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A newsletter for people who live or work in the Somers Town area sePt 2012 | ISSUE8
Buskers celebrate science with Olympics fans
After weeks of preparation, training and rehearsals, the Crick’s science buskers were out in full force at St Pancras Station during the Olympic Games.
The Crick recruited 35 local volunteers to deliver an exciting programme of simple science demonstrations for people waiting to board trains to the Olympic Park. Activities included ‘Newton’s nightmare’, a magnetic experiment which shows an object resisting gravity; a rope trick which demonstrates how friction works; and physical activities testing people’s reaction times and balance.
“I thought they were fantastic – very entertaining and informative,” said Mark Scott, from Hackney.
“It was great when you saw the kids’ eyes light up as you showed them one of the tricks – you could definitely tell when they thought something was impressive,”
added busker Rob, who is also a student at nearby UCL (University College London).
The busking programme helped the volunteers gain new, transferable skills, and included two days of presentation and communication skills training. Camden resident and student Tasneem said: “It was good to think we’ve been taught something we can pass on to others and show that science is fun.”
The Crick’s busking team now hopes to take part in other events during the year.
To celebrate the Olympics, scientists from one of the Crick’s partners, Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, also visited Maria Fidelis School and Westminster Kingsway College to encourage students and teachers to take part in the Wellcome Trust’s In the Zone Olympics schools project.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE AT WWW.CRICK.AC.UK
aBOut the CriCK
The Francis Crick Institute (formerly UKCMRI), is a new medical research institute being built at Brill Place, Somers Town.
It’s named after one of the UK’s greatest scientists, who co-discovered the structure of DNA.
The Institute is a partnership between the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King's College London.
Discoveries made in the laboratories will speed up the development of treatments for major diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke.
The Francis Crick Institute will bring new jobs, community facilities and other benefits to Somers Town.
insiDe this issue •Newfilmshowsthe
Crick inside and out•Moreapprenticeships
on offer•Nature’sshoelaces–we
interview Julie Cooper•RichardCobdenstudents
check out life in the lab•Sciencewitha
strawberry
COMMUNITy
Above: Crick buskers demonstrate the rope trick.
new film shows the Crick inside and out
A new animated film shows how the Francis Crick Institute will look once the building is finished in 2015. The animation is highly detailed – lifting the designs, created by architects HOK and PLP Architecture, from the drawing board and bringing them to life in film.
The Crick’s Director, Sir Paul Nurse, said: “It’s essential the work done at the Crick is of the very highest standard and benefits the whole country. The film shows how the Institute’s location and architecture will help to deliver our vision by connecting scientists and encouraging creativity.”
To watch the film, go to www.crick.ac.uk/news/news-archive/2012/07/20/views-of-the-crick
symposium success More than 300 scientists met to share their research on metabolism (how the human body uses food to create energy and new cellular material), at the first Crick symposium in July.
The event focused on the role of metabolism in health and disease – an important area of research when the Crick opens in 2015.
Jim Smith, director of the National Institute for Medical Research, one of the Crick’s founding institutes, said: "The event was very successful, covering many aspects of normal metabolism, how these processes go wrong in cancer, diabetes or ageing, and how future research might lead to new therapies in those areas.
“Feedback was very positive and the event showed how scientists from across the Crick partners are already working together."
There will be three Crick symposia a year, each focusing on a scientific area connected to the Crick’s work. The next event will take place in November and will focus on infection and immunity.
Want tO FinD Out mOre?If you’d like to know more about what’s happening at the Crick you can now sign up for our email bulletin, Crick News. Published every two months, the bulletin includes news and features on the construction of the Crick, our research plans, and our public engagement with science activities. To sign up, email [email protected].
a Fresh lOOK FOr the CriCK On miDlanD rOaDThe Crick now has new site hoardings at the entrance to the construction site on Midland Road. The new hoarding panels are not only fresh and colourful, but are bigger and bolder too.
