How do proteins affect heart health?

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 biology.

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 resource introduces the work of Professor Beverly Rothermel, a molecular biologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the US. She is investigating the role of the protein RCAN1 in cardiac health.

• This resource also contains an interview with Bev and offers an insight into careers in molecular biology. If your students have questions for Bev, they can send them to her 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). Bev will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Bev’s research and challenges them to use their creative talents to explain the complex concepts of molecular biology.

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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