science.