The role of trace metals in neurodegenerative diseases

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 chemistry, biology and engineering.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Professor Jo Collingwood, Head of the Trace Metals in Medicine Laboratory, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, UK. She and a team of engineers, biologists and chemists are using innovative synchrotron techniques to find out whether trace metals in the brain are linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

• This resource also contains interviews with Jo and and the rest of the team, offering an insight into how research projects often need people with a wide range of expertise. If your students have questions for Jo or other members of the team, they can send them to them online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). They will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Jo’s research and tasks them to study an image of brain tissue, used by the team.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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