Super Science Saturday

Cancer science amidst the oceans.

The Museum of Natural History holds weekly ‘Family Friendly Sundays’; no booking - just drop in.

Twice a year they also run their Super Science Saturdays.

Each Super Science event has a theme, and on the 23 November 2019 the theme was Oceans.

Oncology has been a near constant feature at these events since the early days of their predecessor ‘Wow!How?’

It’s been 14 years since we first made our appearance; this time the museum staff were very curious – how could we possibly fit our work into the theme of Oceans? 

No problem! One of the major themes of cancer research is to figure out how cancer cells are re-wired to turn a healthy cell into the dynamic survivor that is a cancer cell.

One way to do this is to borrow the fluorescent protein GFP from Aequorea Victoria, a jellyfish native to the north Pacific Ocean.

Our scientists spent 23 November helping people understand how DNA works and how the protein from a jellyfish can be added to a cancer cell, where the fluorescence helps us to piece together the jigsaw of proteins that make the cancer cell work.

The Museum of Natural a fabulous venue and we wouldn’t miss it for the world. The next event will be 14 Mar – the theme?  Biodiversity.  We’ll be there.

For more information on the Museum of Natural History's events please visit their website - https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/