Leaps of Faith

In Science Education we are often teaching people about concepts in the abstract. Much of the molecular biosciences is invisible to the naked eye, and students need to take a cognitive leap of faith every time I attempt to hand draw diagrams to somehow represent tiny nano-machines operating with extraordinary precision across billions of living cells. My remedy for overt abstraction in my teaching is to make the connection between the subject material of the day, and students’ everyday lives. 

I present chemical structures of carbohydrates amidst a backdrop of glycaemic index and managing diabetes. 

I talk about bacterial cell walls through the prism of vaccine antigens, and choosing the right structures to target using antimicrobial therapies. 

This is not always easy, and I’m certainly guilty of a flawed metaphor or two.

Sometimes though (for better or worse) the stars align and your classes become relevant to the rest of the world overnight. Every microbiologist will remember a time when nobody cared about global pandemics unless it led directly to a Zombie apocalypse.  Our public discourse has been completely transformed since then, and much of the lexicon casually thrown around by health ministers would have once been considered epidemiological jargon unsuitable for general consumption.

Rapid Antigen Tests use the same underlying technology as ELISAs

Given this heightened level of public awareness, science educators must make the most of this environment and connect our work to people’s everyday lives.  My latest attempt at this focuses on the underlying technology used in the Rapid Antigen Tests that we’re all increasingly familiar with. 

BioLab Collective’s latest video is on Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA), where I walk through:

• The reagents and equipment;

• Experimental workflows and protocols;

• How the underlying technology used in ELISAs has advanced to the point where Rapid Antigen Tests can diagnose novel infections within 15 minutes.

Jack.