{"id":1365,"date":"2015-03-07T13:55:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-07T11:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smc.zabbarb.skola.edu.mt\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2015-03-07T13:55:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T11:55:58","slug":"chemical-pathology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smc.zabbarb.skola.edu.mt\/?p=1365","title":{"rendered":"Chemical Pathology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pupils in Years 5 and 6 recently had a lesson in chemical pathology as part of Dr Mikhaila Muscat’s PHD research.\u00a0Chemical pathology\u00a0is a scientific\u00a0area that is generally concerned with analysis of bodily fluids\u00a0and\u00a0involves the study and investigation of the biochemical basis of disease processes. Quite a mouthful, but Dr Muscat translated chemical pathology into an interactive and fun lesson making it accessible to a\u00a0younger audience.<\/p>\n

The sessions\u00a0dealt with topics including\u00a0blood tests, high cholesterol, diabetes & the disease that may have sparked the vampire legends, amongst others. Yellow balloons were used to represent\u00a0different forms of cholesterol together\u00a0with a red heart-shaped balloon representing the heart.\u00a0\u00a0Short video clips from films and cartoons were used to illustrate points, such as for example laboratory safety and diabetes testing.\u00a0\u00a0A mechanical mouse and a soft toy mouse were used to explain, in very simple terms, how scientists won the Nobel Prize for creating a ‘knock-out\u00a0mouse’. The disease that medical experts believe the Mona Lisa may have had was also mentioned. Most students were particularly intrigued by the scientific life-like skeleton used during the sessions, which was an obvious hit!<\/p>\n

These sessions provided an\u00a0opportunity to spark the interest of younger generations in this scientific\/medical topic.<\/p>\n