Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
What does a cell look like at a resolution beyond the reach of a conventional microscope? Why do scientists need tiny zebra fish? And what can genes and cells tell us about how the human body works and how diseases develop? During Researchers’ Night, the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IMG) opened its laboratories to the public, showing that modern biological research is driven not only by cutting-edge technologies, but above all by people, their ideas, collaboration and curiosity.
On Friday, 25 September, approximately 600 visitors came to IMG. Eight interactive stations, seven laboratory tours and two popular science lectures were waiting for them. Teams from IMG’s research infrastructures joined forces with PhD students, postdocs, research group leaders and colleagues from administration to prepare the programme. This diversity allowed visitors to discover many facets of modern molecular biology – from the basic principles of how cells and DNA work to technologies that enable scientists to observe structures far beyond the resolving power of the human eye.
A major part of the programme was presented by teams involved in the large research infrastructure Czech-BioImaging, which gives scientists access to cutting-edge imaging technologies, expert know-how and methods that are often too complex and costly to be used by a single laboratory alone. Sharing is at the heart of such infrastructures – between research teams and institutions, as well as internationally. This allows advanced technologies to serve a wide range of research questions and connects experts across disciplines and countries.
At the Playing with Electrons station and during the electron microscopy tour, visitors discovered how a beam of electrons can be used instead of light to reveal structures far smaller than those visible with a conventional light microscope. 3D STED super-resolution microscopy offered another journey into the microscopic world, overcoming some of the limitations of conventional light microscopy to reveal extremely fine cellular structures. Light-sheet microscopy, meanwhile, demonstrated how larger biological samples can be imaged in three dimensions to provide information about their spatial organisation.
Modern imaging technologies therefore allow scientists not only to determine what is present in cells and tissues, but also where individual structures are located, how they are organised and how they change. It is the combination of cutting-edge instrumentation and the expertise of the people who know how to use it that continues to push the boundaries of what we can learn about living organisms.
During the Zebra Fish Facility tour, visitors met the zebrafish (Danio rerio), a small fish that has become an important model organism in modern biology. Its embryos are almost transparent during the early stages of development, allowing scientists to observe organs developing within a living organism under a microscope. Many genes involved in fundamental biological processes also have corresponding counterparts in humans and zebrafish. Studying this tiny fish can therefore help scientists address important questions about how organisms develop and function.
The CZ-OPENSCREEN research infrastructure offered another perspective on the journey from fundamental research towards potential practical applications. In the Finding a Needle in a Haystack activity, visitors discovered what it means to search through large numbers of chemical compounds for one capable of influencing a particular biological process. Systematically screening extensive compound libraries helps scientists identify new tools for studying cellular mechanisms and can represent one of the first steps on the long journey towards future therapeutic applications.
Other stations demonstrated just how broad the field of modern molecular biology is. The Fluorescence Trail proved particularly popular, allowing visitors to experience phenomena that scientists use to label and track specific molecules, cells and structures. The From Carrots to Skulls station connected vitamin A, retinoic acid and skull development, demonstrating the crucial role molecular signals can play in shaping a developing organism. At the Czech-Cell Dictionary station, children explored the language of cells in a playful way. A tour of the molecular biology laboratory offered visitors a glimpse into an environment where scientists work with DNA and other biological molecules every day. During Mammals as Unique Architects: How Is a Mammary Gland Built?, visitors discovered how cells multiply, specialise, communicate with one another and organise themselves into increasingly complex structures until they form a functional tissue and organ.
All these activities were connected by a question at the very heart of fundamental research: how does life actually work? How do molecules and cells communicate? How are tissues and organs formed, and what controls their proper function? Fundamental research generates knowledge even when we cannot predict in advance where that knowledge will eventually find an application. Yet discoveries of this kind have repeatedly laid the foundations for technologies and treatments that we now take for granted. If we want to understand and eventually repair what goes wrong in disease, we first need to understand how life works.
This year, there was also a special space for our youngest visitors. The Creative Laboratory for Young Scientists introduced children to IMG research through hands-on activities and simple stories about DNA, cells, bacteria, blood, the brain, microscopes and zebrafish. Using discarded laboratory materials, children created their own souvenirs, giving objects normally found in a laboratory a new life. There was also a scientist photo booth, where children and their parents could put on lab coats and become real scientists – at least for a moment.
And some experiments could continue at home. Children took away Petri dishes containing agar medium, which they could cough onto and then observe what began to grow over the following days. This allowed them to discover with their own eyes the world of microorganisms that normally remains invisible, even though it is constantly present around and on us. As visible colonies gradually appeared, the children could also begin to understand why we cover our mouths when we cough and why washing our hands is more than just a rule made up by parents.
Children were guided through the entire IMG programme by their own“scientific mission” – a stamp-collecting game connecting all eight interactive stations and seven laboratory tours. By visiting activities and completing tasks, they collected stamps while gradually discovering different areas of research at IMG. Once they had collected enough stamps, they could choose a small reward.
The aim of all these activities was to introduce children to important ideas in an engaging and accessible way, but above all to awaken their curiosity and desire to explore – and to show them that science is not simply about knowing the right answers. It begins much earlier, with being observant, staying curious and having the courage to ask: Why? How? What if…? These are the questions from which new knowledge grows – and perhaps future scientists as well.
The programme also featured two popular science lectures. In Artificial and Synthetic Life, Jan Pačes explored questions at the intersection of contemporary biology and the possibilities opened up by new technologies. In Genes Are Not Destiny, Libor Macůrek explained what we can really learn from our genetic information and why our genes alone do not determine the course of our lives.
From different perspectives, both lectures demonstrated that molecular genetics is far from an abstract discipline confined to laboratories. It touches on questions of health, disease, heredity and development, as well as how society may use new biological technologies in the future.
Researchers’ Night was also a joint event organised by scientific institutions across the Czech Academy of Sciences campus in Krč. IMG prepared the programme together with the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. At the entrance to the campus, a joint team of volunteers from all four institutes welcomed visitors, introduced them to activities taking place across the campus and helped them find their way around.
This time, feedback did not come in the form of a questionnaire. As they left, visitors placed a pebble into one of five cylinders, each representing a different rating. By far the largest number of pebbles ended up in the cylinder representing the highest score.
One pebble in the “sad” cylinder, however, had a rather different story behind it. A little girl placed it there because we were closing – and she wanted to stay longer. Perhaps nothing captures the spirit of Researchers’ Night better than that.
Behind a single evening for the public was the work of people from many different parts of IMG. Research infrastructure teams played a major role, opening up technologies and expertise that are used every day by researchers at IMG as well as scientists from the Czech Republic and abroad. Research group leaders, scientists, postdocs, PhD students and colleagues from administration all joined in. Some explained their research to visitors, others guided them through laboratories, prepared experiments and activities, welcomed them at the entrance or worked behind the scenes to make sure the entire evening ran smoothly.
Just like research itself, this year’s Researchers’ Night was above all a team effort.
And if our visitors left not only with stamps, handmade souvenirs and new knowledge, but also with the desire to ask one more question, then the evening achieved one of its most important goals: to show that science is not a finished collection of answers. It is a way of asking questions, exploring and continually improving our understanding of the world around us – and the knowledge generated through this process lays the foundations for future advances in medicine, biotechnology and many other areas that matter to society.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Researchers’ Night possible, and to all our visitors for their interest, curiosity and many questions. We look forward to seeing you again next year!
