On 15–16 September, the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław took part in this year’s Lower Silesian Science Festival. Over the course of two days, the Institute welcomed pupils and teachers, who had the opportunity to learn more about the research carried out at IIET PAS and to see what scientists’ work in the laboratory looks like.

The first day of the Festival at the IIET PAS took the form of demonstrations and laboratory workshops. Participants were able to learn, amongst other things, how vaccines are developed, how scientists search for viruses, what bacteriophages are and how they can be observed, as well as what happens to a cell when its normal functioning is disrupted. There were also experiments relating to fluorescence and its use in scientific research.

On the first day, 277 pupils and 28 teachers took part in the events.

The second day, 16 September, featured lectures on topics including microbiology and virology. The programme also included the ‘On First-Name Terms with Genetics’ competition, in which participants tackled tasks in both written and oral sections.

A total of 105 pupils and 10 teachers took part in the day’s events.

In total, 382 pupils and 38 teachers took part in the Lower Silesian Science Festival at the IIET PAS over the two days.

Taking part in the Lower Silesian Science Festival provided an opportunity to popularise knowledge in the fields of immunology, microbiology, virology and genetics, as well as to show young people what research work involves and how many questions science still has yet to answer.

We would like to thank all participants for their interest, active involvement and numerous questions, and the staff at the IIET PAS for their commitment to organising and running this year’s events.

Below is a photo report from the two days of the Lower Silesian Science Festival at the IIET PAS.