10 A niversary of IIMCB

Centre for Innovative Bioscience
Education (CIBE)
(Formerly: Science Festival School)
The aim of the Center for Innovative Bioscience Education
(CIBE) is to reduce the gap between science and society in
Poland by conducting educational activities popularizing
biology: workshops for students and all interested
participants as well as courses for biology teachers and
various science communication events. All activities are
focused on improving biology education and awareness of
biology in society. The co-founders of CIBE are as follows:
International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB),
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAN (NIEB), Institute
of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAN (IBB), Warsaw University
of Life Sciences (SGGW), BioEducation Foundation and
Warsaw Science Festival. IIMCB hosts the CIBE laboratory,
office and administration. Additionally, CIBE leads another
laboratory at Warsaw University of Life Sciences. In 2008,
over 1,600 young participants visited laboratory workshops.
At the same time, over 200 biology teachers attended
laboratory workshops and courses, approximately 350
children attended hands-on practice experiments.
12 th Science Picnic (14 June 2008)
Like in previous years, The BioEducation Foundation and
CIBE organized an exhibition and science show during the
12 th Science Picnic in Warsaw. The year 2008’s motto was
“The language of science”.
• Can you see DNA? – DNA isolation from onion
• How scientific investigation works? – hands-on practice
experiments
• Let’s become a researcher! – children could make their
own investigations on Picnic’s visitors
• The magic of colors – how the pH indication works.
Science Festival
The goal of the XII Warsaw Science Festival (19-28
September 2008) was to make people to realize that the future
of our country depends on our ability to use achievements of
science as well as their practical applications in our social life.
The Science Festival is organized every year by scientists, not
by the government. About 140 scientific institutes and about
1000 scientists are involved every year in the organization of
this event. In 2008 CIBE organized laboratory workshops for
open public and for school groups such as:
• “Explore your own DNA”
• “Do you know, what you eat?”
• “Yeast – the leaving micro-factory”
• “Investigate evolution signs in your DNA”
“Explore the biological world by yourself” was the title
of our presentations during XII Science Festival in Jabłonna
Palace, 28 September 2008. The same presentations were
repeated during X Science and Art Festival in Siedlce in
October 2008.
Laboratory workshops
Guests of our biological laboratory may take part in real
life experiments and learn how to use laboratory techniques
and equipment. The practical experiments are always
supported by lectures presenting the theoretical basis of
molecular biology, genetics and its techniques. A total
number of 1,606 students visited CIBE laboratories last year.
The workshops for secondary school students take one day.
We offered the following themes:
• Explore your own DNA - examining DNA by PCR methods
• Let’s play with bacteria – plasmid isolation and restriction
map
• Green bacteria – bacteria transformation with GFP gene
• Protein fingerprint of different tissues
• Miracles of biotechnology – purification of jellyfish protein
from bacteria
• Investigate evolution signs in your DNA – methods of
molecular evolution
• Yeast – the leaving micro-factory
• Do you know, what you eat?
Department of Molecular Biology 77