Careers Day: 3 high school students in the IMSF laboratory

On 28 April, 3 young people visited the IMSF. They learned about the cause and consequences of MS and how to stain tissue samples in the lab.

„I see what you don´t" -Histological insights into the central nervous system

As part of the TRR274 the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research (IMSF) participated in the nationwide “Careers Day” for girls and boys in Göttingen on 28.04.2022. The “Zukunftstag” tries to break with gender stereotypes and brings students closer to professional fields that often are associated with one gender over the other. Further, the aim of the event is to give students insight into the inner workings of scientific institutions and to give them an understanding of the how medical research is performed in the laboratory.

This year our colleagues at the IMSF welcomed three high school students to teach them more about one of our topics in the TRR274, namely the understanding of the invasion of pathogenic immune cells into the central nervous system and the subsequent development of autoimmune nerve tissue damage, specifically in multiple sclerosis. As such, students were shown important staining techniques of the field in an “easy to understand” approach.

Under guidance, the pupils were able to independently carry out the individual steps of these staining procedures, e.g. embedding the tissues in paraffin wax, cutting these paraffin blocks, performing a simple staining of the thin sections and then looking at samples under the microscope. In a theoretical part, the development of multiple sclerosis was explained in a simplified way and the connection between the microscopic structures and the disease were established.