On Friday 12 March, Scottish students got a chance to go behind the scenes and discover how science is used in business. The ‘Open Doors’ event was part of the Scottish Government’s ‘Do something creative. Do science’ campaign.

Companies across the country opened their doors to secondary school pupils in a bid to develop understanding of how science is used every day in Scotland.

“It is a scientist’s job to make sense of the world we live in; there is so much variety in the work they do and the career opportunities are limitless. We hope by giving young people the chance to experience what it is like to be a sound technician, a zoo-keeper, an astronomer, a researcher or an inventor first-hand, they will get to see that by continuing to study science they can lay the foundations for a rewarding career”  said Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland .

At the Roslin BioCentre near Edinburgh, Ingenza, BigDNA, and Roslin Cellab  took part, entertaining more than 30 students from nearby Beeslack High School and Penicuik High School with laboratory demonstrations and a peek into the lives of scientists who have continued on in the field beyond the school lab bench.  

Dr Robert Speight, Head of Biosciences at Ingenza, said:
"We are really pleased to be able to offer young people an insight into how interesting and exciting science can be.  They will be able to see first hand how challenging, relevant and useful scientific research is. Hopefully after visiting Ingenza, pupils will feel that continuing to study science is important and can lead to a range of fascinating and rewarding careers."

Ingenza is a dynamic biotechnology and bioprocess unit of Richmond Chemical Corporation. Ingenza provides cost efficient and practical scale methods to manufacture chiral chemicals, biopharaceuticals and biofuels.

Big DNA, last month’s winner of Scottish Enterprise’s ‘New Life Sciences Company’ has patented and commercialised new technology for making viral vaccines which don’t require needles, allowing them to be made more quickly and cost-effectively.

John March, founder of Big DNA Ltd said:
“We are delighted to welcome young people to visit our labs at Roslin as part of Open Doors Science Week. I am always keen to encourage the next generation to think about a career in science. I never got that opportunity when I was younger and there are so many opportunities in the future – the future of our world depends on scientists and there are quite frankly, not enough of them!   Here at Big DNA we have a very young team of scientists who are all highly committed to our goal of finding new ways to administer vaccines which will save millions of lives in years to come. The research we have to do to achieve this will take years and I hope that our young visitors will learn a bit more about how science and business works together on their visit.”