HPA project explained to young people
In a recent article published in the journal Frontiers for Young Minds, researchers in the HPA project at IGP explain in a simple way what the project is about. The journal is aimed at children and young people, but anyone curious about how scientists can study cells and tissues in the human body can benefit from reading the article. The authors also encourage other scientists to write about their research in the journal.
In the article, Filippa Bertilsson, Cecilia Lindskog and Loren Méar describe how researchers are exploring the human body in the same way that Vikings and other adventurers explored new parts of the world. With pictures and simple text, they explain how tissue samples are collected and prepared, and how they are then analysed to find out which proteins are present in different tissues and cells. They also show some results from the project, such as what cancer cells look like and how proteins in cells from the fallopian tubes can be detected.
The researchers involved think it’s both fun and important to contribute to children’s curiosity, so when they found the journal Frontiers for Young Minds, they decided to write an article about the group’s work.
“The writing both great fun and educational, but also a huge challenge – how would we explain antibody-based multiplex staining in an understandable way? The reviewers are children aged 8–15 and we had no idea how our text would go down with them. But they were the nicest and sweetest comments we ever got on a text. It was also incredibly good training for communicating your science in a simple way, so we can really recommend others to do the same!” says Filippa Bertilsson.
Om Frontiers for Young Minds
- The journal aims to make new research accessible to a younger audience by allowing children and young people to work with scientists to write articles that are exciting, understandable and scientifically accurate.
- Researchers are invited to write about their research in a way that children and young people can understand. Young people then review the articles and provide feedback to the authors on how to improve the text before it is published.
- The articles in the journal cover a range of research areas in science, technology and medicine.