At the request of the local community, the old hoardings from Midland Road have been moved to Brill Place.
mOre CriCK COnstruCtiOn aPPrentiCeshiPs On OFFer With construction of the Crick well underway, more apprenticeships will soon be available on the Crick site. From the autumn, apprenticeships on offer will include brickwork, blockwork and drylining. From spring 2013 there will be opportunities in carpentry, joinery and tiling. Apprenticeships are paid, last two years and include on-the-job training, as well as day-release study at college.To apply for an apprenticeship, you should be aged 18-24, live in Camden, and want to work in the construction industry. To find out more call the King’s Cross Construction Skills Centre (KCCSC) on 020 7974 5161. KCCSC also handles recruitment for other jobs on the Crick construction site. Contact them for information on any jobs available on site now.
nature’s shoelaces – an interview with Julie CooperJulie Cooper runs the Telomere Biology Laboratory at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute. Her research focuses on 'telomeres', structures that cap the ends of chromosomes, like plastic caps on the ends of shoelaces.
All body cells contain long strings called chromosomes in the control centre of the cell (the nucleus). The chromosomes are made of DNA. This is the genetic code – the blueprint for a human being. DNA is a bit like an instruction manual for building the body and keeping it healthy.
In the same way that our shoelaces have little plastic caps on their ends that stop them from fraying, our chromosomes are capped by structures called telomeres that protect them.
In most of our cells, the telomeres get progressively shorter throughout life. When they get too short, the cells stop dividing. But cancer cells can renew their telomeres, which means they can become immortal.
Julie and her team are investigating how telomeres work, to identify new ways to treat cancer.
Tell us about your researchOur research focuses on what telomeres do and how they work, which isn’t fully understood yet. There’s an interesting and complex relationship between telomeres, ageing and cancer.
Telomeres play a vital role in protecting the ends of chromosomes. This helps ensure that a perfect copy of our genetic information is passed on each time cells divide, in turn preventing the development of cancer cells.
But every time our cells divide we lose a little bit of DNA from the ends of our chromosomes. So the loss of telomeres can be associated with causing the early stages of cancer and is also a mark of ageing – both of humans and cells.
We have a special enzyme in our cells called telomerase that helps stop the loss of DNA when our cells divide, but it’s only turned on in the cells that make sperm and eggs, and in our stem cells. Once the embryo starts to develop the body turns off telomerase.
Telomerase is also switched on in most cancer cells and this is how they are able to keep dividing and, unlike ordinary cells, make themselves immortal. This makes telomeres and telomerase interesting potential targets for anti-cancer drugs.
How will the work you’re doing help tackle cancer?We use yeast cells for our research. This is because the basics of yeast cells are just like human cells, and you can manipulate them very precisely in ways that you can’t do yet with human cells.
So in our work we’re learning how things work and creating hints we hope might be taken up by people working on human cells. So far every principle we’ve derived in the lab has turned out to be true when it can be studied in human cells.
How will the Crick benefit your work?One of great things about being part of a big institute like the Crick is the opportunity to talk to and work with people doing all sorts of different research. For example, that might include mathematicians who are developing ways to deal with some of the data that we generate in our research, or brainstorming sessions with researchers in hospitals. You can get more synergies by workingin this way.
It’s also a great opportunity to share our work with the local community. After the Ask a Nobel scientist schools event that the Crick helped organise earlier this year I’ve had secondary school students come and chat to me, and now I have someone working in my lab. This is what we need to do – to share with people how interesting science is and that it’s fun.
Would you recommend a science career to other women?Some decades ago in some parts of the world there was discrimination against women scientists, but this is disappearing and I haven’t encountered anything like that.
I think science is a great career for a woman – and for a woman who wants to have a family. Of course, like every job you have to work hard but the great thing is you’re doing something that’s exciting. It is also a very flexible way of working.
I’d like young women to understand that’s the case because we don’t have enough of them!
