Thursday, November 06, 2008
October 2008 saw a great variety of DNA-related activities in The Netherlands. A large number of universities, research institutes, observatories, companies, museums and libraries brought science and technology closer to the public. Several NGI Genomics Centres took part in the national 'October Month of Knowledge'.
One of the projects is called ‘The Dutch Genome’. Last June, 250 high school students in six cities collected a swab from the inside of their cheeks. The Centre for Society and Genomics (CSG) sent these samples to the lab of National Geographic in the USA. The lab identified the migration of the students’ ancestors from Africa 60,000 years ago to the Netherlands. In October, Peter de Knijff (ambassador of October Month of Knowledge), director of the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands, explained the results to the public.
Another initiative by the CSG, in collaboration with the LUX Nijmegen, was the Biotopia programme, which concerns the impact of knowledge about genetics on our daily life. The knowledge helps us improve plants, convict criminals and produce biofuels. Still: are we happy in Biotopia? Does this knowledge really improve the quality of our lives? There was also a debate on how far society can and must go in saving DNA samples of criminals. Participants were Peter de Knijff and Victor Toom of the University of Amsterdam.
Food was the central theme in Wageningen. Food4You was the name of the five-day festival on the effects of food on our health. It attracted some 12,000 visitors on 4 October. In the Knowledge Pavillion, a large number of tests, films and exhibitions informed visitors of the latest developments in science. Food4You was partly dedicated to the potato. Visitors to the Hot Potato Tent were introduced to the origins of the potato and challenged to extract the DNA from a potato. Participants were the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), Centre for BioSystems Genomics, Nutrigenomics Consortium and Mobile DNA Labs.
In the NEMO science centre in Amsterdam, thirteen scientists informed the public on the latest developments in medicine, alpha, beta and gamma science. Among them were Nobel prize winner Gerard ‘t Hooft, virologist Ab Osterhaus (VIRGO Consortium) and Peter de Knijff.
www.oktoberkennismaand.nl