Around 830 school students across India perform DNA isolation at 33 CSIR Labs

New Delhi: A scientific activity was carried out by the Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) in its laboratories across the country. The Delhi based constituent laboratory of CSIR namely Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) coordinated the activity by connecting simultaneously to all the other laboratories of CSIR through online mode.

The event was inaugurated by Dr Souvik Maiti, Director, CSIR-IGIB. Dr Geetha Vani Rayasam, Head, CSIR-HRDG. On the occasion, a number of senior scientists from various CSIR labs, teachers and school students were also present.

About thirty school students of class 9 at each of the participating CSIR laboratories isolated DNA from their own saliva using the DNA isolation kits under the guidance of Dr. Beena Pillai, Chief Scientist and Dr. Arya Sidharthan, science communicator from CSIR-IGIB.

Through this exercise, the students learned about the scientific principles of cell structure and chemical nature of DNA. Finally, the students were given a short questionnaire designed to evaluate their understanding of scientific principles, and assess their scientific aptitude.

The outcome of the pilot study of scientific aptitude assessment followed by a larger study, is expected to help not only the students in making STEM career choices suited to their aptitude but also policy makers in designing curriculum and align with New Education Policy 2020.

In the scientific event, around 830 students joined the live interaction from 33 CSIR labs located across the country. At CSIR-IGIB, students of Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Air Force Station, Hindan, Ghaziabad participated in the activity. They also visited the laboratories and interacted with scientists.

This scientific aptitude assessment was carried out under the CSIR-Jigyasa platform which is a flagship outreach program that connects school students to scientists at CSIR labs and so far from 2017 onwards about 10 lakhs school students have participated in the program.