The fourth annual research open day at UCLH attracted hundreds of visitors today.
The special exhibition of research saw three floors of University College Hospital accommodate over 40 interactive stalls where researchers demonstrated the latest technology and techniques tackling conditions such as cancer, neurological diseases and diabetes.
Over 40 students from local secondary schools attended; they were given talks by researchers and had opportunity to ask questions such as what a normal working day is like for a researcher and which challenges they have faced. After the talks the students went on a special tour of the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health and saw a surgical simulation in the UCLH Education Centre.
There were prizes for the best research stand and Healthcare Engineering scooped first prize with their exceptional exhibition of how technology can help medicine. Runners up were the Microbiology team who offered visitors a chance to see how clean their hands were under a special light.
Visitors were able to give ‘injections’ of a radioactive tracer to models; see epilepsy surgery demonstrations; make DNA origami; and test their upper limb strength.
There was also opportunity to find out how to volunteer at UCLH; learn about library resources available across the trust; and sign up for special tours of the UCLH Clinical Research Facility, the site for UCLH’s new integrated proton beam therapy centre and UCLH Arts and Heritage which covered six floors of the MacMillan Cancer Centre
UCLH Director of Research Professor Bryan Williams said: “Research is pivotal in helping keep the NHS at the forefront of medical care and our patients and the public are at the heart of what we do, from helping shape the questions we ask in our research to participating in trials. The open day was an exciting way of sharing the wide scope of our work and saying thank you to our patients for supporting our research. Many thanks also to our fabulous stall holders whose energy and enthusiasm is inspirational.”
