Team:Bulgaria/publicEng
BioFest 2018
On May 3rd this year our Faculty Student Council held a Biology Festival at our university. We, as a team, had the opportunity to present ourselves and our project idea to all the visitors and even show high school students the basics of lab work.
Sofia Science Festival 2018
Sofia Tech Park had their annual Science Festival on May 12th and they were kind enough to invite us to be a part of such an amazing initiative. We once again practiced presenting in front of large crowds of people, but also showed the guests a few fun science experiments in the hopes of intriguing the kids. There we held our first big “experiment” so to say - over 60 people, not only kids, participated in the “What bacteria I have on my hands?” game. This event was our first major event together, as a team and served as a great team building experience.
The Molecular Biology Bscs’ Practice on Genetics
Our faculty’s students are all obliged to attend a 4-day long practice on Genetics in the end of the second summer semester, where assistants from the Department of Genetics show them around the labs and give them the chance to work on a little project of their own. Mika and Asya were a big help to our PI, Slavil, as he was the chosen assistant to supervise their course.
APE
The organisation APE (Appetite for Practical Education) held their Festival of the Open Interests, where chemists, biologists, physicians and technicians showcased captivating practical experiments. Slavena, together with a few other colleagues, participated in the biology section of the event.
European Researchers’ Night 2018
On September 28th, 2018, the annual European Researchers' Night was held. Our team was invited to present the iGEM competition and our own work at the Sofia Tech Park event, therefore shedding some light on science in Bulgaria and around the world.
And, for our youngest visitors, we came up with the Rose Drawing Contest. Who knew drawing and/or coloring flowers could be such a hit? Roses are the symbol of the Association of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis -our current project’s target. The winner of the competition, Kalina, was given the opportunity to visit our laboratory, learn about what machines do what and draw roses with real bacteria, not just on paper.
Freshers’ Days : BF Edition
In the beginning of every academic year, our faculty’s Student Council organises the so-called Freshers’ Days. Held in two days, various games and presentations targeting freshmen, but not limited to them, are held in our faculty. This year, we were invited to speak about the competition as a whole and our project in particular. After this, we had a little tete-a-tete meeting with a few of the freshmen for more details regarding the competition and how to become a part of the team.
Youth Seminar on Genetics 2018
The Department of Genetics at our faculty organized the Second Seminar on Genetics with International Participation, where each one of us participated in the poster session with an individual poster. On the second and third day, we also conducted a workshop on basic molecular cloning protocols we used for our iGEM project.
