Public engagement in 2019

A summary page for the community outreach activities undertaken by LBEP researchers in 2019.

Hostbusters: still on call for 2020

2019 has been another busy and exciting year for LBEP, especially when it comes to community outreach!

Members of LBEP have helped with events like the Edinburgh Science Festival at the National Museum of Scotland, and they have also brought the Hostbusters activity to Lasswade Highschool as part of the Midlothian Science Festival Schools Programme 2019. The activity has seen some major changes over the year and after some hard work and dedication, it is more fun and engaging than ever!

As part of Hostbusters activity, students can learn about the spread of zoonotic diseases with extremely cute rubber animals covered in fluorescent powder. However, the big star of the activity is the newly developed HostBusters boardgame (pictured right). With incredible illustrations from Eliza Wolfson, the game offers a fun, colourful approach to learn all about bacterial host adaptation and other key aspects of LBEP research. In this board game the player has a chance to look at infection from the perspective of the bacterium. It starts with the hard decision of playing with either a Staphylococcus aureus or Escherichia coli and the goal is to change their virulence factors and get the right combination to infect as many different hosts as possible.

The game will continue to be used at community outreach events throughout 2020, aiming to share enthusiasm and inspire the next generation of budding bacteriologists.

Find Eliza Wolfson on twitter @eliza_coli