To find out more about Julie’s work go to http://www.london-research-institute.org.uk/research/julie-cooper
With thanks to Kat Arney, Cancer Research UK.
RESEARCH FOCUS
lab visit for richard Cobden Primary pupilsPupils and staff from Richard Cobden Primary School have paid a visit to scientists at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in north London, one of the Crick’s founding institutes.
Thirty Year Six children took part in a special day hosted by Dr Bill Jarra, a researcher in the Division of Parasitology (a branch of biology which deals with organisms that live off other living creatures). The pupils spent the day talking to scientists who work to understand diseases and infections, as well as doing their own experiments to see whether boys or girls are better at washing their hands, and whether soap is as effective as hand sanitizer gel!
Karla Martin-Theodore, a teacher at Richard Cobden Primary, said the children returned to school “buzzing” from their experience, while Dr Bill Jarra was amazed by the enthusiasm the children showed.
“The children were great and engaged with all of us throughouttheday–sometimesbringingsomeofthespeakers(including myself) up short with some very challenging questions.”
Futures Week at maria Fidelis Convent schoolStaff from the Crick and Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute joined organisations from across the capital for a speed networking careers event at Maria Fidelis Convent School in July.
More than 60 Year 10 students were able to speak to both a scientist and a Crick communications specialist at the event, which aimed to promote the different career choices and pathways available to young people.
Crick awards first ‘community chest’ grant The Crick has awarded its first ‘community chest’ grant to a local tenants’ organisation wishing to improve a communal garden.
Cooper’s Lane Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA) applied for funding to put a pond and new plants in the garden, which was created by local residents several years ago.
Lil Scott, chair of Cooper’s Lane TRA said: “It’s a lovely space, and we hope that more residents will now use it – and get involved in looking after it. We want to get a team of volunteers together who are interested in gardening.”
Residents are also growing their own fruit and vegetables in the garden, which is linked to the tenants’ hall. The TRA plans to make one of the plots available to local schoolchildren.
The Crick’s community chest provides small grants to local community organisations and groups for projects that help improve health and wellbeing in the local area. To be eligible for funding the project must take place within a one-mile radius of the Crick’s site on Brill Place NW1 1HG.
“We are keen to support community groups with ideas for projects that benefit people living locally. The funding can be used to set up something new, or to enable groups to develop existing activities,” said Katie Matthews, the Crick’s community engagement manager.
For more information about the community chest, call 0800 028 6731 or email [email protected]. To find out about Cooper’s Lane communal garden, call 020 7388 8114.
Above: The ponds in Cooper's Lane communal garden.
Above: Measuring a model of the longest tapeworm ever found.
FOllOW us OnFor news about the Francis Crick Institute follow @thecrick.
Crick at the Big Bang Fair Students from Camden schools including Maria Fidelis, La Sainte Union and Quintin Kynaston met staff from the Crick and scientists from its founding institutes at the Big Bang Fair in July.
The London heat of the national schools science competition was held at Westminster Kingsway College. The Crick awarded a prize for collaboration, which was won by the Science Club at Fort Pitt School in Chatham, north Kent.
The students invented a device called ‘Nellie Floats’, that saves both water and money at their school. The group demonstrated excellent teamwork, and showed a commitment to working closely with businesses in their local community to help design and manufacture the invention.
Work experience success Twelve young volunteers from the Prince’s Trust recently joined construction firm Laing O’Rourke for two weeks to gain work experience and learn basic construction skills.
Their first project was at St Aloysius Convent in Somers Town, where the volunteers transformed a rundown communal garden, planting new herbs and shrubs, and painting fences, benches and a greenhouse. They also made new bird boxes and a new compost area for the garden.
Volunteers spent the second week at a sports centre in west London, where they transformed a recreation area, tennis courts and playing field, rebuilt pathways and cut down overgrown areas.
Finally they got to spend a day at the Crick site learning how a large construction project is run.
Feedback from the young people was extremely positive, and one of them has since been offered a job on the Crick site.
“It’s been a brilliant two weeks working with Laing O’Rourke and a really amazing experience” said Jack, aged 22.
“Getting to spend a day on site was the highlight, and seeing the size and scale of the project and how the logistics of the site works. It was great as all of the team bonded and worked well together.”
sCienCe With a straWBerryOver eight days in July a group of young people from Somers Town learned about the history of the universe, produced a newspaper with the help of The Guardian, and extracted DNA from strawberries with a scientist from one of the Crick’s founding institutes.
Run by Global Generation, a community organisation that teaches young people about “urban agriculture”, the Big Bang summer holiday project gave the 12 youngsters aged 11-16 the chance to develop their writing and public speaking skills and learn about environmental sustainability.
“There is a scientist in all of us, and I was lucky enough to meet a real scientist from the Francis Crick Institute. We looked at DNA and bacteria; it was interesting to see how we extract DNA. Today was a great day," 11-year-old Ruman said.
Maria Ocampo-Hafalla, from Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, who worked with the young people, was equally impressed by the experience.
“They were engaged, curious, observant, and skilled. They picked up things so quickly. I loved how hands-on and enthusiastic everyone was. “It was a real privilege to share the afternoon with them,” she said.
For more information about Global Generation, go to www.globalgeneration.org.uk.
Festival funCrick staff and science buskers joined children’s writers and illustrators at this year’s Pop Up Festival of Stories in London’s King’s Cross in June, and local community groups at the Somers Town Festival of Cultures (START Festival) in July.
Visitors to both festivals got the chance to take part in some hands-on science activities with the Crick’s buskers, as well as find out more about the new institute.
It was the fifth year that the Crick has taken part in the START festival, and despite the rain, spirits remained high with children, parents, and even the local police taking part in the science busking activities.
Scientists from Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute were also at the START Festival, using colourful models to reveal the structure of DNA, while construction firm Laing O’Rourke brought along its mascot, Ivor Goodsite, to entertain the crowds.
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GET IN TOUCHIf you have any questions, please contact us.
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.crick.ac.uk
Phone: 0800 028 6731
Facebook: facebook.com/ thefranciscrickinstitute
Twitter: @thecrick
Post: The Francis Crick Institute Gibbs Building 215 Euston Road London, NW1 2BE
Visit: The Crick Visitor Centre, Ossulston Street (opposite Hadstock House), NW1 1HG
Staff will be on hand to answer your questions and you will be able to see the latest designs and plans for the building.
OPENING TIMES Thursdays: 14.00-18.30We can also open the Visitor Centre for groups on request.
Progress on site has continued steadily over the summer months and the building is now visible above the hoardings. The team on site have now worked a total of 750,000 man hours since they started 16 months ago.
The ground floor has now been finished on the south east corner of the site (the junction of Midland Road and the British Library), allowing work to start on the block above. Drainage work in the north east part of the site continues, enabling Laing O’Rourke to build the last section of the basement. Building work on the second floor at the Ossulslton street end of the site is progressing rapidly and work is beginning on the installation of the stair and lift shafts.
Laing O’Rourke has also moved its site cabins and staff facilities to the Ossulston Street side of the site. There are now over 100 cabins on 4 floors which will accommodate up to 1,000 site workers and 250 office staff in the coming months. The main site pedestrian entrance is now also located on Ossulston Street but vehicles will continue to enter and exit via Midland Road.
Outline timetaBleEarly Summer 2011 Building work started.
Spring 2013 External work completed, internal fit-out starts.
Spring 2015 Internal works completed. The building is ready for use and staff move in.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Construction questions? Call the construction hotline free on 0808 165 0180, or email [email protected]
This newsletter tells you about the Francis Crick Institute and its plans to build a medical research centre on Brill Place, Somers Town. If you would like a copy in Bengali, please send your name and address to The Francis Crick Institute, Gibbs Building, 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE or email [email protected].
